The Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages

by Shulamit Shahar

Did women really constitute a `fourth estate' in medieval society and, if so, in what sense? In this wide-ranging study Shulamith Shahar considers this and the whole question of the varying attitudes to women and their status in western Europe between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, Medieval History, Feminism

390 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2003

About the author

Shulamith Shahar (Hebrew: שולמית שחר) was an Israeli historian. Shahar's 1981 study Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages was the first to specifically examine the role of women in the medieval period. The book is used as a text for gender studies and medieval history classes. This, and her subsequent books, have been published in both Hebrew and English. She has written historical articles in these languages as well as French, and has translated three books from Latin to Hebrew.

Reviews

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd recommend this to any medievalist (jobbing or no). The division of chapters was a clever idea; "Nuns", "Married Women", "Town-dwellers", etc. So much of what we sweepingly claim to know of PEOPLEINTHEMIDDLEAGES or WOMENINTHEMIDDLEAGES is unstratified. My only true problem is that she repeatedly refers to Catherine of Siena as Catherine of Sienna.

[Olivia Winchester · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book covering nearly all aspects of the medieval woman. It is written really well with a lot balanced on primary sources. So well written and enjoyable.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent but dated (despite the 2003 revisions) history of women in the Middle Ages. I used this as the basis for an undergraduate course on medieval women. I was not entirely pleased with it as a textbook - the chapters tend to be very long and dense and I was not entirely pleased with the way Shahar organized the material. She tends to generalize about her examples, erasing distinctions of time and place to a degree, to get her overall points across. I also found her a bit too opinionated, sometimes inserting her own values into the text in a way that I constantly warn my students against. Despite all the problems I saw, however, my students really enjoyed it - far more than the more recent scholarly material I assigned. I think that Shahar's format, chock full of examples, is appealing to novices in the field.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a nut about the middle ages. I think it stems from romantic fantasies about King Arthur as a child. When I first saw this book I didn't know if I would be able to stick to it; it looks like a boring text book. However, I quickly realized that it is written more like a conversation. I was able to pretty easily imagine myself a woman of the middle ages. A "woman who prayed", joining the nunnery to avoid marriage. Whatever aspect of middle age life you are interested in, this book touches it. Aside from nuns and marriage, you can learn about laws of the day, different classes of society and even witches and heretics! This is a book to buy - I find myself referring to it every now and then and I'm sure I will reread it a few more times.

[Roxana Chirilă · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting, informative, well-written, readable, fun. I like the way the author takes us through the social strata, comparing the status of men to that of women and implicitly that of women to women of other ranks. I found the difference between scholarly/popular culture images of women and the actual lives and situations of women particularly interesting.

I'm not sure I agreed with some of the author's comments, however: the view is a very nowadays-centered one and the feminist tone often makes itself felt almost as a reproach to medieval women who had the power to protest about their station, but failed to do it.

[Amalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine but I've already checked out books with a lot more details on same subjects. The book focuses the varying attitudes to women and their status in the Western Europe between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries. My focus was only 12th century so after that I returned the book back to the library. However, a newbie to Medieval history would find this resourceful.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and well written. Sometimes just a bit dry, but overall this was a great source for a research project on medieval women. I recommend it to anyone interested in medieval women's history in general and definitely as a research source!