Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England 450-1500 PDF
Preview Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England 450-1500
MEDIEVAL WOMEN A Social History oj Women in England 450-1500 HENRIETTA LEYSER Medieval Women looks at a thousand years of English history, as it affected — and was made by — women. Such a broad canvas is based on, and indeed has only been made possible by, the rich interdisciplinary research into women’s history of the last twenty-five years. The book opens with the coming of the Anglo-Saxons to England in the fifth century and looks at the variety of sources that can throw light on the lives and contributions to their society of women in the Dark Ages. It moves into the Anglo-Norman period with an examination of what 1066 may have meant for women. The focus then moves to problems and attitudes fundamental to ‘everywoman’: medieval attitudes to sex, marriage and motherhood; and the world of work and the experience of widowhood for peasant, townswoman and aristocrat. The book closes with an exploration of the intellectual and spiritual worlds of medieval women. Each chapter is accompanied by substantial extracts from primary sources, which vividly illustrate medieval thought and assumptions. Medieval Women celebrates the diversity and vitality of English women’s lives in the Middle Ages and rescues them from the shadows cast by those fathers of English history, Victorian patriarchs. MEDIEVAL WOMEN MEDIEVAL WOMEN A Social History of Women in England 450-1500 Henrietta Leyser St. Martin's Press New York MEDIEVAL WOMEN Copyright © 1995 by Henrietta Leyser All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address: St. Martin's Press, Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Printed in England ISBN 0-312-12934-3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for. First Edition 1995 Contents List of Illustrations vii Preface ix Part One. The Anglo-Saxons: Studies in Evidence Chapter 1 Archaeology 3 Chapter 2 History and Hagiography 19 Chapter 3 Law Codes 40 Chapter 4 Vernacular Literature 53 Part Two. The Eleventh Century Chapter 5 1066 for Women 69 Part Three. The High and Later Middle Ages: Family Roles Chapter 6 Sex, Marriage and Motherhood 93 Sexual Debates Marriage Motherhood The Upbringing of Children Chapter 7 Women at Work 142 Peasant Women Townswomen The Aristocracy Contents Chapter 8 Widows 168 Urban Widows Peasant Widows Part Four. Culture and Spirituality Chapter 9 Female Monasticism 189 Chapter 10 Anchoresses and Recluses 206 Chapter 11 Lay Piety 222 Chapter 12 Literary Interests and Images 240 Extracts from Primary Sources 257 Bibliography 315 Index 329 \ VI
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