Our understanding of the lives and roles of medieval women has changed dramatically in recent years. Far from being background characters of the middle ages, women often wielded an influence beyond their expected station. Many women fortunate enough to receive an education became patrons of literature, particularly secular tales of adventure and romance. Some bold pioneers became writers themselves. Others commissioned, or had dedicated to them, the earliest historical chronicles, bestiaries, and treatises on healthcare and military prowess.
Medieval Women celebrates the importance that women across Europe assigned to reading and literature, and the many ways women advanced medieval culture. It reveals the influence of great patrons like Eleanor of Castile, the English queen who employed two scribes and an illuminator in her personal workshop, and writers such as Hildegard of Bingen and Christine de Pizan, in addition to professional women who made their livings as scribes, artists, and librarians.
In this compelling book, generously illustrated with images from the British Library's unparalleled medieval manuscript collection, Deirdre Jackson explores both how such literary women were perceived by others, from churchmen and artists to relatives and servants, and how they saw themselves--as wives, mothers, women of learning, women of God, and members of a vibrant and volatile society.
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