DAUGHTERS OF EVE: WOMEN AND THE FAMILY IN THE MIDDLE AGES
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES AND READINGS
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES AND READINGS
Contents:
Part I: Introduction: Classical and Early Christian
Traditions (weeks 1-2)
Part II: the Early Middle Ages, c.500-900 (weeks
3-4)
Part III: the High Middle Ages, c.900-1300 (weeks
5-8)
Part IV: Women and Work (weeks 8-10)
Part V: Women and Religion (weeks 10-11)
Part VI: Women in, and women outside of, Society
(weeks 12-14)
Part VII: Women, Power and Literature in the Later
Middle Ages (weeks 14-16)
Questions? Comments? email me here
SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION
August 17: Introduction to the Course: Women, Gender, and the Body
August 19: The Legacy of the Ancient World: Medical, Legal, and Religious
Secondary Source Reading:
Gies, 3-15, 16-29
Primary Source Readings:
Amt, 29-35
Handout: Aristotle and Galen on the Nature,
Biology and Social Position of Women
August 24: Christian Heritage: the Bible and St Paul
August 26: St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and Female Asceticism
Secondary Source Reading:
Gies, 29-42
Primary Source Readings:
Amt, 13-28
Reader: Biblical and Early Christian Authorities
SECTION TWO: THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES
August 31: Women and the Family in Merovingian Gaul
September 2: Early Medieval Queenship
Secondary Source Reading:
Gies, 45-67
Women and Power, 83-101
Primary Source Readings:
Amt, 121-129
Reader: Gregory of Tours on Frankish Queens
September 7: Women and Sanctity: St. Radegund
September 9: Women's Bodies Under the Law: Sacred and Secular
Secondary Source Reading:
Gies, 68-99
Women and Power, 102-125
Primary Source Readings:
Amt, 38-49, 219-230
Reserve Room: Two Lives of St. Radegund, pp. 60-105 in Sainted Women
of the Dark Ages, ed.
Jo Ann McNamara
SECTION III: THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES: A PERIOD OF
DEFINITION
September 14: Feudal Society: Women and Power
September 16: Celibacy, Misogyny and the Cult of the Virgin
Secondary Source Reading:
Gies, 121-132
Women and Power, 61-82
Primary Source Readings:
Amt, 53-59, 152-157
Reader: Norman Noblewomen of the Eleventh Century
Reader: Church Reform: Clerical Marriage and
Misogynist Propaganda
Reader: The Cult of the Virgin
September 21: Changes in Marriage Structure: the Impact of the Church
September 23: Courtly Love: Models of Female Behavior
Secondary Source Readings:
Gies, 133-156, 186-195
Women and Power, 213-229
Women and Power, 250-264
Primary Source Readings:
Amt, 79-94, 136-141
Reserve Room: Marie de France, "Le Fresne", pp. 73-91 in The Lais of
Marie de France, trans.
Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante (1978)
September 28: "The Frailer Sex:" Hildegard of Bingen and Womanhood
September 30: Women, Writing and Church Reform: Abelard and Heloise
Primary Source Readings:
Amt, 233-235
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, pp. 57-106, 109-156, 159-179
October 5: Gender Trouble?: Masculinity and Femininity in the 12th Century
FIRST PAPER DUE: October 5, in
Class [Note this date has been changed to October 14, 1999]
SECTION IV: WOMEN AND WORK
October 7: Towns, Mendicants and Women: St. Clare
Secondary Source Reading:
Reserve Room: Jo Ann McNamara, "The Herrenfrage: the Restructuring of the
Gender System,
1050-1150," pp. 3-29 in Medieval Masculinities, ed. Clare Lees (Minneapolis,
1994).
Reserve Room: Elizabeth Petroff, "A Medieval Woman's Utopian Vision: the
Rule of St. Clare of Assisi,"
pp. 66-79 in Petroff, Body and Soul: Essays on Medieval Women and Mysticism
(Oxford, 1994).
Primary Source Readings:
Amt, 235-245
Reader: Women and Popular Religious Movements
October 12: HOLIDAY
October 14: Women and Work
Secondary Source Reading:
Gies, 157-185
Primary Source Reading:
Amt, 193-218
October 19: Peasant Women and the Rural Economy
SECTION V: Women and Religion
October 21: Scholasticism and Womanhood
Secondary Source Reading:
Gies, 223-250
Women and Power, 18-36
Primary Source Readings:
Amt, 179-193
Reader: Thirteenth-Century Theologians on
Women
October 26: Female Piety and Spirituality: Catherine of Siena
October 28: Mysticism and Heresy: Marguerite Porete and the Beguines
Secondary Source Readings:
Reserve Room: Caroline Walker Bynum, "Fast, Feast and Flesh: the Religious
Significance of Food to
Medieval Women," in Representations 11 (1985), 1-25.
Reserve Room: Elizabeth Petroff, "A New Feminine Spirituality: the Beguines
and their Writings in Medieval
Europe," pp. 51-65 in Petroff, Body and Soul.
Primary Source Reading:
Amt, 263-274, 305-313
Reader: The Trial of Marguerite Porete
Reader: A Letter of Catherine of Siena
SECTION VI: WOMEN IN, AND WOMEN OUTSIDE SOCIETY
November 2: Women and Books
November 4: Women on the Margins: Poor Women and Prostitutes
Secondary Source Reading:
Women and Power, 149-187
Primary Source Readings:
Reserve: Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence, pp. 190-200
(document numbers 88-92,
on Prostitution), 260-261 (number 128, "the Enchantress"), 270-273 (number
132, "A Witch's
Career")
November 9: the Body and Social Control: Sumptuary Legislation
November 11: Homosexuality and Gender Construction
Secondary Source Reading:
Gies, 251-270
Primary Source Readings:
Amt, 72-79, 157-158
Christine de Pisan, The Treasure of the City of Ladies, pp. 15-106
November 16: Women's Bodies, Families and Power: Italy vs. Northern Europe
SECTION VII: WOMEN, POWER AND LITERATURE IN THE
LATER MIDDLE AGES
November 18: Christine de Pisan and the Female Author
Secondary Source Readings:
Gies, 271-290
Women and Power, 37-60, 126-148
Primary Source Readings:
Christine de Pisan, The Treasure of the City of Ladies, pp. 107-180
Optional Primary Source Reading:
Reserve Room: Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence, pp.
29-41.
November 23: Chaucer and the Wife of Bath
SECOND PAPER DUE: November 23, in class
November 25: VACATION
Secondary Source Reading:
Women and Power, 230-249
Primary Source Readings:
Amt, 317-330
Reserve Room: Chaucer, The Wife of Bath's Prologue, from Canterbury
Tales, 276-298
November 30: Joan of Arc
December 2: Conclusion: Sisters of Mary, Daughters of Eve
Secondary Source Reading:
Gies, 295-306
Primary Source Readings:
Reader: The Life and Trial of Joan of Arc