Birgitte Thott, a Danish noblewoman, was a scholarly author, translator, and educator; she was also a landed proprietor who personally took charge of her estate. As in southern Europe, certain intellectual Scandinavian circles cultivated the phenomenon of "feminae doctae" (learned women) or "feminae illustres" (illustrious women), as they were often called in Latin. Documents record the names of about 150 Scandinavian women of the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries who were conspicuous by virtue of scholarly and artistic achievements. Of these, Thott is considered by many to be the most learned of Danish women. She was afforded great respect and was considered to be a role model and an atypical prodigy, a woman who rose "supra sexum" (above gender) and from whom men could learn a thing or two. In her learning and intelligence Thott was the Danish equivalent to her Dutch contemporary Anna Maria van Schurman, the "Tenth Muse...