Constance of France: Womanhood and Agency in Twelfth-Century Europe is a biography of Constance of France, sister of King Louis VII of France. Myra Bom recovers Constance's life story and puts it in its medieval context by examining the historical evidence of chronicles, charters, seal imprints and letters. The countess's long and interesting life makes for women's history with a large geographical scope, including France, England, Toulouse and the Latin East. It touches on many aspects of life during the Middle Ages such as birth, marriage and divorce, gender roles, experience of time, and expectation for the afterlife. Bom demonstrates how and to what extent medieval women could, and did, take control of their own lives. This book is an account of the interplay of historical context and agency.
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: A Girl is Born.- Chapter 3: The Politics of Marriage: England.- Chapter 4: Models of Queenship.- Chapter 5: A New Marriage: Toulouse.- Chapter 6: Leaving the Count.- Chapter 7: Care for the Soul.- Chapter 8: To Jerusalem.- Chapter 9: Conclusion.
Myra Miranda Bom is Research Associate at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She lives in Cambridge, England, and occasionally lectures and supervises at the University of Cambridge. She previously published Women in the Military Orders of the Crusades (Palgrave 2012) and has written several related articles.
"Myra Miranda Bom's study of Constance of France is a typical scholarly biography. ... The book contains eight chapters ... as well as a short conclusion and two appendices ... . Appendix A offers two unpublished charters ... . Appendix B provides very simplified genealogical information about Constance's families: Capetian, Boulonnais, and Toulousain." (Kathy Krause, Speculum, Vol. 99 (4), October, 2024)
