Circumstances conducive to the emergence of a literary culture that allowed women to participate arose in Poland only as late as in the 1650s, following the appearance of two Frenchwomen on the Polish throne, namely Marie-Louise Gonzaga and Marie-Casimire.

Warunki sprzyjające wykształceniu się kultury literackiej, w której mogły uczestniczyć kobiety, w Rzeczypospolitej powstały dopiero w połowie XVII wieku wraz z pojawieniem się na polskim tronie dwóch Francuzek - Ludwiki Marii Gonzagi i Marii Kazimiery.

School textbooks written by a Spanish erudite and pedagogue Juan Luis Vives were used in schools of Protestant denominations in Royal Prussia – in Gdańsk, Toruń, Elbląg, but also in other towns and cities of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth– for teaching Latin. Nicolaus Volckmar, of German descent, a Polis language teacher at the Academic Gymnasium in Gdańsk, utilized the structure and themes of Vives’ dialogues Exercitatio linguae latinae (1538) for teaching the Polish language. In this manner, paradoxically, the “phrasebook” of the Spanish humanist, as well as its subsequent editions, still in the 18th century was used by Gdańsk schoolers of German origin to learn the language which they needed for everyday communication in the community of multi-cultural and multi-ethnic Gdańsk. The Vives-Volckmar phrasebook was undoubtedly used by Arnold von Holten, later a lifetime mayor of the city, sent on a diplomatic mission to Spain by the Hanseatic League.

The Iconology by Cesare Ripa (1593), which constitutes a rich compendium of iconographic representations in which abstract concepts, virtues and vices were imagined through human figures and their attributes, features also the figures of old women. In the article the following questions are raised: Which of these concepts, virtues of human character, vices and inclinations are personified by “crones”, which by old women and which by women “in their prime”? Does the Italian iconographer motivate his choices and what explanations does he provide? What features were attributed to old age in the 16th and 17th centuries? And finally: how do ancient patterns of writing about old age and medieval stereotypes are reflected in Ripa's Iconology?

The article discusses two works devoted to the women's education and upbringing, written in two different eras. Both books – the treaty by a Spanish secular humanist Juan Luis Vives (1492–1540) De institutione feminae christianae (Bruges 1524) dedicated to the Queen of England, Catherine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII, and her daughter Mary Tudor, and reference guide for women by a Spanish Jesuit Jorge Loring (1921–2013) Para salvarte. Compendio de las verdades fundamentales de la religión católica y normas para vivirlas (1st ed. 1952) – are advisory in nature. Both authors in a similar way define the role of women in a society. Formulating the recommendations for good Christian women, the authors resort to almost identical argumentation derived from the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers. They use similar rhetorical devices which are tailored to the current circumstances. Both authors refer to the same authority and show the same examples. The analysis of both works aims to show the immutability of rhetorical practices in the field of advice literature devoted to women.