<p>After the composition of the Decameron, and under the influence of Petrarch's humanism, Giovanni Boccaccio(1313-1375) devoted the last decades of his life to compiling encyclopedic works in Latin. Among them is <i>Famous Women</i>, the first collection of biographies in Western literature devoted exclusively to women. </p><p>The 106 women whose life stories make up this volume range from the exemplary to the notorious, from historical and mythological figures to Renaissance contemporaries. In the hands of a master storyteller, these brief biographies afford a fascinating glimpse of a moment in history when medieval attitudes toward women were beginning to give way to more modern views of their potential. </p><p><i>Famous Women</i>, which Boccaccio continued to revise and expand until the end of his life, became one of the most popular works in the last age of the manuscript book, and had a signal influence on many literary works, including Chaucer's <i>Canterbury Tales</i> and Castiglione's <i>Courtier</i>. This edition presents the first English translation based on the autograph manuscript of the Latin.</p>