Possibilities of Patronage: The Dutch Poet Elisabeth Hoofman and Her German Patrons

Patronage was a common practice for many early modern authors, but it was a public activity involving engagement with politics, politicians and the rich and famous, and we know of relatively few women writers who profited from the benefits of patronage. The system of patronage altered, however, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and one particular case study brings to light some of the possibilities and difficulties of this system for women writers. Elisabeth Hoofman (1664–1736) was a Dutch poet whose authorship was representative of that of many writing women around 1700: born in... Mehr ...