The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women

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See Monstrous Regiment for other meanings of the phrase.

Monstrous regiment, or monstrous regiment of women are phrases which have become notorious; they are borrowed from the title of a work by the Scot John Knox, published in 1558, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women.

The word regiment is used here in what is now a largely archaic sense, meaning government or regime; the contemporary evocation of a fearsome military sisterhood makes the title even more colorful now than originally. This was taken advantage of by the novelist Terry Pratchett, whose novel Monstrous Regiment features both women and military matters rather prominently.

The book was written anonymously from Geneva, Switzerland, against the female sovereigns of his day, particularly Mary I of Scotland and Mary I of England. Knox, a staunch Protestant Reformer, opposed the Roman Catholic queens on religious grounds, and using them as mere examples, went on to argue the following about women, with regard to the specific role of bearing authority (but not about women in all roles or respects):

"For who can denie but it is repugneth to nature, that the blind shall be appointed to leade and conduct such as do see? That the weake, the sicke and impotent persons shall norishe and kepe the hole and strong? And finallie, that the foolishe, madde and phrenetike shal governe the discrete and give counsel to such as be sober of mind. And such be al women, compared unto man in bearing of authoritie. For their sight in civile regiment is but blindness; their strength, weaknes; their counsel, foolishnes; and judgment, phrensie, if it be rightlie considered."

His diatribe against female rulers backfired on him when Elizabeth I of England succeeded her half-sister Mary on the throne of England: Elizabeth was a supporter of the Protestant cause, but took offense at Knox's words about female sovereigns. Her opposition to him personally became an obstacle to Knox's direct involvement with the Protestant cause in England after 1559.