ABSTRACT

Literary academies and tournaments held a prominent place in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century society. Academies were private meetings that had the purpose of sharing intellectual concerns, including poetic and otherwise learned production. The demarcation between academies and tournaments is difficult to establish. The rise in the social importance of tournaments and academies was linked to growing urban development and to the local elites' involvement. Women's participation was quite unequal: in academies, it is scarce and poorly documented; in contests, although also a minority, women seem to have participated more. Their contribution was, in general, late, however. Throughout the sixteenth century, as in subsequent centuries, women's eventual participation in literary circles likely occurred through more private channels than tournaments, and by less formalized means than academies. Women's exclusion was pertinent to the cultural elitism aimed for by these academies' promoters, although often the academies inclined toward themes of little intellectual importance.