Working Together in the Middle Ages: Perspectives on Women's Communities || Front Matter

Front MatterSource: Signs, Vol. 14, No. 2, Working Together in the Middle Ages: Perspectives on Women'sCommunities (Winter, 1989), pp. i-viiiPublished by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174549 .

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SIGNS VOLUME 14 NUMBER 2

JOURNAL OF WOMEN IN CULTURE AND SOCIETY

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WORKING TOGETHER IN THE MIDDLE AGES: PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN'S COMMUNITIES

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS WINTER 1989

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Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (ISSN 0097-9740) is published quarterly: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer by The University of Chicago Press. Journals Division, 5720 S. Woodlawn, Chicago, Illinois 60637.

SURSCRIPTIONS

EDITORIAL COkKt=rONDENCE

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U.S.A.: institutions, 1 year $58.00; individuals, 1 year $29.00; students, 1 year $21.00 (with photocopy of vali- dated student ID). Other countries add $4.50 for each year's subscription to cover postage. Single copy rates: institutions $14.50, individuals, $7.25. Checks should be payable to Signs, The University of Chicago Press, Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, Illinois 60637, VISA and MASTERCARD accepted. Include charge number and signature with order.

Jean F. O'Barr, Signs, 207 E. Duke Building, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708.

Please notify the Press and local postmaster immedi- ately, providing both the old and new addresses. Allow 4 weeks for change. Claims for missing numbers should be made within the month following the regu- lar month of publication. The publishers will supply missing number free only when losses have been sus- tained in transit and reserve stock will permit. Post- master: Send address changes to Signs, The University of Chicago Press, Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, Illinois 60637.

The code on the first page of an article in this journal indicates the copyright owner's consent that copies of the article may be made beyond those permitted by Sections 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law provided that copies are made only for personal or internal use, or for the personal or internal use of specific clients and provided that the copier pay the stated per- copy fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 27 Congress Street, Salem, Massachusetts 01970. To request permission for other kinds of copying, such as copying for general distribution, for advertising or pro- motional purposes, for creating new collective works, or for resale, kindly write to Permissions Department, University of Chicago Press, 5801 S. Ellis Ave., Chi- cago, IL 60637. Volumes available in microfilm from University Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106.

Second-class postage paid at Chicago, Illinois and at additional mailing offices. ? 1989 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. The paper used in this publication meets the mini- mum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984?



SIGNS JOURNAL OF WOMEN IN CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Jean F. O'Barr

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

MANAGING EDITOR

ASSISTANT EDITOR

EDITORIAL OFFICE

FOUNDING EDITOR

Editorial Board

Silvia M. Arrom Barbara Bergmann Francine D. Blau Rose M. Brewer Joan N. Burstyn Nancy Chodorow Michelle Cliff Jane Collier Arlene Kaplan Daniels Carmen Diana Deere

Judith M. Bennett William H. Chafe Elizabeth A. Clark Claudia Koonz Micheline R. Malson Holly F. Mathews Elizabeth Kamarck Minnich Sandra Morgen Elisabeth Mudimbe-Boyi Nell Irvin Painter Christine Pierce Deborah Pope Naomi Quinn Rachel Ann Rosenfeld Margarete J. Sandelowski Sarah Westphal-Wihl

Mary B. Wyer

B. Anne Vilen

Duke University-University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Center for Research on Women

Catharine R. Stimpson

Indiana University University of Maryland University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University of Minnesota Syracuse University University of California, Berkeley Santa Cruz, California Stanford University Northwestern University University of Massachusetts-Amherst

EDITOR



Bonnie Thornton Dill Cynthia Fuchs Epstein Marianne Ferber M. Patricia Fernandez Kelly Jane Flax Estelle Freedman Marilyn Frye Judith Kegan Gardiner Barbara Charlesworth Gelpi Deena J. Gonzalez Linda Gordon Donna Haraway Nancy Hartsock Elizabeth Higginbotham Carol Nagy Jacklin Alison Jaggar Beverly W. Jones Linda K. Kerber Marjorie Fine Knowles Sally Gregory Kohlstedt Louise A. Lamphere Carolyn Lougee Zella Luria Catharine A. MacKinnon Elaine Marks Karen Oppenheim Mason Letitia Anne Peplau Anne C. Peterson Mary Pratt Rayna Rapp Leila J. Rupp Karen Sacks Elaine Showalter Judith Stacey Carol B. Stack Domna C. Stanton Judith Hicks Stiehm Margaret Strobel Myra Strober Barrie Thorne Gaye Tuchman Martha Vicinus Mary Helen Washington Helene V. Wenzel Margery Wolf Sylvia Yanagisako Bonnie Zimmerman

Memphis State University Graduate Center, City University of New York University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Johns Hopkins University Howard University Stanford University Michigan State University University of Illinois at Chicago Stanford University Pomona College University of Wisconsin-Madison University of California, Santa Cruz University of Washington Memphis State University University of Southern California University of Cincinnati North Carolina Central University University of Iowa Georgia State University Syracuse University University of New Mexico Stanford University Tufts University University of Minnesota University of Wisconsin-Madison University of Michigan University of California, Los Angeles Pennsylvania State University Stanford University New School for Social Research Ohio State University University of California, Los Angeles Princeton University University of California, Davis University of California, Berkeley University of Michigan Florida International University University of Illinois at Chicago Stanford University Michigan State University Queens College, City University of New York University of Michigan University of Massachusetts-Boston Cambridge, Massachusetts University of Iowa Stanford University San Diego State University



International Correspondents

Lourdes Arizpe Helene Cixous Margrit Eichler Elina Haavio-Mannila Dafna Izraeli Deniz Kandiyoti Diana Leonard Vina Mazumdar Julinda Abu Nasr Marysa Navarro Yoriko Meguro Achola Pala Marta Pessarrodona Gita Sen Karin Westman-Berg Aline K. Wong

Mexico France Canada Finland Israel Turkey England India Lebanon Argentina Japan Kenya Spain India Sweden Singapore



CONTENTS

WINTER 1989 VOLUME 14 NUMBER 2

Judith M. Bennett, Elizabeth A. Clark, and Sarah Westphal-Wihl

Jane Tibbetts Schulenburg

Mary Martin McLaughlin

Carol Neel

Ross S. Kraemer

Sarah Westphal-Wihl

Ruth Mazo Karras

Monica Green

Maryanne Kowaleski and Judith M. Bennett

Lynne S. Arnault

Linda Pershing

Carolyn Sachs

WORKING TOGETHER IN THE MIDDLE AGES: PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN'S COMMUNITIES

Special Issue Editors

vii A Word from the Publisher

255

261

Editorial

Women's Monastic Communities, 500-1100: Patterns of Expansion and Decline

293 Creating and Recreating Communities of Women: The Case of Corpus Domini, Ferrara, 1406-1452

321 The Origins of the Beguines

342 Monastic Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Egypt: Philo Judaeus on the Therapeutrides

371 The Ladies' Tournament: Marriage, Sex, and Honor in Thirteenth-Century Germany

399 The Regulation of Brothels in Later Medieval England

REVIEW ESSAY

434 Women's Medical Practice and Health Care in Medieval Europe

ARCHIVES

474 Crafts, Gilds, and Women in the Middle Ages: Fifty Years after Marian K. Dale

BOOK REVIEWS

502 Hypatia's Heritage: A History of Women in Science from Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century by Margaret Alic; Marie Curie: A Life by Franqoise Giroud, translated by Lydia Davis; The Science Question in Feminism by Sandra Harding

507 The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine by Rozsika Parker; Scraps of Life: Chilean Arpilleras, Chilean Women and the Pinochet Dictatorship by Marjorie Agosin, translated by Cola Franzen

510 Loosening the Bonds: Mid-Atlantic Farm Women, 1750-1850 by Joan Jensen; Prairie Women: Images in American and Canadian Fiction by Carol Fairbanks; Plains Woman: The Diary of Martha



Farnsworth, 1882-1922 edited by Marlene Springer and Haskell Springer; Farm Women: Work, Farm and Family in the United States by Rachel Rosenfeld; Open Country, Iowa: Rural Women, Tradition and Change by Deborah Fink; You May Plow Here: The Narrative of Sara Brooks edited by Thordis Simonsen; Women Farmers in Africa: Rural Development in Mali and the Sahel edited by Lucy E. Creevey

518 United States Notes

519 Publications of Interest

522 Calls for Papers

524 About the Contributors

526 Notice to Contributors



A WORD FROM THE PUBLISHER

We are now approaching completion of the fourteenth volume of Signs, and at this milestone it is useful to reflect on the extraordinary contribution that the journal has made to the scholarly study of women in culture and society. This has been a remarkable period, with the development of research and new perspectives from an increasing number of scholars in an increasing number of disciplines. Signs has, throughout its history, reflected that growth and rich diversity. At this time we have also reached the end of the third five-year term of editorship of the journal, and the process of selecting a new editor is now beginning. A few words about that process are in order.

From its founding, the journal has had no formal connection to any scholarly organization or to any department at the University of Chicago. Instead, the process of selecting an editor and associate editors has involved consultation by the Press with a wide range of scholars, in many disciplines, throughout the world. In the early 1970s Jean Sacks, the founder of Signs, literally traveled the world seeking advice about the journal before the appointment of the first editor, Catharine Stimpson.

With subsequent rotations of the editorship, the process has become more formalized. The Press and its Board, in order to guide the selection, have appointed an Advisory Committee, which con- sists of all previous editors and a selected group of associate editors and members of the Signs Editorial Board. Nominations for the editorship are then solicited from a wide group of scholars, includ- ing all members of the Editorial Board, past and present. The Press then asks each nominee to prepare a full publication proposal in cooperation with the proposed associate editors. Proposals are sub- sequently reviewed by the Advisory Committee and recommen- dations are made to the Press, which then makes the final appointment.

The proposals are judged on several grounds. The statement of editorial policy is critical, as it must reflect an understanding of the field and of the role Signs has played in the past. It must also

vii



A Word From The Publisher

articulate a practical agenda for Signs's future. In addition, each proposal is evaluated in terms of the proposed editor's academic qualifications, publishing experience, and overall abilities to work with a diverse group of scholars and multidisciplinary ideas. The editor will be charged with the final responsibility for the acceptance of manuscripts for publication and will carry the primary burden of dealing fairly and openly with literally hundreds of po- tential contributors to the journal each year.

The selection of proposed associate editors must also be evaluated. The daily involvement of a number of scholars is essential to bringing diverse perspectives from several disciplines into the formation of editorial direction for the journal. Each proposal is also judged on its contribution toward involving a changing and ever- widening network of scholars in the work of the journal. The diversity of scholars selected to be editors in the past-with back- grounds in the humanities and in the social sciences; with geographical locations in the East, the West, and the South-has brought important strengths to Signs. Finally, it is also critical that the group selected to head the journal have the active institutional support that has characterized the previous editorships at Barnard College, Stanford University, and Duke University. The editor's responsibilities to the journal cannot be met without the contri- butions of released time from other responsibilities, office space, and administrative support.

With high hopes, then, we launch the search for the fourth editor and associates. This is an exciting period for scholarship in women's studies, with ample opportunity to build upon the accomplishments of Signs during its first fifteen years of publication.

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Working Together in the Middle Ages: Perspectives on Women's Communities || Front Matter