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Women in Early Medieval Europe 400-1100 Lisa M. Bitel |
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Women in Early Medieval
Europe is not just a history of women, but a history of the early
European Middle Ages through the eyes of women. Most books about Medieval
women focus on such gendered topics as family and marriage, women's work, queenship, or women's status. This book combines the rich
literature of women's history with original research in the context of
mainstream history and traditional chronology. It begins with the end
of the Roman empire and ends at the start of the twelfth century, when women
and men set out to test the old frontiers of Europe. The book recreates the
lives of ordinary women but also tells personal stories of individuals. Each
chapter also questions an assumption of Medieval historiography, paraphrasing
the famous query posed by the historian Joan Kelly-Gadol,
"Did women have a renaissance?" Did women have an invasion? A
Christianization? A war? An intellectual life? An economic expansion? A dream
of political power? Women in Early Medieval Europe uses the few
documents produced by women themselves, along with archaeological evidence,
art, and the written records of medieval men, to tell of women, their
experiences and ideas, and their relations with men. It covers the continent
and its exotic edges, such as Lisa A. Bitel is Professor of History, University of Southern
California. She studied at Harvard University, the National University of
Ireland, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Her books include Isle
of the Saints: Christian Settlement and Monastic Community in Early Ireland
(1990), and Land of Women: Tales of Sex and Gender from Early Ireland
(1996) - winner of the Byron Caldwell Prize and the James Donnelly Prize. |
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