Ebook: Women and Writing in Medieval Europe: a Sourcebook

Carolyne Larrington has gathered together a uniquely comprehensive collection of writing by, for and about medieval women, spanning one thousand years and Europe from Iceland to Byzantiu. The extracts are arranged thematically, dealing with the central areas of medieval women's lives and their relation to social and cultural institutions. Each section is contextualised with a brief historical introduction, and the materials span literary, historical, theological and other narrative and imaginative writing. The writings here uncover and confound the stereotype of the medieval woman as lady or virgin by demonstrating the different roles and meanings that the sign of woman occupied in the imaginative space of the medieval period. Larrington's clear and accessible editorial material and the modern English translations of all the extracts mean this work is ideally suited for students. Women and Writing in Early Europe: A Sourcebook also contains an extensive and fully up-to-date bibliography, making it not only essential reading for undergraduates and post graduates but also a valuable tool for scholars.;BOOK COVER -- HALF-TITLE -- TITLE -- COPYRIGHT -- DEDICATION -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- 1 MARRIAGE -- INTRODUCTION -- Marriage as institution -- Making a marriage -- Marriage and property -- Widows and second marriages -- Being a wife -- 1 THE GOOD WIVES -- 2 THE MALMARIÉE -- (a) Marie de France's Laüstic -- (b) A malmariée song -- 3 MARRIAGES IN ROMANCE -- 4 A RASH WOOING: UNUSUAL EVENTS AT A WEDDING FEAST -- 5 THE DISOBEDIENT WIFE -- 6 A FORWARD YOUNG WOMAN -- 7 DUTIES OF THE BOURGEOIS HOUSEWIFE -- 8 CARING FOR A SICK HUSBAND -- 9 A CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE -- Letter from Margaret Paston to John Paston II, 1469 c. 10 September -- 2 LOVE, SEX AND FRIENDSHIP -- INTRODUCTION -- 'Courtly love' -- Women as poets of 'courtly love' -- The 'code of courtly love' and Andreas Capellanus -- Pastoral -- Women and sex -- Friendship -- The romance and 'romance' -- 1 AN EARLY WOMAN'S SONG -- 2 SEXUAL PASSION RECALLED -- 3 TWO LATER LOVE-LYRICS -- 'Unter den Linden' -- 4 THE TROBAIRITZ -- 'Estat ai en greu cossirier' -- 'Mout avetz faich long estatge' -- 'Vos que.m semblatz dels corals amadors' -- 5 ABOUT LOVE -- (a) What love is -- (b) Where love gets its name -- (c) What the effect of love is -- 6 THE WRITING OF LOVE LETTERS -- (a) The commendation of women -- (b) An awkward situation -- 7 LOVE BETWEEN WOMEN -- 8 THE ARCHPRIEST OF HITA -- (a) The Archpriest and the Mooress -- (b) The Archpriest and the mountain girl -- 9 IL DOLCE STIL NUOVO -- (a) Petrarch: Rime -- (b) Dante: from La Vita Nuova -- 10 AN ALBA (DAWN-SONG) -- Parting at dawn (Y wawr) -- 11 A WOMAN POET CELEBRATES THE FEMALE GENITALS -- The female genitals (Cywydd y cedor) -- 12 THE DANGERS OF COURTLY LOVE -- 13 A THWARTED AFFAIR -- 14 A VALENTINE LETTER -- 15 A SPANISH WOMAN POET -- Song by Florencía Pinar -- 3 MOTHERHOOD AND WORK -- INTRODUCTION.