Blamires, Alcuin, ed; Pratt, Karen ed.; Marx, C.W. ed., Woman Defamed and Woman Defended: An Anthology of Medieval Texts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Text name(s):

Number of pages of primary source text: 275

Medieval Author(s): Abelard, Peter Albertano da Brescia Ambrose Anselm of Canterbury Aquinas, Thomas Aristotle Augustine of Hippo Boccaccio, Giovanni Capellanus, Andreas Chaucer, Geoffrey Christine de Pizan Gower, John Gratian Heloise Isidore of Seville Jacques de Vitry Jean de Meun Map, Walter Marbod of Rennes Ovid Strassburg, Gottfried Von

Dates: 0 - 1450

Archival Reference:

Original Language(s): English - Middle English; French - Old French; German; Greek; Italian; Latin;

Translation: English translation.

Translation Comments:

Geopolitical Region(s): England; France; Germany; Italy;

County/Region:

Apparatus: Index Bibliography Introduction

Comments:

This anthology brings together many texts written on women during classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, addressing their social, theological, political, and philosophical implications. It provides a broad sampling of different types of text: verse, prose, legal texts, literary works, letters, scientific treatises, and it also includes images. This introductory survey of primary sources relating to is particularly useful to an ungergraduate audience for a broad sense of the roles of and attitudes towards women in the Middle Ages. It also contributes to the ongoing scholarly “debate on women” in the Middle Ages, still striving for an answer to the question of whether, or to what extent, women were in fact “defamed and defended.” Includes a bibliography of helpful primary and secondary sources.

Introduction Summary:

The brief (16 pp) introduction discusses the classical roots of medieval misogyny and its wide ranging presence in medieval Christianity. The editor does note, however, that there were also many voices, even in the Early Middle Ages, which sought to defend women from the charges leveled against them. Each section is also accompanied by a brief introduction which provides some historical and social context.

Cataloger: MCB