1604 - Elana Cassandra Tarabotti (who later took the name Arcangela, also employed the pseudonym Galerana Barcitotti, or Baratotti) was born in Venice, the eldest of ten children of a merchant family. She had five younger sisters, of whom the two youngest married. Tarabotti was physically handicapped and her father considered her unmarriageable. Forced claustration was common place at the time.

1615 - Tarabotti, at the age of eleven, was sent to a convent as a boarding student, and by the age of thirteen, against her will, she was at the Benedictine convent of St. Anna in Venice. As her later writings make clear, Tarabotti considered this unjust, that it stemmed from a tyrannical father, that it was an abuse of authority all too common at the time.

1620 - Tarabotti takes the veil, and thereafter took the name Arcangela. All evidence suggests she also undertook serious study, and she appears to be entirely self-taught. Tarabotti claimed consistently that women were the equal of men except in their opportunity to study and learn.

1623 - Tarabotti takes vows.

1630s - Tarabotti makes acquaintance with members of the Accademia degli Incogniti, an informal but influential Venetian society of intellectuals and free-thinkers.

1640-1642 - Tarabotti writes and circulates among friends and intellectuals manuscript copies of 'La tirannia paterna' (Paternal tyranny), and 'L'inferno monacale' (The monastic hell).

1643 - Tarabotti presents a complete manuscript of: Il paradiso monacale (1663 [1643])

1644 - Tarabotti publishes: Antisatira d'A[rcangela]T[arabotti] in risposta alla satira Menippea contro il lusso donnesco di Francesco Buoninsegni, Venice 1644. This essay offers a reply to a satire that mocked the vanity of women, a treatise published some six years before.

1650 - Tarabotti publishes: "Lettere familiari e di complemento", Venice, 1650; Tarabotti enters into correspondence with Ismaël Boulliau in November, 1650, and their exchanges continue until her death. She seeks opinions about her book; she is in communication with members of the court of Prince Leopold, principally Matherel, and the French Ambassador, N-B de Gremonville, friends and correspondents of Boulliau. She also appears to have been in contact with Naudé; her work is known to the celebrated Claude Saumaise.

1651 - Tarabotti publishes: Che le donne siano della spetie degli uomini. Difesa delle donne de Galerana Barcitotti [pseudonym] contro Horatio Plata (1651)

1652 - Elana Cassandra Tarabotti dies at Venice at the age of 48.

1654 - Tarabotti's work is published posthumously, La semplicita ingannata, Leiden, 1654 (Simplicity Deceived), later appearing as La tirannia paterna (Paternal Tyranny).

1660 - Tarabotti's La tirannia paterna (Paternal Tyranny) is placed on the Index of Forbidden Books.