Were women ever sacred? Some medieval and modern men would like us to think so
What do we really know about this phenomenon of medieval “courtly love” and the gender roles it displayed?
The Giving and Withholding of Consent in Late Twelfth-Century French Literature
My investigations into the depiction and punishment of rape in late twelfth-century literature in northern France stem from a particular interest in some of the earlier branches of the Roman de Renart.
Fornicating with nuns in fifteenth-century Bologna
In September 1432 Giovanni di Giacomo Amicini, a Bolognese spicer (aromatarius), was prosecuted for abducting a professed sister, Antonia di Baldino da Logliano, from the Convent of the Poor Clares outside the city-gate on the via Santo Stefano.
Gender Ambiguity in Medieval Iceland: Legal Framework and Saga Dynamics
In the judgmental genre of the Icelandic family saga, gender transgression is always central to plot dynamics and this is its only rationale for inclusion.
Property, Power and Patriarchy: The Decline of Women’s Property Right in England After the Black Death
The social and governmental response to the Black Death in England undermined the social strength of women’s property rights and created a late-medieval patriarchal structure qualitatively different from that of the earlier fourteenth century.
From Noblissima Dux to Beata: Expressions of Female Authority and Influence in Medieval Florence
This thesis argues that, by examining four influential women of Florence and northern Italy over some five centuries’ time, historians can view change over time related to female authority and how it reflects larger social norms.
Outcasts: Prejudice and Persecution in the Medieval World comes to the Getty
Outcasts: Prejudice & Persecution in the Medieval World, on view January 30—April 8, 2018 at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, presents individual case studies that examine the way art, like language, was used to articulate a rhetoric of exclusion.
Women in the Tang Dynasty: Prescribed, dependent and scary
Images from the Tang dynasty 唐朝 (618–907) present us with independent and powerful women, conferring the idea that the Tang dynasty was the one era in Chinese history in which the patriarchal grip was not as tight as during other dynasties.
Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History: Eleanor of Aquitaine’s Political Career and Its Significance to Noblewomen
Eleanor of Aquitaine played an indirect role in the formation of medieval and early modern Europe through her resources, wit, and royal connections.
Exposing Virginal Bodies in Early Norman England
Although they reached toward the eternal, the saints and their biographers easily became entangled in worldly affairs, and in colonial contexts such as those of Norman England the saints could become pawns in monumental cultural, social, and political struggles.
Social Perception of Infertility and Its Treatment in Late Medieval Italy: Margherita Datini, an Italian Merchant’s Wife
This article seeks to elucidate the common social perception of infertility and its treatment in late medieval Europe by analyzing the case of Margherita Datini, an Italian merchant’s wife who lived in the 1400s.
Scoring Masculinity: the English Tournament and the Jousting Cheques of the early Sixteenth Century
Charles Brandon was the perfect companion for King Henry VIII, whom he resembled in both looks and build. He also shared Henry’s love of the joust, becoming the King’s valiant partner in the lists.
Mapping Women’s Movement in Medieval England
Women, as a less-dominant group in all periods and most cultures in history, have experienced many forms of spatial limitation.
Recovering the Histories of Women Religious in England in the Central Middle Ages: Wilton Abbey and Goscelin of Saint-Bertin
Building upon the efforts made by scholars over the past twenty years to enrich our understanding of literary cultures fostered within English communities of women religious during the central Middle Ages, this article offers evidence of these women keeping their communities’ histories and preserving their saints’ cults through their own writing.
Enclosed Gardens Revealed: The Concept of Virginity in Medieval Jewish Culture
This talk addresses the politics of what shaped the Jewish concept of virginity in the High Middle Ages against the backdrop of Western European culture.
“The quality of women’s intelligence”: female humanists in Renaissance Italy
This thesis examines how the advent of humanism in Renaissance Italy impacted women, namely those who were raised within intellectual families and granted educational opportunities not before afforded to members of their sex.
Masks of the Dark Goddess in Arthurian Literature: Origin and Evolution of Morgan le Fay
The world of Arthurian legend is one steeped in mythology and magic. Such tales often feature perplexing and seemingly contradictory characters: a primary example of such a character is Morgan le Fay.
‘Living as a single person’: Marital Status, Performance and the Law in Late Medieval England
One approach to the vexed question of how we define the single woman is to think further about definitions of marriage, that is, about what it is that makes someone ‘married’ as opposed to ‘not married’.
“How Do You Know if it is Love or Lust?” On Gender, Status, and Violence in Old Norse Literature
This article examines attitudes towards behaviour relating to women within Old Norse literature, focusing both on chivalric romances and the legendary sagas.
Clemence of Barking and Valdes of Lyon: Two Contemporaneous Examples of Innovation in the Twelfth Century
Clemence of Barking and Valdes of Lyons were strong supporters of Catholic ideals and were seeking to endorse Christian virtues. Nevertheless, their actions provide examples of innovation and a deviation from the mainstream.
Love and Lust in Later Medieval England: Exploring Powerful Emotions and Power Dynamics in Disputed Marriage Cases
Depositions from matrimonial litigation are a compellingly, if deceptively, vivid source for the words, sentiments and circumstances surrounding courtship and marriage making.
Mann and Gender in Old English Prose: A Pilot Study
This article aims to present a preliminary study of the various uses of mann as attested in Old English prose, particularly in its surprisingly consistent use by an individual author, namely that of the ninth-century Old English Martyrology.
What You Look At, You Make: Menstruation and Fertility in Italian Renaissance Art
This project seeks to better comprehend Renaissance Italian attitudes towards menstruation and its roles in art through fertility imagery.
Book Review: A Medieval Woman’s Companion by Susan Signe Morrison
Susan Signe Morrison’s book, “A Medieval Woman’s Companion” brings the contributions of medieval women, famous and obscure, to the forefront in this fantastic introductory text.
