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For decades, medieval scholarship has been dominated by the paradigm that women who wielded power after c. 1100 were exceptions to the "rule" of female exclusion from governance and the public sphere. This collection makes a powerful case for a new paradigm. Building on the premise that elite women in positions of authority were expected, accepted, and routine, these essays traverse the cities and kingdoms of France, England, Germany, Portugal, and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in order to illuminate women's roles in medieval power structures. Without losing sight of the predominance of patriarchy and misogyny, contributors lay the groundwork for the acceptance of female public authority as normal in medieval society, fostering a new framework for understanding medieval elite women and power.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. Power and Agency in Post-Conquest England: Elite Women and the Transformation of the Twelfth Century.- 3. The Most Perfect Knight's Countess: Isabella de Clare, Her Daughters, and Women's Exercise of Power and Influence, 1190-ca. 1250.- 4. Beyond Good Queen Anne: Anne of Bohemia, Patronage, and Politics.- 5. Emma of Ivry, c. 1008-1080.- 6. From Mothers to Daughters: Literary Patronage as Political Work in Ponthieu.- 7. Pirate, Traitor, Wife: Jeanne of Belleville and the Categories of Fourteenth-Century French Noblewomen.- 8. Just Another Day in the Neighborhood: Collective Female Donation Practices at the Hospital of Saint John in Brussels.- 9. A "Necessary Companion": The Salian Consort's Expected Role in Governance.- 10. Power in Pursuit of Religion: The Penitent Sisters of Speyer and their Choice of Affiliation.- 11. Women of Antioch: Political Culture and Powerful Women in the Latin East.- 12. Unexceptional Women: Power, Authority, and Queenship in Early Portugal.- 13. A Lifetime of Power: Beyond Binaries of Gender.
About the author
Heather J. Tanner is Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University, USA. She is the author of Families, Friends and Allies: Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England c. 879–1160.
Summary
For decades, medieval scholarship has been dominated by the paradigm that women who wielded power after c. 1100 were exceptions to the “rule” of female exclusion from governance and the public sphere. This collection makes a powerful case for a new paradigm. Building on the premise that elite women in positions of authority were expected, accepted, and routine, these essays traverse the cities and kingdoms of France, England, Germany, Portugal, and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in order to illuminate women’s roles in medieval power structures. Without losing sight of the predominance of patriarchy and misogyny, contributors lay the groundwork for the acceptance of female public authority as normal in medieval society, fostering a new framework for understanding medieval elite women and power.
Additional text
“The central advantage of this well-crafted volume is the new light it sheds on how gender was often a secondary consideration in the operations of medieval politics … the intersections of familial relations and contexts in medieval realities that must be seen in all their complexity to be fully appreciated. The quality scholarship of the authors demonstrates the value of prosopographical analysis and makes a vital theoretical contribution for historians and gender scholars of all periods ... .” (Elizabeth Kinne, Arthuriana, Vol. 30 (2), 2020)
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"The central advantage of this well-crafted volume is the new light it sheds on how gender was often a secondary consideration in the operations of medieval politics ... the intersections of familial relations and contexts in medieval realities that must be seen in all their complexity to be fully appreciated. The quality scholarship of the authors demonstrates the value of prosopographical analysis and makes a vital theoretical contribution for historians and gender scholars of all periods ... ." (Elizabeth Kinne, Arthuriana, Vol. 30 (2), 2020)
