Over the course of the 15th to the 17th centuries, late medieval and humanist thinkers participated in what was essentially a feminist debate avant la lettre. Known as the querelle des femmes, this literary debate was centered on the place of women in society. More specifically, underlying the literature of the querelle is a universal concern with authority and subordination, i.e. with the origins of man's control over woman and women's rights within a patriarchal society. Against a background of a selection of the literature of the querelle, this course will introduce students to texts by early modern women authors of Italy, France, and England. The authors chosen study the dynamic of authority and subordination in their works, revealing the difficulties in creating an authentic representation of woman in society as they work under the "authority" of literary tradition. The task is especially difficult for women who represent themselves writing, an activity that should be reserved for men according to most humanist thought. We will read these texts as feminist contributions to the querelle in the sense that they problematize the terms of the debate and make apparent the many contradictions underlying woman's position in patriarchal society.