Status and Social Roles of Women in Central Europe in the Middle Ages (Studies in Medieval History and Culture)

This book presents a comprehensive overview of women's activities in various spheres of life in medieval Poland and its neighbouring countries, seeking to move beyond the commonly accepted perspective of queens and higher nobility from the social elite to rural women, townswomen and poor noblewomen. The authors provide the broadest possible overview of these women's activities, encompassing their domestic, religious, economic, and cultural lives. Women are presented as active characters, not merely as objects of male actions. The limits of this activity were set by a system of norms and values and the resulting power relations within and outside the family. A fundamental problem in the study of women in the Middle Ages is the limited number and type of surviving sources, as well as their chronological and geographical distribution. Their voices are barely audible and almost always mediated. Despite these difficulties, the source material from the medieval period proves abundant enough to allow the contributors to take a broad look at the fate of women and their roles in many aspects and perspectives. This volume will appeal to students and scholars alike interested in the history of women and their significance in medieval society.