Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Traditionally, classes and textbooks on Western history have had little to say about the lives of women in Western civilization. This lack of attention was largely due to the fact that women were officially excluded from politics and the military in such formative civilizations as Classical Greece and Rome, as well as being excluded from official positions within the early Christian Church. In fact, when women did draw the attention of historians in the Classical and Medieval eras, it was usually because these women were transgressing accepted norms in these male-dominated, hierarchical societies. However, as we now know, women contributed to these early societies in very important ways, not just as wives and mothers but, occasionally, as political leaders and even military figures. In this class, we’ll examine the political, social, and cultural forces that shaped women’s lives, and we’ll examine the lives of a few of the remarkable women who challenged these forces, both successfully and unsuccessfully.
Citation preview
Europe and England, 500-900 ADLeft map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1;
right map from Peter Hunter Blair, Roman Britain and Early England, 55 BC-AD 871.
Lady or lord?: women, politics, and warfare in medieval Europe
Effigy of Fredegund, St. Denis Cathedral, Paris, 12th century.
• Amalasuintha, regent of Ostrogothic Italy, 526-534; queen of Ostrogothic Italy, 534-535
• Son Athalaric, king of Ostrogothic Italy, 526-534
• Ally of Emperor Justinian, r. 527-565
• Frankish queens• Clothild, d. early 6th century
• Wife of Clovis, king of Gaul• Fredegund, d. 596
• Wife of Chilperic king of Neustria• Galswinth, d. circa 570
• Other wife of Chilperic and sister to Brunhild• Brunhild, d. 613
• Wife of Sigibert, king of Austrasia• Bathild, d. 680
• Wife of Clovis II, king of Neustria
Lady or lord?: women, politics, and warfare in medieval Europe
Lombard coin with names of Louis II and Angilberga, c. 870, Ancient Coin Search Engline.• Charlemagne, r. 768-814 (emperor 800-
814)
• Daughters of Desiderius, king of Lombardy, d. 786
• Adalperga, wife of Arichis, duke of Benevento c. 760
• Liutperga, wife of Tassilo, duke of Bavaria, c. 763
• Gerperga, wife of Charlemagne, c. 770 (repudiated in 771)
• Women as managers of family/royal household
• Women as representatives of royal power• Aethelflaed of Wessex, Lady of the
Mercians, d. early 10th century
• Anointing of queens• Judith, queen of Aethelwulf of Wessex, r.
839-858• Angilberga, queen of Louis II of Italy, r. 840-
875
• Women as feudal lords• Partible inheritance• Primogeniture
Lady or lord?: women, politics, and warfare in medieval Europe.
Emma (l) and Cnut (r) depicted in the Winchester New Minster register, or Book of Life, c. 1031. British Library.
• English queens• Emma, d. 1052
• Queen of Aethelred Unraed, 1002-1016
• Queen of Cnut, 1017-1035
• Matilda, d. 1083• Queen of William the Conqueror,
king of England
• Edith-Matilda, d. 1118• Queen of Henry I of England
Lady or lord?: women, politics, and warfare in medieval Europe
Manuscript image of Empress Matilda, 15th century, British Library.
• English queens• Empress Matilda (aka Maud),
d. 1170• First marriage to Emperor Henry
V of Germany• Second marriage to Geoffrey,
Count of Anjou• Mother of Henry II of England
• Matilda, d. 1152• Queen of King Stephen of
England
Lady or Lord?: women, politics, and warfare in medieval Europe
Effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine, 13th century, Fontevrault Abbey, France.
• Eleanor of Aquitaine, d. 1204• Daughter of William X, duke of
Aquitaine• First marriage to Louis VII of France,
1137-1151• Daughters Marie, Countess of
Champagne; Alix, Countess of Blois• Second marriage to Henry II of
England, 1152-1189• Sons William, Henry the Younger,
Richard the Lionheart, Geoffrey, and John
• Daughters Matilda, duchess of Saxony; Eleanor, queen of Castile; Joan, queen of Sicily
Left—map of 12th century France, from Elizabeth Hallam, Capetian France, 987-1328; right—map of Henry II’s lands, from Coffin and
Stacey, Western Civilization, Volume 1.
Lady or lord?: women, politics, and warfare in medieval Europe
Moralized Bible, depicting Blanche of Castile (l) and Louis VIII (r), c. 1235, J. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.
• French queens• Ingeborg of Denmark, d. 1236
• Queen of Philip II of France, 1193, 1213-1223
• Blanche of Castile, d. 1252• Queen of Louis VIII of France• Mother of Louis IX (aka St. Louis)
• Blanche of Bourbon, d. 1361• Queen of Pedro the Cruel of
Castile, 1353
Lady or lord?: women, politics, and warfare in medieval EuropeLeft—map of Italy, from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1; right—Matilda (r)
and Henry IV (kneeling) at Canossa, 1077, Vita Matildis, 12th century, Vatican Library, Rome.
• Matilda of Tuscany, d. 1115• Aka Matilda of Canossa and
“la Gran Contessa”• Allied with Pope Gregory VII in
his conflict with Emperor Henry IV, 1077-1085
• Supplied military forces to defend Rome and Gregory VII
• Named “Imperial Vicar Vice-Queen of Italy” by Emperor Henry V, c. 1112
Lady or lord?: women, politics, and warfare in medieval EuropeLeft—map of medieval Spain, from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume
1; right—wedding portrait of Ferdinand and Isabella, by anonymous, 1469, Convento de las Agustinas, Avila, Spain.
• Urraca of Leon-Castile, r. 1109-1126• Daughter of Alfonso VI of Leon-Castile• Wife of Raymond, Count of Burgundy, d.
1107• Son Alfonso Ramirez/Alfonso VII of Leon-
Castile, r. 1126-1157
• Wife of Alfonso I of Aragon-Navarre, 1109-1114
• Isabella I of Castile, r. 1474-1504• Daughter of Juan II of Castile• Wife of Ferdinand II of Aragon, r. 1479-
1516• Grandmother of Carlos I of Spain, r. 1517-
1556 (aka Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, r. 1519-1556)
• Patron of Columbus, 1492-1504
