Born to a noble family in Tournai, Marie Dentiere (1495-1561) left her convent in the 1520s to work for religious reform. She married a former priest and with her husband went to Switzerland, where she was active in the Reformation's takeover of Geneva.
Dentiere's "Very Useful Epistle" (1539) is the first explicit statement of reformed theology by a woman to appear in French. Addressed to Queen Marguerite of Navarre, sister of the French king Francis I, the "Epistle" asks the queen to help those persecuted for their religious beliefs. Dentiere offers a stirring defense of women and...