Stories of Women in the Middle Ages

154 Pages·2018·2.97 MB·English

by  Maria Teresa Brolis

STORIES OF WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Maria Teresa Brolis
STORIES of WOMEN in the MIDDLE AGES
FOREWORDS BY FRANCO CARDINI
AND GILES CONSTABLE
Translated by Joyce Myerson
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston · London · Chicago
© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2018
Originally published in 2016 as Storie di donne nel Medioevo by Società editrice il Mulino, Bologna
ISBN 978-0-7735-5478-8 (cloth) ISBN 978-0-7735-5479-5 (paper) ISBN 978-0-7735-5614-0 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-0-7735-5615-7 (ePUB) Legal deposit fourth quarter 2018
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled),
processed chlorine free
The translation of this work has been funded by SEPS Segretariato Europeo per le Pubblicazioni
Scientifiche Via Val d’Aposa 7 – 40123 Bologna – Italy [email protected] – www.seps.it
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to
bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153
millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
Library and Archives Canada
Cataloguing in Publication
Brolis, Maria Teresa, 1959– [Storie di donne nel Medioevo. English]
Stories of women in the Middle Ages / Maria Teresa Brolis ; forewords by Franco Cardini and Giles
Constable ; translated by Joyce Myerson.
Translation of: Storie di donne nel Medioevo.
Includes bibliographical references.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-7735-5478-8 (cloth). – ISBN 978-0-7735-5479-5 (paper). – ISBN 978-0-7735-5614-0
(ePDF). – ISBN 978-0-7735-5615-7 (ePUB) 1. Women – Europe – Biography.
2. Women – History – Middle Ages, 500–1500. I. Title. II. Title: Storie di donne nel Medioevo. English.
D109.B7613 2018
920.72
C2018-904225-7
C2018-904226-5
Set in 11.5/14.5 Mrs Eaves OT with Agedage SimpleVersal Book design & typesetting by Garet
Markvoort, zijn digital
FOR FRANCO
along with Attilio and Marco
CONTENTS
Foreword to the English Edition, by Giles Constable Foreword to the Italian
Edition, by Franco Cardini Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART ONE: FAMOUS WOMEN
1 Hildegard, the Genius
2 Raingarde, the Mother
3 Heloise, the Love-Struck
4 Eleanor, the Queen
5 Clare, the Founder
6 Bridget, the Pilgrim
7 Christine, the Writer
8 Joan, the Rebel
PART TWO: ORDINARY WOMEN
9 Flora and Business
10 Agnesina and Poverty
11 Ottebona and Marriage
12 Grazia and the Religious Life
13 Gigliola and Fashion
14 Bettina and Her Potions
15 Margherita and Care-Giving
16 Belfiore on the Road
In an Effort Not to Conclude …
Sources and Bibliography
FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH EDITION
This book introduces the reader to a group of sixteen medieval women, of whom
eight are well-known and eight are described here as “ordinary” in the sense of
unremarkable. Together they throw light on many aspects of life in the Middle
Ages that are relatively unknown as compared with the lives or activities of men.
The famous women are Hildegard of Bingen, who is known as an abbess, writer,
and musician; Raingarde, the mother of Peter the Venerable and other influential
churchmen of the twelfth century; Heloise, the pupil (and lover) of Abelard and
subsequently abbess of the Paraclete; Eleanor of Aquitaine, the wife of King
Louis VII of France and King Henry II of England and the mother of several
other kings; Clare, the founder of the mendicant house of St Damian at Assisi;
Bridget of Sweden, the mystic and visionary and founder of the Bridgetine
order; Christine of Pizan, whose writings are a valuable source for the
intellectual and social history of the late Middle Ages; and Joan of Arc, who is
labelled here a rebel.
The eight “ordinary” women came from the region of Bergamo, an important
centre of economic and religious activity, on which the author’s research has
concentrated. They are mostly of lower social status than the “famous” group
and are sometimes described by historians as invisible because little is known
about them, especially their private lives. Here they are identified by their names
and by what the author calls their “small stories” illustrating their occupations
and activities. Most of them were poor, but a few were quite prosperous and ran
successful businesses. They are identified in the titles with business (Flora),
poverty (Agnesina), marriage (Ottebona), religious life (Grazia), fashion
(Gigliola), potions (Bettina), care-giving (Margherita), and the road, that is,
travel and pilgrimage (Belfiore).
There are many parallels and overlaps between these women, though they
came from very different social and economic backgrounds. The importance of
religion and religious life is striking. Hildegard, Heloise, Clare, and Grazia were
all the founders or heads of religious houses; Bridget and Clare both founded
religious orders; Bridget and Belfiore were pilgrims; others spent time as hermits
or recluses. The so-called “ordinary” women, perhaps owing to the nature of the
sources, were more concerned than the “famous” women with practical matters
of health, care-giving, and clothing, and their lives, as recorded here, give an
idea of the everyday occupations of women. Their stories challenge in many
respects the conventional assumptions about medieval women and show that
they played a considerable part in religious as well as secular life, serving among
other things as preachers and scribes. “The theme of aid volunteered by women
in diverse ways and places,” the author writes, “in the home and in the hospital,
deserves its very own discussion … because it represented one of the most
penetrating and powerful aspects, although often a hidden one, of female
presence not only in the medieval period, but throughout history.”
Many questions that are frequently overlooked or insufficiently studied are
thus opened up by this book. “Can an historian enter into the house of a
medieval woman,” the author asks, “not only to peek at her furniture and clothes
… but also to uncover behaviours and even the feelings of individuals?” She
especially emphasizes that the theme of heresy needs to be re-examined “in the
light of the most recent historiography” and that “the presumed or real heterodox
inclination often attributed to Bergamesque citizens … is configured more as a
political alignment than as an actual deeply rooted religious choice.” The
answers to these and other questions about medieval women, as this book shows,
are often yes, though not without limitations. Stories of Women in the Middle
Ages opens the door to further wide-ranging research into many questions that
need to be studied.