Empress Adelheid And Countess Matilda

This book compares two successful, elite women, Empress Adelheid (931-999) and Countess Matilda (1046-1115), for their relative ability to retain their wealth and power in the midst of the profound social changes of the eleventh century. The careers of the Ottonian queen and empress Adelheid and Countess Matilda of Tuscany reveal a growth of opportunities for women to access wealth and power. These two women are analyzed under three categories: their relationships with family and friends, how they managed their property (particularly land), and how they ruled. This analysis encourages a better understanding of gender relations in both the past and the present.

This book provides a groundbreaking reinterpretation of the life and career of the preeminent polemicist of the Bishop Bonizo of Sutri. Through a meticulous analysis of Bonizo’s literary works and contemporary reports about his activities, the author uncovers the populist roots of both the bishop’s reform ideology and his vision of holy war against a heretical emperor, Henry IV of Germany. In establishing the predominance of Bonizo’s personal experience as a member of the populist Lombard reform community, the Pataria, in the formation of his thought, this study shatters the picture of a uniform Gregorian party and greatly strengthens the impression of the papal reform movement as a fragile coalition of multiple regional partners, like the Pataria, which enjoyed a fundamental unity of purpose but whose individual constituencies often diverged in their particular strategic objectives. This investigation, moreover, sets Bonizo’s story within the context of the urban life of his native Lombardy and examines the relationship between popular religious reform and the gradual development of communal government in northern Italy.

The authors bring fresh approaches to the subject of royal and noble households in medieval and early modern Europe with a focus on the nuclear and extended royal family, their household attendants, noblemen and noblewomen as courtiers, and physicians.

A life of Matilda--empress, skilled military leader, and one of the greatest figures of the English Middle Ages Matilda was a daughter, wife, and mother. But she was also empress, heir to the English crown--the first woman ever to hold the position--and an able military general. This new biography explores Matilda's achievements as military and political leader, and sets her life and career in full context. Catherine Hanley provides fresh insight into Matilda's campaign to claim the title of queen, her approach to allied kingdoms and rival rulers, and her role in the succession crisis. Hanley highlights how Matilda fought for the throne, and argues that although she never sat on it herself her reward was to see her son become king. Extraordinarily, her line has continued through every single monarch of England or Britain from that time to the present day.

This volume explores the work of Anselm of Canterbury, theologian and archbishop, in light of the communities in which he participated.

This is the first comprehensive study of the role of women in the Polish Piast dynasty from 965 until c.1144, comparing them with female members of other contemporary medieval dynasties.

The story of the mitre began during the 11th-century church reform movements and was, surprisingly, inspired by a popular pastime. After a thousand years of bare heads, the Church finally had an official hat, signaling newly-structured internal dynamics, an increase in power and influence in society, and greater parity with secular leaders.

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.