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Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

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Articles 271 - 300 of 1179

Full-Text Articles in Medieval History

What Do We Mean By "Women And Power"?, Marie A. Kelleher Apr 2016

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 Apr 2016

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 Apr 2016

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 Apr 2016

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 Apr 2016

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 …


Where Do We Go From Here? Some Thoughts On Power And Gender In The Middle Ages, Theresa Earenfight Apr 2016

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.


Recalculating The Equation: Powerful Woman = Extraordinary, Amy Livingstone Apr 2016

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 Apr 2016

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 Apr 2016

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 Apr 2016

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.


The War Of The Two Jeannes And The Role Of The Duchess In Lordship In The Fourteenth Century, Katrin E. Sjursen Oct 2015

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 …


The Life Of St. Winifred: The Vita S. Wenefrede From Bl Lansdowne Ms 436, James Ryan Gregory Oct 2015

The Life Of St. Winifred: The Vita S. Wenefrede From Bl Lansdowne Ms 436, James Ryan Gregory

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Gender And Genre In La Estoire De Seint Aedward Le Rei: Reading Versions Of Medieval Queenship, Alexandra Verini Jun 2015

Gender And Genre In La Estoire De Seint Aedward Le Rei: Reading Versions Of Medieval Queenship, Alexandra Verini

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


"And They Shall Be Two In One Flesh": The Battle Over The Virgin's Body In The Life Of Christina Of Markyate, Alexandra Locking Jan 2015

"And They Shall Be Two In One Flesh": The Battle Over The Virgin's Body In The Life Of Christina Of Markyate, Alexandra Locking

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


The Liturgical Dramas For Holy Week At Barking Abbey, Anne Bagnall Yardley, Jesse D. Mann Dec 2014

The Liturgical Dramas For Holy Week At Barking Abbey, Anne Bagnall Yardley, Jesse D. Mann

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Medieval Women In Film: An Annotated Handlist And Reference Guide, With Essays On Teaching The Sorceress, Virginia Blanton, Martha M. Johnson-Olin, Charlene Miller Avrich Nov 2014

Medieval Women In Film: An Annotated Handlist And Reference Guide, With Essays On Teaching The Sorceress, Virginia Blanton, Martha M. Johnson-Olin, Charlene Miller Avrich

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


"Veiled With A Special Veil": Rabi'a Of Basra And The Ascetic Reconfiguration Of Identity, Olga Solovieva May 2014

"Veiled With A Special Veil": Rabi'a Of Basra And The Ascetic Reconfiguration Of Identity, Olga Solovieva

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Alison’S Antithesis In The Marriage Of Sir Gawain, Kristin Bovaird-Abbo May 2014

Alison’S Antithesis In The Marriage Of Sir Gawain, Kristin Bovaird-Abbo

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Gender And The Fate Of Julian’S Short Text, Rebecca June Oct 2013

Gender And The Fate Of Julian’S Short Text, Rebecca June

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Gender and the Fate of Julian’s Short Text Most studies of Julian of Norwich’s Showings juxtapose her Short and Long texts, with a marked lack of enthusiasm for the Short Text in contrast to its longer, revised form thought to be textually and theologically superior. This essay asks what is at stake in the rigorous defense of Julian’s Long Text and argues that the issue of gender is central both to its revisions and to its favorable reception. The most noted revision related to gender in the Long Text is the addition of its maternal Jesus, characterized as redemptive of …


Par Fiance Bien Tenir: Medieval Same-Sex Kinship And Sworn Brotherhood In Le Roman De Thèbes, Elizabeth Hubble Oct 2013

Par Fiance Bien Tenir: Medieval Same-Sex Kinship And Sworn Brotherhood In Le Roman De Thèbes, Elizabeth Hubble

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Par fiance bien tenir: Medieval Same-Sex Kinship and Sworn Brotherhood in Le Roman de Thèbes This article adds to the growing archive on medieval same-sex unions by examining an overlooked scene in an often overlooked early medieval French romance, the mid-twelfth-century Roman de Thèbes. An Old French rewriting of Statius’ Latin epic, The Thebaid, Thèbes features a formal ceremony of sworn brotherhood between two of the main characters, the knights Polynices and Tydeus. In contrast to the slightly later Roman d’Enéas, Thèbes does not counter such same-sex bonds with a heterosexual love relationship. Rather, Thèbes posits competing constructions of masculinity …


The Lesbian Premodern, Jessica A. Boon Apr 2013

The Lesbian Premodern, Jessica A. Boon

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Theologizing Gender In The Rothschild Canticles, Jennifer Freeman Apr 2013

Theologizing Gender In The Rothschild Canticles, Jennifer Freeman

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Representations Of Eve In Antiquity And The English Middle Ages, Misty Urban Apr 2013

Representations Of Eve In Antiquity And The English Middle Ages, Misty Urban

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Women From The Golden Legend: Female Authority In A Medieval Catalan Sanctoral, Denise K. Filios Apr 2013

Women From The Golden Legend: Female Authority In A Medieval Catalan Sanctoral, Denise K. Filios

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Queenship And Voice In Medieval Northern Europe, Katrin E. Sjursen Apr 2013

Queenship And Voice In Medieval Northern Europe, Katrin E. Sjursen

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Creating Cistercian Nuns: The Women's Religious Movement And Its Reform In Thirteenth-Century Champagne, Jennifer L. Stemmle Apr 2013

Creating Cistercian Nuns: The Women's Religious Movement And Its Reform In Thirteenth-Century Champagne, Jennifer L. Stemmle

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Front Matter, Medieval Feminist Forum, V.48 No.2 2012 Apr 2013

Front Matter, Medieval Feminist Forum, V.48 No.2 2012

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Letters To Francesco Datini, Lyn A. Blanchfield Apr 2013

Letters To Francesco Datini, Lyn A. Blanchfield

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Loving Friendship In Baudri Of Bourgueil's Poetic Correspondence With The Women Of Le Ronceray, Holle Canatella Apr 2013

Loving Friendship In Baudri Of Bourgueil's Poetic Correspondence With The Women Of Le Ronceray, Holle Canatella

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.


Saints Edith And Æthelthryth: Princesses, Miracle Workers, And Their Late Medieval Audiences, Lisa Weston Apr 2013

Saints Edith And Æthelthryth: Princesses, Miracle Workers, And Their Late Medieval Audiences, Lisa Weston

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.