The Oxford Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe

by Judith M. Bennett (Editor), Ruth Mazo Karras (Editor)

Overview

The Oxford Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe provides a comprehensive overview of the gender rules encountered in Europe in the period between approximately 500 and 1500 C.E. The essays collected in this volume speak to interpretative challenges common to all fields of women's and gender history - that is, how best to uncover the experiences of ordinary people from archives formed mainly by and about elite males, and how to combine social histories of lived experiences with cultural histories of gendered discourses and identities. The collection focuses on Western Europe in the Middle Ages but offers some consideration of medieval Islam and Byzantium. The Handbook is structured into seven sections: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim thought; law in theory and practice; domestic life and material culture; labour, land, and economy; bodies and sexualities; gender and holiness; and the interplay of continuity and change throughout the medieval period. It contains material from some of the foremost scholars in this field, and it not only serves as the major reference text in medieval and gender studies, but also provides an agenda for future new research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191667305
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	08/22/2013
Series:	Oxford Handbooks
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Judith M. Bennett teaches women's history and medieval history at the University of Southern California. She is the author of a number of books and articles on medieval women and on the feminist practice of history, as well as a popular textbook on medieval European history. Ruth Mazo Karras teaches history at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of five books and numerous articles in medieval history and the history of gender and sexuality. She is a co-editor of the journal Gender and History, General Editor of the Middle Ages Series at the University of Pennsylvania Press, and a former president of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians.

Table of Contents

1. Women, Gender, and Medieval Historians, Judith M. Bennett and Ruth Mazo KarrasPart I Gendered Thinking2. Gender and the Christian Traditions, Dyan Elliott3. Jewish Traditions about Women and Gender Roles: From Rabbinic Teachings to Medieval Practice, Judith R. Baskin4. Women and Gender in Islamic Traditions, Jonathan P. Berkey5. The Political Traditions of Female Rulership in Medieval Europe, Amalie Foessel6. Medicine and Natural Philosophy: Naturalistic Traditions, Katharine ParkPart II Looking through the Law7. Women and Laws in Early Medieval Europe, Janet L. Nelson and Alice Rio8. Conflicts over Gender in Civic Courts, Carol Lansing9. Later Medieval Law in Community Context, Marie A. Kelleher10. Brideprice, Dowry, and Other Marital Assigns, Susan Mosher Stuard11. Women and Gender in Canon Law, Sara McDougallPart III Domestic Lives12. Gendering Demographic Change in the Middle Ages, Maryanne Kowaleski13. Genders and Material Culture, Katherine L. French14. Gender and Daily Life in Jewish Communities, Elisheva Baumgarten15. Carolingian Domesticities, Rachel Stone16. Public and Private Space and Gender in Medieval Europe, Sarah Rees Jones17. Pious Domesticities, Jennifer Kolpacoff DeanePart IV Land, Labor, Economy18. Slavery, Sally McKee19. Urban Economies, Kathryn Reyerson20. Rural Economies, Jane Whittle21. Aristocratic Economies, Joanna H. DrellPart V Bodies, Pleasures, Desires22. Caring for Gendered Bodies, Monica H. Green23. The Byzantine Body, Kathryn M. Ringrose24. Same-Sex Possibilities, Helmut Puff25. Performing Courtliness, E. Jane BurnsPart VI Engendering Christian Holiness26. Gender and the Initial Christianization of Northern Europe (to 1000 CE), Lisa M. Bitel27. The Gender of the Religious: Wo/men and the Invention of Monasticism, Albrecht Diem28. Women and Reform in the Central Middle Ages, Fiona J. Griffiths29. Devoted Holiness in the Lay World, Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker30. Cults of Saints, Miri Rubin31. Heresy and Gender in the Middle Ages, John H. Arnold32. Cultures of Devotion, Kathleen AshleyPart VII Turning Points and Places33. The Bride of Christ, the "Male Woman", and the Female Reader in Late Antiquity, Kate Cooper34. Gender at the Medieval Millennium, Constance H. Berman35. Gender in the Transition to Merchant Capitalism, Martha C. Howell36. Toward the Witch Craze, Laura Stokes37. Towards Feminism: Christine de Pizan, Female Advocacy, and Women's Textual Communities in the Late Middle Ages and Beyond, Roberta L. Krueger