Twenty-Five Women Who Shaped the Early Modern Holy Roman Empire

"Through her well-chosen examples, Katrin Keller unlocks a multitude of previously hidden or partially obscured connections across the last three centuries of the vast Holy Roman Empire's existence, revealing not only how this complex entity functioned, but the important contributions made by women to its artistic, cultural, dynastic, economic, medical, political, religious, and scientific history. Fascinating and absorbing."

Peter H. Wilson, University of Oxford, UK

"Twenty-Five Women Who Shaped the Early Modern Holy Roman Empire goes beyond women's history. It provides a rethinking of European history as a whole by arguing that the past takes on a different form when viewed in its entirety, through the lives of women rather than through the sole actions of kings and generals. Keller's book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the early modern world, as it was recorded, but also as it was truly experienced."

Edina Paleviq, GlobalEurope, ISSUE 1 | October 2025