Medieval Writings On Secular Women

'Woman, who is equal to the moon in the flower of youth, Is equal to a little old ape after the onset of old age' This remarkable collection brings together a host of writings from across different regions and cultures of the Middle Ages, from the ninth to the fifteenth century. They are arranged to follow the life stages of a Medieval woman living a secular existence, from infancy and girlhood, through marriage and motherhood, to widowhood and old age. Some women are famous or captured in exceptional circumstances, many more are anonymous: an abandoned baby in Italy, or an epitaph for the female leader of a Synagogue, speaking across the ages. This selection contains an introduction discussing the Medieval woman's status, separate introductions to each chapter, notes and a bibliography.

"Royal and saintly women are well-represented here, with the welcome addition of women from the Mediterranean arc...Garland has done a solid job of presenting this book." -- Arthuriana "The Anthology gives a fine sense of the great range of women's writing in the Middle Ages." -- Medium Aevum

Throughout the Middle Ages, the number of female readers was far greater than is commonly assumed. D.H. Green shows that, after clerics & monks, religious women were the main bearers of written culture. Laywomen played a vital part in the process whereby the expansion of literacy brought reading from religious institutions into homes.

The study of medieval women has flourished over the last forty years or so, challenging the idea of a universality of experience among women. This new collection of major works from Routledge addresses the different ways in which medieval women have been studied by looking at religious and secular women, women according to their stage in the life cycle, and according to their social status. Important theoretical issues are also tackled, such as the applicability of terms such as misogyny, anti-feminism, and feminism, the cultural construction of the body, and the periodization of women's history.

This is one of the first anthologies devoted to the writings of women in the Middle Ages. The fifteen women whose works are represented span seven centuries, eight languages, and ten regions or nationalities. Many are recognized, taught, and anthologized in their own countries but have been inaccessible to students in English. Others are little read today because their literary fortunes have paralleled fluctuations in literary taste and literary patronage. Katharina M. Wilson's introduction to the volume places these writers in historical context and explores the question of the female imagination and who these women were who were writing at a time when very few women were literate and most literature, sacred and secular, was penned by men. Each of the fifteen chapters has been written by a different scholar and includes a biographical and critical introduction to the writer, a representative selection of her works in translation, and a bibliography.

Although there were a number of women writers of the late Middle Ages, it was not thought that women composed lyric poetry. Classen's investigation, however, proves this to be a misconception, and presents a selection of secular love songs and religious hymns composed by 15th- and 16th-century German women poets.

The study of medieval women has flourished over the last forty years or so, challenging the idea of a universality of experience among women. This new collection of major works from Routledge addresses the different ways in which medieval women have been studied by looking at religious and secular women, women according to their stage in the life cycle, and according to their social status. Important theoretical issues are also tackled, such as the applicability of terms such as misogyny, anti-feminism, and feminism, the cultural construction of the body, and the periodization of women's history.

In this first ever book-length treatment, 11 scholars with a variety of backgrounds in medieval studies, film studies, and medievalism discuss how historical and fictional medieval women have been portrayed on film and their connections to the feminist movements of the 20th and 21st centuries. From detailed studies of the portrayal of female desire and sexuality, to explorations of how and when these women gain agency, these essays look at the different ways these women reinforce, defy, and complicate traditional gender roles. Individual essays discuss the complex and sometimes conflicting cinematic treatments of Guinevere, Morgan Le Fay, Isolde, Maid Marian, Lady Godiva, Heloise, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Joan of Arc. Additional essays discuss the women in Fritz Lang's The Nibelungen, Liv Ullmann's Kristin Lavransdatter, and Bertrand Tavernier's La Passion Beatrice.