num_pages: 248
description:    Covering the eleventh through        sixteenth centuries, these essays suggest that influence and power may        have paradoxically been available to women despite, and sometimes precisely        because of, their subordinate position in society. Striking for its range        of scholarship, this collection explores the power and independence, relationships        and influence of medieval queens, holy women, mothers, widows, Jewish        conversas, and others. Latin and Anglo-Norman hagiography, confessors'        manuals, coronation rituals, responsa literature, and legal theory        are represented.      "An intriguing exploration        of a basic paradox of medieval society, and an excellent blend of theory        and gender studies with detailed work relevant for social and political        history." -- Joel Rosenthal, author of Patriarchy and Families        of Privilege in Fifteenth-Century England      JENNIFER CARPENTER        is a lecturer in history at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. 
language: English
title: Power of the Weak: Studies on Medieval Women
titlecomplete: Power of the Weak: Studies on Medieval Women
ratings_count: 6
publisher: University of Illinois Press