Abstract

Ludvig Holberg was a true Enlightenment thinker, radical and critic of all conventions including the gender hierarchy. That Ludvig Holberg not only defended women but was also a radical equality feminist, and wrote a history of famous women, seems to be relatively little known, even among feminists and gender researchers. This article aims to analyse Ludvig Holberg against the background of the European Querelle des femmes, and to place him in a Cartesian equality discourse with thinkers like François Poulain de la Barre.