By this point in our course it will come as no surprise that women had multiple paths to power in the medieval period. In some cases, that power was social and within the family but in many others, certain women were able to gain significant religious and political power and authority. Our understanding of medieval women’s power has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Scholars used to emphasize that women’s power was exceptional and confined to a few unique women but more recent research as significantly challenged that idea.
In today’s class, we are going to explore the multiplicities of power that women had access to with a focus on royal and noble women. Their path to that power often came through their family connections and we’ll consider the varieties of ways that women enacted it. But we’ll also start by defining what we mean by power in the medieval period and then consider how historians have reshaped their understanding of women’s power in the past several decades.
To Listen (all students)
Our podcast episode today features two scholars whose work has significantly influenced our understanding of elite women and power during the medieval period: Dr. Theresa Earenfight and Dr. Amy Livingstone.
Podcast Episode:
To Read
Letter to Ermengarde of Anjou, Countess of Brittany from Robert d’Arbrissel (c. 1109) https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/letter/241.html
Letter to Ermengarde of Anjou, Countess of Brittany from Geoffrey of Vendome (c. 1131?) https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/letter/243.html
Letter to the Germans from Matilda of Tuscany, date unknown https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/letter/209.html
Theresa Earenfight, “Where Do We Go From Here? Some Thoughts on Power and Gender in the Middle Ages”, Medieval Feminist Forum 51.2 (2015): 116-131. Available:
To Do
In person students
I will lead discussion for today’s class. We’ll discuss the podcast episode with Dr. Livingstone and Dr. Earenfight as well as the assigned letters and academic article.
Online students
Questions will be posted in your chatboard channels as a means of starting discussion. They will connect the assigned readings and the podcast episode.
Students who are signed up to lead the online discussion are responsible for monitoring your classmates’ comments and responding to them to keep the discussion going. If there are questions that arise with which I can help, don’t forget to tag me @dwl