Daily Life of Women in Medieval Europe

Belle S. Tuten, PhD, is Charles A. Dana Professor of History at Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA.

Preface
Introduction
Chronology
1. MARRIAGE AND SEXUALITY
Late Antique and Early Medieval Marriage
Roman Marriage
Germanic Marriage
Age at First Marriage
The Christian Influence on Early Medieval Marriage
Sex in Marriage—Fourth Through Eleventh Centuries
Concubinage and Polygyny
High Medieval Marriage and Sexuality
Sex in Marriage—Twelfth to Fifteenth Centuries
Positive and Negative Views of Sex
Positive and Negative Views of Marriage and Women
Jewish Marriage and Sexuality
Rape and Sexual Violence
Domestic Abuse
Conclusion
2. CHILDBIRTH, CHILD REARING, AND THE LIFE CYCLE
Understanding the Female Body
Pregnancy
Childbirth
Birth Attendants and Midwives
Contraception, Abortion, and Infanticide
Illegitimacy and Abandonment
The Ages of Man
Stages of Life: The Family
Stages of Life: Infancy
Stages of Life: Adolescence
Stages of Life: Adulthood
Stages of Life: Widowhood
Stages of Life: Old Age
Stages of Life: A Good Death
Conclusion
3. WORKING WOMEN
Living and Working in the Countryside: Serfs and Peasants
Everyday Food
Upper-Class Food and Feasts
Cloth Production
Town Work in the Middle Ages
Creating and Transmitting Knowledge: Book Production
Caregiving and Healing
Conclusion
4. NOBLE WOMEN
Marriages and Children
Dowry, Dower, and Inheritance
Royal Power and Regency
Conduct of an Aristocratic Lady: Ideals
Daily Life for Upper-Class Women
Leisure Time
Conclusion
5. RELIGION AND THE CHURCH
Daily Religious Practice
Finances and Endowments
New and Reformed Religious Orders
Lay Piety and Beguinage
Mysticism
Joan of Arc: Saint or Heretic?
Conclusion
6. WOMEN ON THE OUTSKIRTS
Crimes and Incarceration
Sexual Transgressions
Women and Religious Heresy
Magic and Witchcraft
Conclusion
7. WOMEN IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Brunhilda (Sixth Century CE)
Baudonivia (ca. 600 CE)
Dhuoda (Ninth Century)
Hrosvitha of Gandersheim (ca. 935–ca. 973)
Wynflaed, Wulfwaru, and Wulfgyth (Tenth to Eleventh Centuries)
Wallada bint al-Mustakfi (d. ca. 1091 CE)
Constance of Angers (Late Eleventh to Early Twelfth Centuries)
Trota of Salerno (Twelfth Century)
Qasmuna bint Isma'il ibn Bagdalah (Twelfth Century)
Héloïse of Argenteuil (ca. 1100–1164)
Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179)
Herrad of Hohenburg (ca. 1130–1195)
Clemence of Barking (Late Twelfth Century)
The Trobairitz (Twelfth to Thirteenth Centuries)
Marie de France (Fl. Twelfth Century)
Marguerite Porete (d. 1310)
Julian of Norwich (ca. 1343–ca. 1416)
Christine de Pisan (1364–1430)
Catherine Benincasa of Siena (1347–1380)
Margery Kempe (1373–ca. 1439)
Bartolomea Riccoboni (ca. 1369–1440)
Helene Kottanner (ca. 1400–after 1470)
The Paston Women (Fifteenth Century)
Conclusion
Primary Document A: Héloïse to Abelard, Letter 4, ca. 1132
Primary Document B: Catherine of Siena, Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin, ca. 1370
Primary Document C: Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ca. 1410
Primary Document D: Margaret Paston, The Marriage of Margery Paston, 1469
Primary Document E: Margery Kempe, Excerpt from The Book of Margery Kempe, 1521
Glossary
Bibliography
Index