1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910484613103321

Titolo

Medieval Elite Women and the Exercise of Power, 1100–1400 : Moving beyond the Exceptionalist Debate / / edited by Heather J. Tanner

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2019

ISBN

9783030013462 (Ebook)

Edizione

[1st ed. 2019.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xvii, 310 pages) : illustrations (chiefly color)

Collana

The New Middle Ages, , 2945-5944

Disciplina

305.40902

305.420902

Soggetti

Europe - History - 476-1492

Europe - History - 1492-

Feminism

Feminist theory

Literature, Medieval

History of Medieval Europe

History of Early Modern Europe

Feminism and Feminist Theory

Medieval Literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction -- 2. Power and Agency in Post-Conquest England: Elite Women and the Transformation of the Twelfth Century -- 3. The Most Perfect Knight's Countess: Isabella de Clare, Her Daughters, and Women's Exercise of Power and Influence, 1190–ca. 1250 -- 4. Beyond Good Queen Anne: Anne of Bohemia, Patronage, and Politics -- 5. Emma of Ivry, c. 1008–1080 -- 6. From Mothers to Daughters: Literary Patronage as Political Work in Ponthieu -- 7. Pirate, Traitor, Wife: Jeanne of Belleville and the Categories of Fourteenth-Century French Noblewomen -- 8. Just Another Day in the Neighborhood: Collective Female Donation Practices at the Hospital of Saint John in Brussels -- 9. A "Necessary Companion": The Salian Consort's Expected Role in Governance -- 10. Power in Pursuit of Religion: The Penitent Sisters of Speyer and their Choice of Affiliation -- 11. Women of Antioch: Political



Culture and Powerful Women in the Latin East -- 12. Unexceptional Women: Power, Authority, and Queenship in Early Portugal -- 13. A Lifetime of Power: Beyond Binaries of Gender.

Sommario/riassunto

For decades, medieval scholarship has been dominated by the paradigm that women who wielded power after c. 1100 were exceptions to the “rule” of female exclusion from governance and the public sphere. This collection makes a powerful case for a new paradigm. Building on the premise that elite women in positions of authority were expected, accepted, and routine, these essays traverse the cities and kingdoms of France, England, Germany, Portugal, and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in order to illuminate women’s roles in medieval power structures. Without losing sight of the predominance of patriarchy and misogyny, contributors lay the groundwork for the acceptance of female public authority as normal in medieval society, fostering a new framework for understanding medieval elite women and power.