Power of the Weak

Covering the eleventh throughsixteenth centuries, these essays suggest that influence and power mayhave paradoxically been available to women despite, and sometimes preciselybecause of, their subordinate position in society. Striking for its rangeof scholarship, this collection explores the power and independence, relationshipsand influence of medieval queens, holy women, mothers, widows, Jewishconversas, and others. Latin and Anglo-Norman hagiography, confessors'manuals, coronation rituals, responsa literature, and legal theoryare represented."An intriguing explorationof a basic paradox of medieval society, and an excellent blend of theoryand gender studies with detailed work relevant for social and politicalhistory." -- Joel Rosenthal, author of Patriarchy and Families of Privilege in Fifteenth-Century EnglandJENNIFER CARPENTERis a lecturer in history at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.