Women in Medieval Society

by Susan Mosher Stuard (Editor)

Early medieval women exercised public roles, rights, and responsibilities. Women contributed through their labor to the welfare of the community. Women played an important part in public affairs. They practiced birth control through abortion and infanticide. Women committed crimes and were indicted. They owned property and administered estates. The drive toward economic growth and expansion abroad rested on the capacity of women to staff and manage economic endeavors at home.

In the later Middle Ages, the social position of women altered significantly, and the reasons why the role of women in society tended to become more restrictive are examined in these essays.

Genres: Medieval, History, Nonfiction, Medieval History

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1976

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Table of Contents



Introduction
1 (12)

Susan Mosher Stuard


Land, Family, and Women in Continental Europe, 701--1200
13 (34)

David Herlihy


Infanticide in the Early Middle Ages
47 (24)

Emily Coleman


Women in Reconquest Castile: The Fueros of Sepulveda and Cuenca
71 (24)

Heath Dillard


Marriage and Divorce in the Frankish Kingdom
95 (30)

Jo-Ann McNamara


Suzanne F. Wemple


The Female Felon in Fourteenth-Century England
125 (16)

Barbara A. Hanawalt


Mulieres Sanctae
141 (18)

Brenda M. Bolton


Widow and Ward: The Feudal Law of Child Custody in Medieval England
159 (14)

Sue Sheridan Walker


Dowries and Kinsmen in Early Renaissance Venice
173 (26)

Stanley Chojnacki


Women in Charter and Statute Law: Medieval Ragusa/Dubrovnik
199 (10)

Susan Mosher Stuard

Selected Bibliography 209 (4)
Contributors 213 (2)
Index 215