ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the letters that Madame de Maintenon and the Princesse des Ursins sent each other during the War of the Spanish Succession as exemplary of the role of women in diplomatic affairs in the early modern period. It then examines how they presented themselves in the letters, focusing particularly on moments where gender-specific boundaries were transgressed and, finally, on the significance of the category 'gender' in relation to other relevant categories that help to reveal the functioning of early modern diplomacy. The correspondence of Madame de Maintenon and the Princesse des Ursins served to exchange information, to maintain a 'virtual' European network and to discuss political, strategic and military problems. In the sphere of early modern diplomacy, gender did matter. Not in the simple way of separate female and male rooms of manoeuvre, but as one factor among many which influenced an individual's influence and communication strategies.
