Birgitte Thott

[2] Thott married Otto Giøe in 1632 at the age of twenty two, but he died ten years later due to illness surrounding a gunshot wound.

"Contemporary sources report that she before her death mastered Danish, German, Dutch, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, of which her knowledge of German, English, French and Latin can be confirmed through preserved translations from her hand.

In 1660, Birgitte Thott was given permission by the King to receive an annual grant from the Soro Academy to pursue her studies, expand her library, and research language.

[3] Thott was part of a rather small European network of approximately 100–150 learned women including Christina Queen of Sweden, Marie le Jars du Gournay (in France), Bathsua Makin (in England) and Dorothea Moore (in Ireland), and Anna Maria van Schurman.

[5] Feminist artist Judy Chicago completed an installation art piece called The Dinner Party in 1979, currently on display at the Brooklyn Museum.

Quote from Rozenkrantz’ funeral orations:So, at thirty-one years of age, guided by eminent teachers, she embarked upon learning the Latin language, which today is studied far and wide by scholars, and the result was so good that she could very soon express whatsoever thought she so wished in that language.

[7]Anna Maria van Shurman wrote one of twelve introductory poems for Thott’s translation of Seneca’s Philologus in which she referred to Birgitte as the tenth muse, which was a praise-worthy term for learned women at the time.

[8] Birgitte Thott also wrote a personal manuscript or "treatise" of two hundred pages titled Om et lyksaligt liv (On a Happy Life).

They are enticed into study by the reward and honour they are told they can thereby attain; [...] they are impelled to attend school by their parents or guardians whether they like it or not.