Medieval Elite Women and the Exercise of Power, 1100–1400

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Introduction

   • Heather J. Tanner, Laura L. Gathagan, Lois L. Huneycutt

   Pages 1-18

3. Power and Agency in Post-Conquest England: Elite Women and the Transformations of the Twelfth Century

   • RāGena C. DeAragon

   Pages 19-43

4. The Most Perfect Knight’s Countess: Isabella de Clare, Her Daughters, and Women’s Exercise of Power and Influence, 1190–ca. 1250

   • Linda E. Mitchell

   Pages 45-65

5. Beyond Good Queen Anne: Anne of Bohemia, Patronage, and Politics

   • Kristen L. Geaman

   Pages 67-89

6. Emma of Ivry, c. 1008–1080

   • Charlotte Cartwright

   Pages 91-111

7. From Mothers to Daughters: Literary Patronage as Political Work in Ponthieu

   • Kathy M. Krause

   Pages 113-133

8. Pirate, Traitor, Wife: Jeanne of Belleville and the Categories of Fourteenth-Century French Noblewomen

   • Katrin E. Sjursen

   Pages 135-156

9. Just Another Day in the Neighborhood: Collective Female Donation Practices at the Hospital of Saint John in Brussels

   • Tiffany A. Ziegler

   Pages 157-176

10. A “Necessary Companion”: The Salian Consort’s Expected Role in Governance

    • Nina Verbanaz

    Pages 177-197

11. Power in Pursuit of Religion: The Penitent Sisters of Speyer and Their Choice of Affiliation

    • Christopher M. Kurpiewski

    Pages 199-223

12. Women of Antioch: Political Culture and Powerful Women in the Latin East

    • Erin L. Jordan

    Pages 225-246

13. Unexceptional Women: Power, Authority, and Queenship in Early Portugal

    • Miriam Shadis

    Pages 247-270

14. A Lifetime of Power: Beyond Binaries of Gender

    • Theresa Earenfight

    Pages 271-293

15. Back Matter

    Pages 295-310

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For decades, medieval scholarship has been dominated by the paradigm that women who wielded power after c. 1100 were exceptions to the “rule” of female exclusion from governance and the public sphere. This collection makes a powerful case for a new paradigm. Building on the premise that elite women in positions of authority were expected, accepted, and routine, these essays traverse the cities and kingdoms of France, England, Germany, Portugal, and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in order to illuminate women’s roles in medieval power structures. Without losing sight of the predominance of patriarchy and misogyny, contributors lay the groundwork for the acceptance of female public authority as normal in medieval society, fostering a new framework for understanding medieval elite women and power.

• Medieval Women
• Ann McNamara
• Suzanne Wemple
• primogeniture
• central Middle Ages
• monarchy
• lordship
• queenship
• Royal women
• Medieval queens
• Viragos
• Queen Anne
• Emma of Ivry
• Countess Ermengard of Brittany
• Constance of Antioch
• Isabella de Clare
• female religious communities
• Salian queens
• Catherine of Aragon

• Department of History, The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA

  Heather J. Tanner

Heather J. Tanner is Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University, USA. She is the author of Families, Friends and Allies: Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England c. 879–1160.

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