ABSTRACT

Published in 1994: The period surveyed in this anthology extends from the eve of Christianity's triumph, in the third century, to the new age of expansion in the fifteenth century, an age marked by the advent of printing pressed, the European discovery of the Caribbean islands, which Columbus called the Indies, the relentless stripping of medieval altars by Church reformists, and perhaps a diminution of female autonomy.

chapter Chapter 1|20 pages

Prisoner, Dreamer, Martyr

chapter Chapter 2|26 pages

A Pilgrim to the Holy Land

chapter Chapter 3|22 pages

Calumniated Empress and Poet

chapter Chapter 4|14 pages

An Ill-Fated Gothic Queen

chapter Chapter 5|40 pages

Three Consecrated Women of Merovingian Gaul

chapter Chapter 6|10 pages

“Words Flowing Like Gold Fringes”

chapter Chapter 7|18 pages

Barbarian Women, Holy Women

chapter Chapter 8|18 pages

A Mother to a Young Warrior

chapter Chapter 9|54 pages

Hagiographer, Playwright, Epic Historian

chapter Chapter 10|16 pages

A Byzantine Historian of the First Crusade

chapter Chapter 11|36 pages

The Trobairitz in Love and Strife

chapter Chapter 12|16 pages

“Marie Is My Name: I Am of France”

chapter Chapter 13|22 pages

Good Queen Maud

chapter Chapter 14|34 pages

A Benedictine Visionary in the Rhineland

chapter Chapter 15|36 pages

Handmaid of God

chapter Chapter 16|28 pages

Brides of the Celestial Bedchamber

chapter Chapter 17|28 pages

A Woman of Letters at the French Court

chapter Chapter 18|26 pages

An Anchoress of England

chapter Chapter 19|58 pages

Four English Women of the Fifteenth Century