This is the perfect book for your nightstand. 100 portraits of 100 fascinating women from the 16th century by an author who really knows what she is doing. After reading it, I am sure I know all members of the Tudor court and a lot of women outside of it, too. I am happy the author included women from different social settings, countries and women we almost never read about in the usual history books - e.g. Lady Nata from Kyushu or the Mexican La Malinche. Let's hopy Ami Lincence will follow up with the 17th century women.

'The Sixteenth Century in 100 Women' is a very readable, accessible book for any history lover, whether academic or layperson. The book seeks to help redress the often patchy and somewhat skewed representation of women throughout history and, further, help augment our understanding from a social rather than political perspective. It is easy to fall into a trap of anachronisms in our judgments and bias in our summations not only due to our perception of feminism in a modern sense but also on account of the more widely available history of elite, white women deemed 'worthy' of recording. 'More than anything, I have tried to capture the humanity of all the women selected, and the pivotal roles they played throughout the century.'

Amy Licence has selected a diverse range of women transcending ethnicity, religion, and class. Each woman is summarised in a few pages, running chronologically over the century. Licence seeks to exemplify, through each short 'story', that woman's perception of power, respect, and worth regardless of class, and often juxtaposed to that of society's.

I really enjoyed reading this book, both in terms of generally enhancing my understanding of history but also being introduced to new 'characters', as well as the general political machinations of that era. As the book is made up of short, stand-alone chapters, it is easy to it pick up and put it down; leaving you plenty of time to ponder before diving into the next vignette. I would highly recommend it any history aficionado.

This is a comprehensive, well-researched book, which spreads light on both famous and unknown women who influenced the (mostly European) world in the sixteenth century. In perfect bite-sized (2-4 page) biographies highlight the most relevant events in our protagonists life, while also doing a great job explaining the culture, political temperature and other major figures of the time were doing.

I especially liked learning the history of Sophie Brahe, a Swedish astronomer who is usually forgotten in preference of her brother or husband. I was also thrilled to learn about Elena/Eleno de Cespedes, an intersex person who chose to live life as a man, became a respected surgeon but also had to endure scrutiny, legal charges and accusations of witchcraft.

This book is best read by flipping to a random page and enjoying whichever story you're lucky to find because they're all great.

I absolutely loved this book.There were so many fascinating mini biographies in it it would be difficult to name a favourite.It was very detailed,well researched and a pleasure to read.It also got me interested in a few other women I hadn't heard of before.Highly recommend if you enjoy the sixteenth century

Much thanks to Netgalley fora copy in exchange for my honest review.

A fantastically interesting read. The Sixteenth Century in 100 women has a much wider perspective than most in that it brings in women from other cultures, races and classes. It's a riveting snapshot of these women's lives which is so often concentrated on white upper-class women, many of whom I've never heard of and am better for having read about them. Licence has a dramatic flair that was really enjoyable to read, breathing new life into these women. There is no doubt that this was a thoroughly researched piece and I will definitely be going off and doing further reading based off the author's footnotes. Highly recommended. I definitely want more books in this vein.

Loved this book, I got to dip into the pasts strong women, some I knew about but others I'd never heard about before. This book is a definite keeper for me!

Love the focus on women. The women that get to tell their story in this book is diverse. The information can be a bit dry from times to times, but offcourse it's history so they can't just add things to make it fun. The stories are well chosen and give a glimpse of the life in the sixteenth century.

In this book, Amy Licence pieces together information about 100 women from the 1500s to create compelling vignettes. Throughout the book, it is clear that Licence has taken care to research each woman thoroughly. There are a few places where I found the sentences confusing; it is difficult to keep track of all the people involved in some of these stories. I also think the author was overly sympathetic to the women she researched. Licence seems to want her protagonists to be well liked and she dismisses some of the horrific things they supported as a product of what was happening at the time, for example the Spanish Inquisition . Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in return for my honest opinion.

In The Sixteenth Century in 100 Women, Amy Licence brings women across the world to life in brief yet detailed biographies. From Tenochtitlan to Japan, Licence provides insights into the lives of queens of Europe, a lady pirate, and the everyday women just trying to survive the sixteenth century. Licence notes the challenges of looking beyond Europe for records about women in the sixteenth century, but she does a great job in broadening the scope of her discussion of the role of women in the sixteenth century to include women in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Licence packs an impressive amount of information into each biography, organized chronologically, and draws the reader into the stories of these fascinating women. She challenges our understanding of the role that women played on stage and behind the scenes, and she does not shy away from discussing the less palatable experiences of certain women of note. Licence’s book is an excellent starting point for women’s history enthusiasts, as her book allows the interested reader to further explore these women themselves. Licence successfully achieves her goals outlined in the introduction and final chapters, highlighting the diversity of women’s lives in the sixteenth century.

📙 BOOK REVIEW 📙

'The Sixteenth Century in 100 Women' 👱‍♀️👩‍🦳👩🏽‍🦳👩🏿‍🦰

Written by: Amy Licence 📝

Publishers: @penswordbooks 📚

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Beginning in 1499 with Anne of Britanny - Queen of France, ending in 1600 with Mary Firth; Licence takes us on an intriguing & eye opening 100 year journey!

Each short chapter through out is dedicated to an individual woman, who has been thoroughly researched & brought to life by the author.

From the highest ladies in the land - Queens, Duchesses, Machoinesses; to pirates, muses, holy women, warriors, fools, artists, witches, poets, wives, mothers, murderesses, prostitutes, martyrs & more

Every rank & position possible is represented in this book, focusing mainly in Britain & wider Europe.

Licence has done an excellent job of bringing these women to the fore, where as we know - the majority of women are lost to history, even the birth dates of noble ladies etc are not always recorded, let alone their day to day lives, activities, thoughts & feelings.

A very well researched and presented book, Licence is keen to point out that the sources are all written by men, therefore they may be representing these women in a biased & derogatory way, as was the norm back in the sixteenth century; many of the women featured have only been recorded as a footnote to a man's story e.g an abused wife, an accused witch, an artists muse etc.

It really dissectes the way that women in power such as Queens etc, we're recorded in their own right, spoken of respectfully when wielding the expected 'soft power' of a consort, or if leading on her husbands behalf - they may attain praise, at least begrudging acceptance; where as a woman who has power in her own right is often feared, alienated & torn down by these men & society, often accused of witchcraft, sourcery or even murder.

A thoroughly enjoyable read, with many of the subjects being well known to me, but also many new names & stories which have enticed me into researching some of these lesser known women of history myself.

In my opinion this should be a standard textbook in every history classroom.

Bravo, Ms. Licence👏

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Thank you NetGalley, Pen & Sword, and Amy Licence for granting my wish and allowing me to read this book! This is a really interesting book that focuses on various women from the sixteenth century. I learned about a lot of new women and more about ones that I already knew. It only briefly explains each one, but this makes it to where it’s an easy book to pick up at any time. It’s a great book and I recommend it for fans of history.

Here’s to authors who bring to the table the lives of women who have previously not featured in our history books! This is a fascinating read and the breadth of experience of the different women included makes it a real roller coaster in terms of keeping up with what the era must have been like. Really fascinating and well researched and written.

This was a wonderful collection of stories about women who helped shaped the 16th century. Many of the woman are well known, but there were many I didn't know about. The author definitely did their research on these women. I liked that it was fast paced and didn't feel like a tedious read, filled with irrelevant information. Great to see known and unknown women celebrated from his time period.

This work contains short chapters/vignettes that each focus on a different woman during the sixteenth century. Ranging from the model for DaVinci’s most famous painting to La Malinche to tableaus of unnamed women, we get a glimpse of many different classes, occupations, and struggles. While most of the women are from European countries, there are a few stories based in India, Morocco, and the Americas. I would have liked to see a bit more representation of other countries, but this didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the work.

While many of these women may be recognizable to history buffs, I found each chapter to be quite enjoyable. The author excelled at humanizing these women even when there wasn't much known about some of them. Primary sources were used in a wonderful way – one chapter is based off of a letter an Italian visitor to London wrote where he describes the women walking nearby. This was a primary document I never would have encountered otherwise, and the inclusion of pieces of history like this took this work up a whole new level. I also appreciated the inclusion of footnotes throughout the work, making me confident in the amount of research the author put into this work.

This was an approachable and engaging way to read some bite-sized history focused on women of the sixteenth century. I highly recommend this work! Many thanks to NetGalley and Pen & Sword for allowing me to read this work, which will be published on March 30th, 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book sounded interesting to me, as I expected a new look on women of the 16th century. Amy Licence describes Henry VIII.´s wives as well as many other women from the Tudor court we already know about, but besides those she also (later on) mentions other queens or partners of rulers from countries outside Europe, as well as female scientists, artists, writers, merchants, nuns, midwives, prostitutes or jesters. Included are also disabled women or those of the LGBTQ+ community. Besides women who just got famous because they brushed the life of a famous man for a short while, there are also mythical figures like Venus.
Each of the 100 women gets a short chapter with her importance in history. The text is well readable and based on historical works that are mentioned at the end of the book. The pictures in the end that show some of the women would - as well as the notes - find a better place in between the chapters.
Thanks to the publishers Pen & Sword and Netgalley for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

2.5/5

You're getting exactly what it says, a list of 100 influencial women in the sixteenth century. I think the idea is great, history tends to forget women due to sexism so remembering them and bringing them back into the light will always be a noble endeavour. I think the author was very smart in setting this in a specific time period, otherwise picking who to include would have been a tortuous task. The writing is easy enough to read and to the point.

I think this didn't work for me because I'm someone who really enjoys deep dives into history, this format just left me wanting more. Plus, there were a lot of women here who I had heard and read about already, making a big chunk of the book quite boring to me. I understand that due to the time period and the position of women in society back then there is a lot we don't know, but some of the entries seemed to be too plain and only there because the author wanted to do a retelling of a specific historical event.

I did discover one or two new (to me) historical female figures and I think that if you're someone who wants to start learning about this area of knowledge then this book could be a good place to start.

This wonderful book is like a 100-piece jigsaw puzzle, with each chapter building towards a picture of life for women in the sixteenth century.

The 100 women featured include Queens, Queen Consorts, noblewomen, ordinary women and nameless women who were captured in paintings and written records. They come from the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond. Through thorough research, the Amy Licence has included women who usually only feature on the fringes of court life.

In particular I was interested to learn more about the following women, amongst others. Honor Grenville, Lady Lisle, who tried to get her daughters accepted as ladies in waiting at the English court, Maria de Salinas who had accompanied Catherine of Aragon to England from Spain and Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, who was imprisoned in the Tower after the downfall of her husband.

As the book moves from woman to woman and forward through the century, the links between some of these women become clear. What makes this book particularly fascinating is that as well as general information about each woman, Amy Licence offers a snapshot of their lives by focusing on a particular event.

We see Lady Jane Grey on the day she took possession of the Tower of London as Queen of England, Catherine of Aragon marry Prince Arthur at St Paul's Cathedral, a group of women on a street in London, Margaret Tudor waiting for her husband to return from the Battle of Flodden and Mildred Cooke preparing for her wedding to William Cecil.

This is a must read to learn more about women in the sixteenth century.

16th century women conjures images of big dresses, important women who fought for their/their children crowns, but this is a brilliant look at women from all over the place, across a diverse selection of social class - not just royals, but everyday women who lived during this time.

The history of the Sixteenth Century is overrun by men, written by men and taught through men. Amy Licence changes that by creating ‘The Sixteenth Century in 100 Women’.

Firstly, I loved the order of the book. Many history books of this type are set in themes and you have to search for a particular figure that suits your study (or as a history teacher myself your lesson). Instead it is written completely chronologically starting with Anne of Brittany, 7 Jan 1499 to The Four Marys, 7 August 1548 to Mary Frith 26 August 1600. It gives you that pure insight into the sixteenth century with flow.

Secondly, the use of ‘unknown’ figures really elevates this book. Many people may already know about Caterina Sforza, Margaret Beaufort and Mary I; but did you know about Alice Arden who murdered her husband and went to trial; or Fair Em. It allows you to finally have a broader understanding of this time period through a wider perspective lens and through the eye of ‘normal’ people.

Thirdly, we finally have a book that isn’t just British women. Although I wish there were more global influences Alice Licence brings in stories and women from around the globe including: Spain, Florence, Nigeria, Germany, Japan and Russia. The globalisation of the sixteenth century is therefore obvious trading was more prevalent and obvious (colonisation of America, Silk Roads, Spice trade). By bringing in these stories you gain that breadth and depth that this period has really needed.

Finally, obviously this book has only snippets of each woman (otherwise it would need to an encyclopaedia, though I would not argue) it gives you enough information as fore-mentioned to complete further research or introduce more figures into your histories. This book would be extremely helpful for any educators or those wanting to start looking at the sixteenth century.

As an educator I will find this extremely useful in lessons with all ages. I just wish there was more global figures, although this could be a book in its self so Amy Licence may already be looking into this, who knows?

Overall a solid 4 stars and a good read for educators and fans of the Sixteenth Century who want to move away from a male-orientated history.

Thank you to Net Galley, Pen and Sword History and Amy Licence for allowing me an Advance Reader Copy of ‘The Sixteenth Century in 100 Women’ which is due for release 30 March 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.
This was an entertainingly written collection of the stories of 100 women in the 16th century. I honestly have a hard time reviewing these types of books, but would definitely recommend picking this up if you have even the slightest interest. It is well researched (in my opinion) and the variety of stories will keep you interested.