 Although the act of writing itself was rather subversive for women in 16th-century France, religion was perhaps the most socially accepted creative outlet available to women during this time, allowing Coignard to take advantage of this culturally sanctioned means of self-expression.It was not uncommon for literate women to write or translate devotional texts in this period, though their works were rigidly structured by the dominant cultural expectations for women to be pious, chaste, silent, and humble.Due to her upbringing in an educated, literary household, Coignard was well acquainted with the popular literary authors and modes of the early modern period, and her work shows the influence of writers such as Luis de Granada, Guillaume du Bartas, and Pierre de Ronsard.