Reading Women in Late Medieval Europe

Alfred Thomas is Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. He has published eight books, including, Anne's Bohemia: Czech Literature and Society (1310-1420); A Blessed Shore: England and Bohemia from Chaucer to Shakespeare; Prague Palimpsest: Writing, Memory, and the City; and Shakespeare, Dissent, and the Cold War.

• Introduction 1. Devotional Texts for Royal Princesses in Late Medieval Bohemia 2. Writing Jews, Writing Women: "The Prioress's Tale" and the Sacred Drama of Medieval Europe 3. The Lady as Saint: "The Second Nun's Tale," Pearl, and the Czech Life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria 4. Dangerous Amazons: Sexual and Textual Rivalry in "The Knight's Tale" and The Dalimil Chronicle 5. Powerful Wives and Captive Knights: "The Wife of Bath's Tale," Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the Czech Chivalric Romances 6. Women Defended, Women Defamed: The Legend of Good Women, The Plowman from Bohemia, and The Little Weaver Conclusion

"Alfred Thomas makes some important advances in our understanding of the affiliations between Bohemia and Britain in the later middle ages - a field of study attracting a rapid growth of interest. This coherent and persuasive study will appeal not only to Chaucerians but also to those working on patronage, cultural transmission, literary influence, gender, saints' lives, and European literature, among many other topics. Alfred Thomas's connectivity with a range of ongoing debates is impressive." - Peter Brown, Professor of English, University of Kent, UK