Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Joan De Valence: The Life And Influence Of A Thirteenth-Century Noblewoman, Jitske Jasperse

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Back Matter, Medieval Feminist Forum, V.52 No.1 2016

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

More Than One Way To Measure: Masculinity In The Zurkaneh Of Safavid Iran, Zachary T. Smith

The Hilltop Review

The zurkhaneh of early modern Safavid Iran was an institution where men undertook physical training, in some ways reminiscent of a modern-day gymn. This paper attempts to theorize the zurkhaneh as a public space in which primarily non-elite men participated in the social economy of early modern Safavid Iran based upon their pursuit of the ideal of javanmardi, or young manliness. To accomplish this, this paper will combine the themes of publicity, the social utility of the body, and the authority of textuality with an examination of the physical culture of the zurkhaneh to theorize the utility, representation, and …

Front Matter, Medieval Feminist Forum, V.51 No.2 2016

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Beyond Women And Power: Looking Backward And Moving Forward, Kathy M. Krause

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Powerful Women And Misogynistic Subplots: Some Comments On The Necessity Of Checking The Primary Sources, Tracy Adams

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Many women formerly regarded as harridans, vixens, or worse by historians throughout the ages have been rehabilitated in recent years. It is therefore discouraging to find old narratives of female promiscuity, intriguing, incompetence, frivolity, cupidity, obesity) continuing to circulate, in the form of what we might think of as female "subplots" in larger histories. When the woman in question is not the star of the study she is often subject to outdated stereotypes gleaned from old studies. This essay, focusing on a number of very recent subplots that recycle verifiably incorrect assumptions about Isabeau of Bavaria (1371-1435), queen of mad …

Mistrusting The Historiography Of Royal Mothers: Louis Of Savoy And Catherine De Medici, Kathleen Wellman

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Louise of Savoy, mother of Francis I, and Catherine de Medici, mother of the last three reigning Valois kings—Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III—were two sixteenth-century women whose maternity gave them access to power and provided the foundation for their claims to exercise it legitimately. While their contemporaries either accepted or contested those claims, some nineteenth-century critics vehemently rejected female rule, particularly by mothers. Modern scholars have left those nineteenth-century repudiations largely unquestioned.

What Do We Mean By "Women And Power"?, Marie A. Kelleher

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This essay considers the question of how we define “power” in order to best include women and gender. Queenship/lordship studies have been at the forefront of women-and-power discussions, and have advanced that discussion by moving away from the “exceptional woman” biographies to focus on the patterns of power that these women embodied. But if we extend our definition of power beyond the realm of public authority to a more general category of acts that can shape the destinies of others, we are confronted with a much broader field of action that might be considered “women’s power” — a field that …

Archives From Houses Of Cistercian Nuns And Their Evidence For Powerful Thirteenth-Century Secular Women, Constance H. Berman

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This essay examines documents from abbeys of Cistercian nuns in northern France. The documents reveal the presence of numerous women of power and authority as founders and patrons of those women's houses. Where some women were acting as widows or regents, others had access to sufficient funds for acts of patronage and foundation because they were heiresses. Here those named Matilda from the ecclesiastical province of Sens in northern France are underlined, showing the diversity of female wealth and power.

Back Matter, Medieval Feminist Forum, V.51 No.2 2016

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Queenship Studies Comes Of Age, Lois L. Huneycutt

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Mistresses And Merveilleuses: The Historiographical Record On Female Political Players Of The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries, Christine Adams

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Modern historians have found it difficult to disrupt the narrative inherited from past scholars, who argued that even prominent women lacked any genuine political role in the early modern world. However, in many ways, the personal influence that women exercised in court and salon society was highly political, as was that of men. An examination of the power of highly visible women, for example, famous mistresses such as Madame de Montespan and Madame Tallien, suggests that historians should broaden their understanding of the “political” and more carefully interrogate the activities of female historical figures, rejecting the moralistic accounts that have …

Recalculating The Equation: Powerful Woman = Extraordinary, Amy Livingstone

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Literary Heiresses And Historical Countesses In Thirteenth-Century France: Some Methodological Notes, Kathy M. Krause

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Woman And Power: Thoughts Arising Out Of The Roundtable "Debating Women And Power In The Middle Ages," International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 2014, Penelope Nash

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Questions are asked about how we study medieval women in positions of power, with particular reference to elite Italian and German women in the earlier Middle Ages. The essay calls for scholars to search for nuances in former understandings of women’s opportunities to exercise power while re-examining locality, time period, life cycles, and female and male power. The essay includes an appeal to scholars to become better acquainted with the work of their peers who write in other languages.

Contemplating Royal Women's Access To Power And The Transition Between The Middle Ages And The "Monstrous Regiment" Of The Early Modern Era, Elena Woodacre

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This paper considers the factors which enabled women to access power via developing mechanisms for royal succession in medieval Europe and how this access was mediated through partnership with co-rulers, including consorts, sons and other co-opted family members and councilors. Finally the paper considers the relationship between the female rulers of the Middle Ages and the famous "Monstrous Regiment" in Early Modern Europe.

Where Do We Go From Here? Some Thoughts On Power And Gender In The Middle Ages, Theresa Earenfight

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Current research on queens exposes the biased weaknesses in much of the scholarly work on monarchy and reveals that queens were hardly exceptional. By examining monarchy as a family affair, rather than that of a man alone on the throne, it is clear that queens and noblewomen were fundamental to the operations of monarchy. Taking this meta-discourse of monarchy into account reveals a complex network of affiliations that were obscured by generations of scholars who focused only the deeds of men and thus regarded a woman in power as exceptional.

Fort St. Joseph Post - Spring 2016, Michael S. Nassaney

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

We hope you enjoy this issue of the Fort St. Joseph Post, filled with information about current activities that are being conducted under the auspices of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, a partnership between the City of Niles and Western Michigan University. As you can see, students, staff, faculty, and volunteers are busy investigating, interpreting, and promoting the archaeology of Fort St. Joseph, one of the most important French colonial sites in the western Great Lakes region. We are regularly present at professional conferences, community events, and other venues sharing information about the fort and inviting the public to …

7: Public Archaeology At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project practices community service learning.

8: Religious Life At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Written documents indicate that the Jesuit priests settled among neighboring Native American groups and were successful at creating some converts at the St. Joseph mission.

6: Military Presence At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

From 1691 the 1698 and from 1717 to 1761, French military personnel occupied Fort St. Joseph to defend the site's strategic position on a major trade route near the portage between the St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers, while maintaining alliances with friendly Native American groups to facilitate the trade in furs.

5: Project History, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Investigations at the long lost fort were begun in 1998 by WMU archaeologists.

4: Commercial Activities At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph was an important link in the chain of frontier outposts that marked the far reaches of New France and facilitated the fur trade between the French and Native Americans in the Western Great Lakes region.

3: Change And Continuity At Fort St. Joseph, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph was a multi-ethnic community.

2: Fort History, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

The French established Fort St. Joseph in the 1691 in present day Niles.

1: What Is Archaeology?, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Panel 1, Archaeology is the study of past peoples through the items that they have left behind.

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project Annual Report, 2015, Michael S. Nassaney

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

This year the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project (hereafter the “Project”) established new standards in research, teaching, and public outreach in the study of the fur trade and colonialism in southwest Michigan. The Project continues to collaborate in the generation and dissemination of knowledge under the auspices of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeology Advisory Committee (FSJAAC), Western Michigan University (WMU) faculty and students, interested stakeholders, supporters, members, and community volunteers. Highlights of 2015 include:

• Fort St. Joseph was featured in the exhibit “Evidence Found” at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum in 2015, enjoyed by some 60,000 visitors.
• The Register of Professional …

Front Matter, Medieval Feminist Forum, V.51, No.1, 2015

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

The War Of The Two Jeannes And The Role Of The Duchess In Lordship In The Fourteenth Century, Katrin E. Sjursen

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

In the mid-fourteenth century, two women headed opposing parties in a civil war for control of the duchy of Brittany in France. Conventional scholarship explains their involvement in politics and warfare as exceptions possible only during emergencies. Contemporary chronicles and the letters of the two women themselves, however, tell another story, one in which these two women participated in politics and warfare even before their husbands entered captivity. Their participation makes sense if we recognize that medieval society understood lordship as a form of shared governance performed by a noble couple. While separate roles did exist for the husband and …

Reginal Intercession And The Case Of Cristina, Convicted Murderer, Katherine Allocco

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

In the winter of 1328-1329, Cristina, widow of Thomas Scot, potter of London, was convicted, imprisoned in Newgate and sentenced to hang for the crime of murdering her husband. Her execution was delayed due to her pregnancy. In January or February 1329, Cristina sent a letter to Isabella of France, queen mother, requesting a King’s pardon. On March 2, Edward III pardoned Cristina, at his mother’s request, through letters patent. It appears that Isabella, who had an established reputation as an intercessor for both personal petitions and general political appeals, had successfully interceded on Cristina’s behalf. Although medieval queens- both …