ABSTRACT
Markéta Holubová analyses Czech broadside ballads from the perspective of gender, especially women. She argues that women in broadside ballads were depicted across a wide spectrum: as weak, as strong, as wicked, and also, as “sacred” figures. This mix reflects the contradictory attitudes to women at the time. For female consumers, broadside ballads with gender-related topics most likely offered a reflection of their own complicated lives even as they often provided spiritual and emotional nourishment.
