ABSTRACT
The author traces what we know of early modern women's reading and literacy practices in regard to romance. She explores the relationship between women and romance through the points of contact, considering what we know about women as dedicatees and patrons of romance, owners of romance, and readers of romance. In the end, evidence of women's contact and interaction with romance within their homes and families erodes any lingering notion of an idealized feminine space untainted by the genres influence. Reasons for reading romance of course changed over time, just as the changing nature of romance led to changes in reading methods. The principle at work here the idea that reading determines writings both familiar and historically appropriate, for Humanist education and literary imitation placed reading at the center of early modern conceptions of writing. As for sanctioned life writing, the spiritual lives of exemplary men and women from all points in early modern England's devotional spectrum were especially popular.
