ABSTRACT
Medieval women engaged in a wide range of cultural work, evident from the letters preserved in a twelfth-century manuscript from the Bavarian abbey of Tegernsee. Letters to, from and about women from this collection, including eleven letters collectively known as the Tegernseer Liebesbriefe (Tegernsee Love Letters), highlight the importance of broadening understandings of what constituted women’s work during the medieval period. These letters testify to women’s intercessory activities, their maintenance of familial and social networks, as well as their engagement with contemporary philosophical and literary endeavours. The Liebesbriefe, in particular, testify to women’s engagement with a literary tradition interested in exploring the nature of love and friendship, as well as the cultivation of intimate relationships. The women of the Tegernseer Liebesbriefe exemplify their commitment to developing their own conceptions of ideal love and friendship alongside their male correspondents. Letter writing offered medieval women the opportunity to participate in shaping both existing and novel cultural attitudes and ideas. Medieval women’s letters can be methodologically challenging for the scholar. However, where due consideration to questions of authorship and collection have been addressed, they can also provide rich evidence for women’s varied cultural work, preservation of which may remain ephemeral or absent in other documentary sources.
