Surviving Poverty in Medieval Paris: Gender, Ideology, and the Daily Lives of the Poor
"We are starting to see several excellent histories of gender written by authors informed by feminist theories attuned to class, age, and marital status as important categories of difference—categories that only complicate and enrich our vision of past societies. Sharon Farmer's latest work on the lives of the poor in the thirteenth-and fourteenth century Paris is a prime example of this historiographical shift, and the author's approach, method, and insights will prove significant to early modern historians interested in social and gender history."—Christopher R. Corley, Minnesota State University, Sixteenth Century Journal, 34:2, 2003."This small but rich study raises some basic questions about polarizations and social cleavages in late-13th and early-14th-century France, mirroring general issues in medieval Europe. . . . Touching many basic issues, this broad and learned book is recommended for all levels and collections."—Choice, September 2002, Vol. 40, No. 1"We now understand more clearly than before . . . how the medieval urban poor managed and the place of affective social relationships in this milieu."—Dave Postles, University of Leicester, Medieval Feminist Forum 35, Spring 2003"From tiny fragments of forgotten lives Farmer has derived a disturbing, stimulating, convincing account, one that has great and widely pertinent importance."—Virginia Quarterly Review 78:4"Most non-poor Americans today have limited direct contact with poor people in their daily lives. Thus, attitudes and policy are based on unfounded generalizations undergirded by irrelevant moral value systems. A new book, Surviving Poverty in Medieval Paris, shows that the present-day stereotyping of poor people is not so different from the 13th Century."—No More Jobs, Vol. 8, No. 2, March 2002"This book cautions us from thinking too simply about gender constructs, and, most importantly in my opinion, brings property and social status to the center of the discussion about what constitute masculinities and femininities which were, Farmer convincingly argues, various and several."—James R. Farr, Purdue University, Labour/Le Travail 52, Fall 2003"Paris, the largest city in medieval western Europe, has been absent for far too long from debates on urban societies and their problems. Sharon Farmer's book will put Paris back on the map. This book redefines medieval poverty as a gendered experience, and deploys a dazzling array of sources to explain how church and state responded (or not) to the poor."—Steven Epstein, University of Colorado"Surviving Poverty in Medieval Paris is a major contribution to our understanding of poverty and gender in the most important urban environment in the medieval west."—William Chester Jordan, Princeton University