Urban Women

Life, Love, and Work in the Medieval Low Countries

Häftad, Engelska, 2025

AvJelle Haemers,Andrea Bardyn,Chanelle Delameillieure

459 kr

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Exploring women's stories of work, protest, and power in the medieval Low CountriesThe Middle Ages—a time often cast as a dark period when violence reigned and men dominated society. Women, as the deeply rooted cliché would have it, played scarcely any part. But this book tells a different story, one in which women step forward as the main characters. In the southern Low Countries, townswomen held substantial rights, which they used to conduct business, voice their opinions, and assert their will.Urban Women presents a different and lesser-known image of the late Middle Ages, from 1250 to 1550. The authors trace the lives of women protesting, marrying, making love, working, and engaging in the daily life of Low Countries towns. In doing so, this book gives voice to wealthy businesswomen, laborers, religious women, criminals, and sex workers, spotlighting the remarkable figures who shaped a “women’s town” within a man’s world.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2025-04-30
Mått155 x 233 x 19 mm
Vikt454 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor232
FörlagLeuven University Press
ISBN9789462704497

Tillhör följande kategorier

Medeltiden inom Historia och arkeologi
Genusvetenskap inom Samhalle och politik

Jelle Haemers is professor of Medieval History at KU Leuven. His research focuses on the social history of the Middle Ages and the urban history of the Low Countries. Jelle Haemers is professor of Medieval History at KU Leuven. His research focuses on the social history of the Middle Ages and the urban history of the Low Countries. Andrea Bardyn (PhD) studies inequalities between men and women in the medieval economy and marital power relations. Andrea Bardyn (PhD) studies inequalities between men and women in the medieval economy and marital power relations. Chanelle Delameillieure is lecturer in Medieval History at KU Leuven-KULAK. Her expertise and research focus are on the social and cultural history of the late medieval Low Countries. Chanelle Delameillieure is lecturer in Medieval History at KU Leuven-KULAK. Her expertise and research focus are on the social and cultural history of the late medieval Low Countries. Nena Vandeweerdt is a postdoctoral researcher who studies gendered socioeconomic interactions in late medieval and early modern towns. She holds a PhD in History from the KU Leuven and the University of Cantabria. Her work focuses on urban labor markets, everyday life, and the use of digital humanities in historical research.

Acknowledgements Introduction. A different history of the medieval city Chapter 1. From girlhood to widowhood: On the rights of women and children Andrea Bardyn & Jelle HaemersChapter 2. Women and marriage: Choice of partner, matrimonial conflicts, and relations Chanelle DelameillieureChapter 3. Industrious women and their life in business Andrea BardynChapter 4. Pious women: Beguines and their virtuous lives together Kim OverlaetChapter 5. Working women: women’s professional activities in and outside craft guilds Nena Vandeweerdt & Jelle HaemersChapter 6. “Bad women”: Violence, crime, and rebellion Jelle HaemersChapter 7. Eros and women: Sexuality, consent, and prostitution Chanelle Delameillieure & Jelle HaemersConclusions. Of “wise women” and “witless men” Primary sourcesLiteratureAbout the authors

As sociologist Alison Woodward aptly observed, ‘everyone is anonymous in a town, except for a woman. She is always seen, always treated as…a woman’. Historical analysis can therefore illuminate how this complex relationship between women and urban life emerged and evolved over time. It is precisely in this regard that the volume under review makes a valuable contribution. - Lisa Demets, Journal of Medieval History, 52(1), 150–152. https://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2026.2613226