Women in the Middle Ages: Religion, Marriage and Letters
Lucas, Angela M.This highly original study
explores the condition of
women in the medieval period, par¬
ticularly in relation to church, mar¬
riage, family, education and letters.
Angela Lucas relates women’s role
in literature to ideas prevailing in
the society for which that literature
was written. She examines wills and
charters, medical, theological and
philosophy treatises, and the ser¬
mons and homilies which related to
women as well as works of generally
recognised literary merit.
By using such varied material, the
author refutes the theoretical
notions of the inferiority of women
which abounded in the Middle
Ages. Always alert to the fact that
most of the information available
about women in the Middle Ages
was written by men, and that most of
that information related only to a
limited social spectrum, Angela
Lucas convincingly argues that
women had a significant role to play
in the social and intellectual life of
the period.