READING GUIDE WEEK 12: Aristocratic Women
A. Norman
Noblewomen of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
See the substantial introduction to this text contained in its on-line
incarnation.
1. Both authors (Orderic Vitalis and Suger of St Denis) were monks.
Does this fact help explain anything about their treatment of Mabel, Bertrade,
and others?
2. What kind (genre) of source are we confronted with here? Why did
Orderic Vitalis write his massive Ecclesiastical History? How, then, do
the stories of a few women fit into the overall framework of his project?
3. What powers, intentions, and tendencies does Orderic ascribe to
Mabel of Bellême?
4. How does Orderic depict the marriage between Mabel and Roger? What
are the expectations placed on wives by Orderic and his society? On husbands?
5. What does the episode involving Mabel’s conflict with Abbot Thierry
tell us about women and power?
6. It was a commonplace for some medieval authors to attribute evil
to women’s nature. How are we to interpret Orderic’s narrative of
Mabel’s attempt to poison Arnold of Echauffour? Is she ‘simply’ evil? Should
we employ a gendered analysis here?
7. What were the sources of the power that Mabel (and others) employed?
Is power a gendered concept here? That is, is there “female” power and
“male” power? Explain....
8. How did Mabel meet her end? What does Orderic think about this event?
9. Look carefully at Mabel’s epitaph. Notice how Orderic introduces
it. What does the contrast between the tone of the epitaph and Orderic’s
obvious hatred of her suggest about Orderic as a source? How ought we to
interpret Mabel and her behavior?
10. Why does Orderic find Earl Roger’s second wife to be so much better
a person than Mabel? What does this suggest about what Orderic thought
to be the norms for female behavior?
11. Read the story of Bertrade of Montfort carefully. What can
we learn from it about how marriages were made and how marriages were ended
among the upper aristocracy in France during the late 11th century?
12. Is Bertrade passive? Is she an object? Or is she active, and a
subject? How might your answer to these questions help explain Orderic
and Suger’s interpretation of her?
13. Can you detect a difference in custom and tradition regarding marriage
and divorce between the secular aristocracy and the church? What does the
church have to say about Bertrade’s actions?
14. Bertrade and King Philip had two sons, Florus and Philip. Yet King
Philip already had an heir (Louis, the future Louis VI) by his first wife.
How as stepmother did Bertrade interfere in the succession to the realm?
Did she favor her own sons? What does this suggest about mothers, queens,
and power?
15. Why do we care that King William left his wife, Matilda, in charge
of Normandy while he was in England?
16. Why is it significant that Matilda enjoyed a separate coronation
ritual?
17. What virtues does Orderic Vitalis ascribe to Queen Matilda? Are
these “feminine” virtues?
18. Why did the Norman knights clamor to return home to Normandy? What
does this anecdote say about Orderic’s assumptions about female nature,
desires, and attitudes? How is it reminiscent of the medical/philosophical
texts we studied in the first part of the course?
19. What images of women and their place in society does the episode
involving Aubrée, wife of Albert of Cravent, offer? According to
this anecdote, what were women supposed to do? How were they supposed to
act? Were they to be passive? What were their “natural” interests and tendencies?
20. What does the story of Avice, daughter of Herbrand, suggest about
proper roles and attitudes for women? How might this text have been considered
an exemplum (model example) for new wives?
21. A recent historian has written about noblewomen’s “power of persuasion”.
How does the story of Adela of Blois fit this concept?
B. A
Letter to Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1173
Eleanor was the sole heiress to the vast duchy of Aquitaine, which
covered most of southern France. She married first Louis VII, king of the
French, in 1137. A woman of strong personality, she seems to have
held a powerful influence over Louis, to the extent of getting him to pursue
traditional Aquitanian policies in the first part of his reign. Eleanor
accompanied Louis on crusade in 1147-1150, during which a rift grew up
between them. By 1152, back in France, Louis secured an annullment by reason
of consanguinity and Eleanor was again free to marry. A few months
later, Eleanor married Henry, Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy; when
Henry became King Henry II of England in 1154, Eleanor became queen.
With Henry (ruled 1154-1189) she had many children, including four sons
who lived to adulthood: Henry (who died in 1183), Richard the Lionheart
(king from 1189-1199), Geoffrey (died 1184) and John (king 1199-1216).
Thus Eleanor was wife to two kings and mother of two more. As Henry’s
queen, Eleanor helped him rule his vast collection of lands (known by historians
as the “Angevin Empire”); in particular, she ruled her native land of Aquitaine
in the 1160s and early 1170s. When Henry proved reluctant to grant
his sons any authority over parts of his kingdom, they rose in rebellion
in 1173. Eleanor took the side of her sons against her husband, and helped
use the resources of Aquitaine to assist (in particular) Richard against
Henry. Ultimately, of course, Henry prevailed against his sons.
But a casualty of this revolt was Eleanor, for after the revolt failed,
Henry had Eleanor locked up in a castle, where he kept careful watch over
her for the rest of his life (‘til 1189). Once he had died, Eleanor
again played a major role in shaping the reigns of both her sons.
This letter was written by a royal supporter during the revolt of 1173,
and its intention was to pressure Eleanor into following her marital obligations.
1. Notice the gendered language with which the author (Peter of Blois,
acting as a scribe for Archbishop Rotrou) makes his case to Eleanor. What
argument does he use in the first couple of paragraphs? Why ought Eleanor
to abandon her position? What authorities does he produce to support his
argument?
2. Imagine the language of a letter Peter of Blois might have written
to a male vassal of the king. How would the language and implication of
such a letter have differed? What does this tell us about the way in which
power, authority, and marital relations were influenced by gender?
3. Peter adds some ancillary reasons why Eleanor ought to give in -
what are they?
4. Notice, however, that Peter assumes that Eleanor has influence over
her sons. Why? Is this also a gender stereotype? What sorts of power did
mothers seem to have, according to Peter?
5. In the final lines Peter/Rotrou break out the big artillery and
threaten Eleanor with direct punishment. What sort does he threaten? How
would that have worked?
6. Even though this text does not come from Eleanor’s pen, nor does
it directly reveal Eleanor’s mind or feelings, we can still use it to investigate
notions of female power and authority. What sorts of power does Peter assume
Eleanor possesses? What other sorts of power does he assume she does not
possess? Is there a contrast between his assumptions and reality? Why?