Bathsua Makin

Bathsua Reginald Makin (/ˈmækɪn/; c. 1600 – c. 1675) was a teacher who contributed to the emerging criticism of woman's position in the domestic and public spheres in 17th-century England.

Herself a highly educated woman, Makin was referred to as England's most learned lady, skilled in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, German, Spanish, French and Italian.

Makin argued primarily for the equal right of women and girls to obtain an education in an environment or culture that viewed woman as the weaker vessel, subordinated to man and uneducable.

Makin was the daughter of Henry Reginald or Reynolds, who was a schoolmaster of a school in Stepney and published a broadsheet of Latin poems and pamphlets on mathematical instruments.

[2] In 1616 Makin published Musa Virginea a book with Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, French and German verse.

[3] When the Parliament of England took Princess Elizabeth Stuart into custody at the beginning of the English Civil War Makin stayed with the girl as her servant.

[2] The school at which Makin was governess taught music, song and dance, but also writing in English, keeping accounts, Latin and French.

[9] Makin also cited Margaret Roper and Anne Cooke Bacon as authoritative models for the claim that women's education would have a pious benefit for the state.

"[11] Makin was also influenced by the writings of John Amos Comenius and adhered to his advice that vernacular (ordinary) language should be used instead of Latin when teaching.

Makin argues that because women don't usually speak in public they needed to be taught a rhetoric that would assist them in conversation with their husbands and in carrying out their domestic duties.