Hello lovely reader,
What an honor (and absolute joy!) it was to connect with Annelise Riles on October 23rd to discuss medieval women and their peace-weaving, patriarchy-defying ways. Above is the VOD of that discussion in full. Below you will find an accompanying reading list sorted by some of the topics we discussed during our time together. A huge thank you to Annelise for making this conversation happen, I highly encourage you to visit Annelise's page and spend time with her words and mission! And thank you to every single person that stopped in, even if it was for but a moment, to show support--your presence has meant so very much to me throughout this journey! Thank you. 💜
Reimagining Medieval Women Reading List
Public/Private Spheres
Medieval elite women and the exercise of power, 1100-1400: Moving beyond the exceptionalist debate. Tanner, H. J. (Ed.). (2019). Palgrave Macmillan.
Women and Power in the Middle Ages. Erler, M., & Kowaleski, M. (1994). The University of Georgia Press.
Federico, Sylvia. “The Imaginary Society: Women in 1381.” Journal of British Studies, vol. 40, no. 2, 2001, pp. 159–83. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3070734.
Kelly, Joan. “Early Feminist Theory and the ‘Querelle Des Femmes’, 1400-1789.” Signs, vol. 8, no. 1, 1982, pp. 4–28. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3173479.
Medieval Women and War
Medieval Woman and War: Female Roles in the Old French Tradition. Harwood, Sophie. (2020). Bloomsbury Academic.
Working Women/Women in their Communities
Humphries, Jane, and Weisdorf, Jacob. “The Wages of Women in England, 1260–1850.” The Journal of Economic History, vol. 75, no. 2, 2015.
The Wealth of Wives: Women, Law, and Economy in Late Medieval London. Hanawalt, Barbara A., (2007). Oxford University Press.
Women, work, and life cycle in a medieval economy: Women in York and Yorkshire c.1300-1520. Goldberg, P. J. P. (1992). Clarendon Press.
Beguines
The Beguines of Medieval Paris: Gender, Patronage, and Spiritual Authority. Miller, Tanya Stabler. (2014). University of Pennsylvania Press.
Neel, Carol. “The Origins of the Beguines.” Signs, vol. 14, no. 2, 1989, pp. 321–41. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174553.
Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries, 1200-1565. Simons, Walter. (2001). University of Pennsylvania Press.
Merovingian Society
Women in Frankish society: Marriage and the Cloister, 500 to 900. Wemple, S. F. (1996). University of Pennsylvania Press.
Book Inheritances
Susan Groag Bell’s essay ‘Medieval Women Book Owners: Arbiters of Lay Piety and Ambassadors of Culture’ within Erler, M., & Kowaleski, M. (1994). Women and power in the Middle Ages. The University of Georgia Press.
Reinburg, Virginia. “‘For the Use of Women’: Women and Books of Hours.” Early Modern Women, vol. 4, 2009, pp. 235–40. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23541586.
Strakhov, Elizaveta and Sarah Wilma Watson. “Behind Every Man(uscript) Is a Woman: Social Networks, Christine de Pizan, and Westminster Abbey Library, MS 21.” Studies in the Age of Chaucer, vol. 43, 2021, p. 151-180. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/sac.2021.0013.
https://booksofduchesses.com/ is an essential resource
