ABSTRACT
In the Introduction, the editors explain what the aims of the volume are by reflecting on the rationale behind their choice of themes, approaches, chronology and geographical area. They present an overview of the most important orientations in the study of the relationship between women and violence in the recent historiography of medieval Latin Europe, Byzantium and the Islamic world. Their contributions to the present volume are highlighted, as well as the limits and the gaps in scholarly knowledge emerging from them, and which this book intends to contribute to overcoming. The influence of various approaches stemming from the social sciences (in particular, feminist criminology and interactionist and constructionist sociology) in building the theoretical framework of this volume is described. The study of long-term dynamics in the development of discourses of gendered violence and the fundamental connection between the latter and the socio-political contexts in which they operate are highlighted as central methodological reflections offered by this work. Finally, the Introduction focuses on how the articles present in this volume can contribute to reaching the aims set out by the editors.
