Unit 4: Literary Women

Contexts

Read:

A. Radini, et, al., “Medieval women’s early involvement in manuscript production suggested by lapis lazuli identification in dental calculus”
Megan Cavell, "Literary Women in the Middle Ages: An Interview with Diane Watt”
Liz Herbert McAvoy and Sue Niebrzydowski, “Introduction: Medieval Women’s Literary Cultures and Thinking Beyond the Local”
Åslaug Ommundsen, et. al., “How many medieval and early modern manuscripts were copied by female scribes? A bibliometric analysis based on colophons”
Eiman Abbas H. El-Nour, “Not just a pretty face: Women as storytellers and subjects in the folktales of Northern Sudan”

Watch: McKenna McKrell, “Women, Education, and the Halls of Learning”

Description: This video provides a brief overview of women’s education in the Medieval West, comparing and contrasting it with educational opportunities for men. The resource also provides an introduction to the figure of Christine de Pizan to prepare students for engaging with her written work.

A Few Authors

Description: "In the fourth and final episode in their miniseries, Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley look at the life and work of pilgrim, entrepreneur and visionary mystic Margery Kempe, who dictated what is thought to be the first autobiography in English."

Take a Look: Lone Medievalist Women of the Middle Ages Project

Read:

Haruo Shirane, “Introduction,” Reading The Tale of Genji

Featured Individual: The Wife of Bath

Description: "In the third episode in their series, Irina and Mary discuss Chaucer’s sexually voracious professional widow, stealth preacher, vivid storyteller and teacher of love, the Wife of Bath."

Checkpoint

How were medieval women involved in the production of writing?

How are medieval women represented as characters?