Medieval Women Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

- by
- •
- Medieval History, Hagiography, Medieval Studies, Medieval Women

Este trabajo pretende ser un breve análisis de la labor científica de la santa Hildegarda de Bingen a través de distintas fuentes y recursos centrados en este tema. El trabajo se dividirá en una breve biografía y una serie de datos sobre la vida de Hildegarda, para posteriormente analizar algunas de las obras de Hildegarda que no entran estrictamente en el campo de la ciencia, aunque como se verá, en este momento todo esto estaba relacionado. Por último es cuando ya se entrará a analizar toda una serie de elementos del mundo científico de la época de Hildegarda, así como de su propia vida en este campo, para después ya centrarnos concretamente en sus dos obras científicas, la Physica y el Causae et Curae. Por último, se presentarán una serie de conclusiones, o más bien, pensamientos personales sobre lo analizado y las consecuencias de ello.

- by Elena Barceló Benavente
- •
- Medieval History, Medieval Science, Medieval Women, Medieval Germany

Reviewed in: BUKSZ--Budapesti Könyvszemle (Beatrix F. Romhányi), Catholic Historical Review (Katherine L. Jansen), Collectanea Franciscana (Aleksander Horowski), Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters (Veronika Lukas), Hungarian Historical Review (Dorottya Uhrin), Il Santo (Eleonora Lombardo), Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken (Ralf Lützelschwab), Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique (Michael Robson), Speculum (Thomas F. Luongo)

- by Ottó Gecser
- •
- Hagiography, History of Religion, Preaching, Medieval Rhetoric
- by Coralba Colomba
- •
- Medieval Theology, Medieval Women, Mysticism, Hildegard von Bingen
- by Corine Schleif
- •
- Gender Studies, Art History, Women's Studies, Women's History
- by Judith M. Bennett
- •
- Gender Studies, Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Historiography

This is a bibliography of primary sources in translation prepared as a guide for students doing research projects for my undergraduate course, HST 362, on concepts of sex and gender in the Middle Ages. The version posted here was last... more

- by Monica H Green
- •
- Gender Studies, Medieval History, Women's History, History of Science

Doris Edel: Inside the Táin – Exploring Cú Chulainn, Fergus, Ailill, and Medb Softcover, 384 pp, 2 maps, 2 figures, 1 diagram – ISBN: 978-3-942002-20-2 This is the first literary-critical study of the Táin Bó Cúailnge in its... more

- by Daniel Büchner and +1
- •
- Irish Studies, Medieval Literature, Irish Literature, Literature

Transhumance of livestock away from the home farms during the summer months played an important role in the subsistence economics of small farms in Iceland since the settlement in the ninth century. However, the role of summer pastures (shielings) went beyond being an important feature of the farming economy. Shielings were also places which transcended the boundary between the social world of the farm and unknown world of the wilderness, and as such they played an important role in shaping (and breaking of) traditional social relationships. The ambiguity of shielings was reinforced by their association with women whose place was traditionally in the safe and socialized space of innangarðs (‘within the enclosure/inside the fence’) and not in the uncontrolled and dangerous útangarðs (‘outside the fence/enclosure’). At shieling sites women enjoyed immense social freedom, away from the watchful eyes of their male relatives, but at the same time they were also removed from the protection of their families, and according to Íslendingasögur and later folktales they were under constant threat of attack by feuding men, outlaws, and supernatural beings that were believed to have frequented these remote locations. The unclear status of shieling sites and their role in shaping female identity in the Viking and Medieval Iceland will be the main focus of this paper. By examining artefactual assemblages at Viking and Medieval shieling sites and high-resolution sedimentary histories of shieling occupation contextualised against a review of saga and folk literature I will explore the nature of gendered activities at shieling sites and the role of Icelandic women as shieling keepers.

This paper seeks to provide a new contribution to the debates on Viking Age women by focusing on a rather controversial notion of ‘female warriors’. The core of the article comprises a preliminary survey of archaeological evidence for female graves with weapons (axes, spears, swords and arrowheads) from Viking Age Scandinavia. Attention is focused not only on the types of weapons deposited with the deceased, but first and foremost on the meanings which similar practices may have had for the past societies. The author discusses why, where and how the weapons were placed in female graves and attempts to trace some patterns in this unusual funerary behaviour. In addition to exploring the funerary evidence, the iconographic representations of what could be regarded as ‘female warriors’ are also briefly considered. Lastly, a few remarks are also made on the notion of armed women in the textual sources.

- by Leszek Gardela
- •
- Gender Studies, Women's Studies, Material Culture Studies, Landscape Archaeology

A draft translation of extracts from the 'Annales Altahenses' (Annals of Niederaltaich, written c.1075) on Henry IV of Germany's marriage to Bertha of Savoy in 1066, his attempt to repudiate Bertha in 1069, and her mother, Adelaide of... more

- by Alison Creber
- •
- Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Medieval Latin Literature, Medieval Women

«Ecco un libro che sa affiancare il rigore della ricerca alla fre-schezza e alla semplicità del dettato narrativo, lungi tanto dalla pedanteria di certo accademismo quanto dalla semplificazione di-vulgativa» (dalla Prefazione di Franco... more

- by Maria Teresa Brolis
- •
- Medieval Women

In medieval historical narratives, including chronicles and many romances, violent and explicit scenes of childbirth often accompany political upheaval or dramatic genealogical changes. In such scenes, childbirth-including pregnancy, labor, and delivery-is frequently in tension with ideal agnatic succession, erupting into the narrative at moments of patrilineal disruption or ambiguity, such as illegitimacy, the loss of patrimonial lands, and the lack of a direct male heir. This essay examines how representations of women's child bearing provide a means of genealogical transformation, particularly during disruptions in succession. It focuses on the late fourteenth century romance Athelston, with reference to royal genealogical rolls, the Beaufort/Beauchamp Book of Hours, and the Wilton Diptych, situating these sources in late medieval political and genealogical challenges, including Richard II's tumultuous reign and non agnatic ascension and succession, and Anne of Bohemia's childlessness. In particular, it examines the tension in representations. In Athelston, whose narrative crisis and climax involve horrific violence toward and political action by royal pregnant women, this tension between the mother's role in producing an heir and the urgent embodiedness of child bearing allows both genealogical continuity and sudden change. The essay argues that prominent childbearing characters and detailed acts of childbirth in medieval texts, particularly those concerned with genealogy, often show how women not only contribute to an existing genealogy but imbue it with types of authority that are new and possibly radically different from male primogeniture.

- by Therese Martin
- •
- Cultural History, Art History, Medieval History, Medieval Iberian History

A period in history which the Renaissance scholars pejoratively called the «Middle Ages» was marked by the emergence of Europe— the rise and development of the Western civilisation. The centuries from the fourth to the fifteenth proved essential for the moulding of today's Europe, but equally so for Croatia, as they witnessed the adoption of specific cultural values and the concentration of extraordinary creative and intellectual energy. The Middle Ages represent the foundations of the processes that followed, their proper understanding being possible only by tracing them to their medieval roots. It was then that Europe acquired its main features: the unity that was effectuated through the Christianity and culture, the opulence of differences, the schism between the East and West, deep-seated contrasts between the North and South, growth of institutions and diverse government bodies, technological and scientific advances, the value of labour and the rise of productivity, affirmation of the new.
The medieval period, however, is often erroneously described as 'dark', 'spiritually and materially backward', 'barbarian', 'a period of obscurantism and persecution', etc. On the other hand, there exists just as distorted romantic perception of the Middle Age as a period of idealism epitomised by chivalry, 'courtly love', monastic mysticism and asceticism, along with most refined human virtues. Apart from the bipolar view, some historians tend to refer to this thousand-year time span as a period of immobility. The truth lies elsewhere: it was a period of profound changes and reforms. The Middle Ages are characterised by a complexity and diversity of facets and meanings. Moreover, this period is defined through a coexistence of different identities, features and phenomena that together create a medieval world. It is more than an interesting, exotic, if obsolete, world of the past—it is a living legacy. The surviving architectural achievements, artefacts and other material remains of the Middle Ages represent the core of European identity. Equally inherent in our today's life and world is its invisible spiritual legacy

This paperback edition of the 'Trotula' ensemble differs from the 2001 hardback edition in the following ways:
- it omits the critical edition of the Latin "standardized ensemble," retaining only the modern English translation
- the historical Introduction remains the same, aside from the correction of a few minor errors
- it omits the Index verborum (list of all specialized Latin terminology) of the 2001 edition; instead, it offers an index of Materia medica Employed in the 'Trotula'

- by Monica H Green
- •
- Women's Studies, Medieval History, Women's Health, Medieval Women

An article published in Skírnir 187 (2013), 161-75.

- by Sverrir Jakobsson
- •
- Gender Studies, Medieval History, Old Norse Literature, Medieval Women

Chi non ricorda l’episodio dell’incontro di Francesco col lebbroso? Ma dietro quella scena ce ne sono molte altre simili, a partire da quella evangelica, che erano ancora ben presenti all’uomo del Duecento. Ne sono protagonisti personaggi diversissimi: dall’imperatore Costantino al monaco Iosafat, figura occidentale del Buddha; dall’ex soldato Martino, vescovo di Tours, alla principessa d’Ungheria Elisabetta, fondatrice di un ospedale; fino al leggendario «saint Ladre» (ovvero «san Lebbroso») o ad Aleydis di Schaerbeek, monaca lebbrosa dalle folgoranti esperienze mistiche. Le loro storie raccontano i diversi modi in cui la lebbra, forma estrema della malattia e dunque paradigma della fragilità umana, è stata messa in rapporto con la santità, offrendo uno spaccato di oltre mille anni di spiritualità cristiana.

- by Daniele Solvi
- •
- Medieval Literature, Medieval History, Hagiography, Medieval Latin Literature
- by Cordelia Beattie
- •
- Medieval Women, Late Medieval English History, Medieval England, Women and Work
- by Ricardo Menezes
- •
- Medieval History, Medieval Women, Viking Age Scandinavia, Movies
- by Manuela Santos Silva and +1
- •
- Medieval History, Women's History, Medieval Studies, Portuguese History
- by María del Mar Graña Cid
- •
- Gender Studies, Women's Studies, Social Networks, Medieval History
- by Justin Steinberg
- •
- Romance philology, Manuscript Studies, Gender, Medieval Women
- by Carole Cusack
- •
- History of Christianity, Medieval Women

Until recently, studies in the architectural history of medieval and early modern Europe have assumed an all-male labor force on the construction site and in the related building trades. Historical chronicles and manuscript illuminations of construction sites support this notion, purporting the total exclusion of women from this complex industry. This chapter demonstrates the true nature of women's contribution to construction sites from the 13th to the 17th centuries in western Europe, uncovering a wide range of occupations in which they engaged: poor women hired for manual labor, women working as slaves, women working with their husbands and fathers in the building trades, widows continuing the workshops of their deceased husbands, and women supplying building materials for particular sites. There is a history to be told of women's repeated participation in and subsequent denial from working in the building trades that echoes a theme between towns and across language barriers and indicates a common experience shared by women in this era.

- by Shelley E . Roff
- •
- Medieval History, Women's History, Early Modern History, Medieval Studies

Margery Kempe's various illnesses, mental, spiritual and physical, are a recurring theme in her Book. This volume, the first full-length interdisciplinary study from a medical humanities perspective, offers a medicalized reading of Kempe's spirituality in the context of the ubiquitous medieval notion of Christ the Physician, and thus a new way of interpreting the Book itself: as a narrative of Kempe's own engagement with the medical paradigms of which she has previously been a passive subject.
Focusing on the interactions of medicine, mysticism and reproduction as a feminist project, the author explores the ontology of female flesh; the productive use of pain, suffering and sickness; and the ethics of a maternal theology based on the melancholic and surrogate activities that underlie Kempe's experience. Structured broadly via a traverse through the life course, the book shows how Kempe's response to suffering is illuminated by the medieval medical discourse by which she is contemporaneously read, and by which she engineers her own construction and understanding of self. It also explores Kempe's persistent attendance to her mystical body and refusal to compromise her instinct to authentically show how she feels.

- by Laura Kalas
- •
- Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Gender, Medieval Women

"El tratado "De secretis mulierum" [...] es un peculiar tratado de medicina, atribuido erróneamente a Alberto Magno, que tuvo una gran circulación en Europa Central entre los siglos XIV y XVII, especialmente en el ámbito alemán [...] conoció una difusión extraordinaria, a juzgar por el número de manuscritos y ediciones conservadas [...] en este trabajo he preferido centrarme en un aspecto que considero crucial: la concepción de la sangre menstrual como una sustancia tóxica y las consecuencias que dicha concepción tiene en la actitud hacia las mujeres."

- by José Pablo Barragán
- •
- Gender Studies, Classics, Women's Studies, History of Medicine

Introduzione, traduzione italiana con testo latino a fronte a cura di Paola Casali. La donna non è solo “tanto gentile e tanto onesta”. Anche il nostro medioevo, come ogni età e troppe culture, non è immune alla misoginia. La raccolta delle nove favole del maestro Adolfo di Vienna, tramandata con il titolo «Doligamus» (gli inganni delle donne), e pubblicata ora in ebook in traduzione italiana e in latino da Paola Casali, è un testo in versi che si inserisce nel pieno della tradizione misogina, da quella occidentale della commedia latina e degli «exempla» medievali a quella delle raccolte novellistiche orientali, come «Le mille e una notte», fino a giungere a Boccaccio e oltre. Con l’intento dichiarato di mettere in guardia contro la malizia e la scaltrezza femminile, tutte le storielle narrate dipingono la donna, moglie e madre (in particolare delle donne!) secondo il repertorio misogino più classico, indugiando sui particolari anche licenziosi della donna traditrice come Dalila, feroce come Medea, mutevole come Proteo, fonte di tutti i mali e di tutte le disgrazie dell’uomo. L’edizione critica, a cura di Paola Casali, con un puntuale commento e traduzione per ciascuna favola, è stata pubblicata a stampa nel 1997 dalle stesse Edizioni del Galluzzo.

While some scholars have seen the political theory of Christine de Pizan as being very like that of her sources in its presentation of hierarchy as the basis of rightful order, others have stressed the originality of her thought and have judged her conception of society to be more inclusive and egalitarian than that found in traditional conceptions of the body politic. Part I of this article argues that while Christine stressed the importance of reciprocity and mutuality within the political community, she also emphasised the need for hierarchy and deference and that, even by medieval standards, she was profoundly suspicious of popular involvement in political life. Part II of this article argues that this political theory was simply one expression of a much broader social outlook, one which relied on the Aristotelian notion of “distributive justice” in order to reconcile the ideals of hierarchy and obedience with the achievement of justice and equity. Christine's defence of women, the aspect of her work for which she is perhaps now most famous, should be understood in the context of this wider social perspective.

A draft translation of three interconnected documents - two charters and a letter - regarding a donation made by Matilda of Tuscany and Canossa (r.1076-1115). The first charter, issued in May 1095, records Matilda's granting of the estate of 'Standalmont' to found a new house of regular canons in Briey, and her placing of this foundation under the protection of the Holy See. Probably also in May 1095 Matilda wrote a letter to Albert of Briey, asking him to ensure that the donated property was conveyed to the canons. In the second charter, issued in May 1106, Matilda confirmed her earlier grant to the house of canons at Saint-Pierremont.

- by Alison Creber
- •
- Medieval History, Women's History, Medieval Studies, Medieval Latin Literature

In her ground-breaking new study, Katie Bugyis offers a new history of communities of Benedictine nuns in England from 900 to 1225. By applying innovative paleographical, codicological, and textual analyses to their surviving liturgical books, Bugyis recovers a treasure trove of unexamined evidence for understanding these women's lives and the liturgical and pastoral ministries they performed. She examines the duties and responsibilities of their chief monastic officers--abbesses, prioresses, cantors, and sacristans--highlighting three of the ministries vital to their practice--liturgically reading the gospel, hearing confessions, and offering intercessory prayers for others. Where previous scholarship has argued that the various reforms of the central Middle Ages effectively relegated nuns to complete dependency on the sacramental ministrations of priests, Bugyis shows that, in fact, these women continued to exercise primary control over their spiritual care. Essential to this argument is the discovery that the production of the liturgical books used in these communities was carried out by female scribes, copyists, correctors, and creators of texts, attesting to the agency and creativity that nuns exercised in the care they extended to themselves and those who sought their hospitality, counsel, instruction, healing, forgiveness, and intercession.

- by Katie Bugyis
- •
- History, Women's Studies, Medieval History, Medieval Studies

O universo lírico das cantigas de amigo é complexo e não uniforme. Entre as suas muitas faces, a questão da violência no quotidiano feminino não está ausente. Através de algumas vozes femininas que encenam, trovadores e jograis abrem-nos uma janela para esse quotidiano, feito de encontros e desencontros amorosos, mas também, por vezes, de conflito aberto, em particular entre mães e filhas.

- by Judith M. Bennett
- •
- Medieval Women, Medieval England, Medieval gender, Medieval Women and Gender

The Mamluks, at various ocaasions, organized entertainments, festivals and ceremonies accompanied by the singers and musicians. The female slaves who were bought at early age and skillfuly practised with their male or female master musicians named ustat/reis and reise participated into the various entertainments and ceremonies or high officials’ weddings and circumcision feasts or religious and local holidays. In that era, there were salaried court singers and musical groups performing their duties at the palaces together with the public singers as well as musicians. The most famous concubine is Ittifaq who talented in playing common instruments such as the ud, tanbur, çenk, def, mizmar, santur and kanun. This concubine with a dark skin mentioned in the sources played the ud realy well and enjoyed a life like fairy tale while marrying three different sultans. Except for anonymous ones, Zuhra and Hubi with their wonderful voices together with their beauties also became the most attractive singers in that era; and these two are also regarded as the well-known singers in the history of Mamluks. In this article, the information about the female singers and musicians in the palace and society of Mamluks will be given and the acquisition as well as training of the above-mentened concubines will be analyzed.

- by Fatma AKKUŞ YİĞİT
- •
- Music, Music History, Women's Studies, Social Sciences
- by Andrea Lee Castonguay
- •
- Education, Medieval Women, Biography, Women