Regine Pernoud has addressed herself to the study of many questions about the status of women in the Middle Ages and presents her surprising answers in this captivating work. Here one learns that the most ancient treatise on education in France was written by a woman; and medicine was practiced regularly by women in the thirteenth century; that in the twelfth century the Order of Fontevraud gathered both monks and religious sisters under the authority of an abbess. This is a systematic study that provides a multitude of ...
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Regine Pernoud has addressed herself to the study of many questions about the status of women in the Middle Ages and presents her surprising answers in this captivating work. Here one learns that the most ancient treatise on education in France was written by a woman; and medicine was practiced regularly by women in the thirteenth century; that in the twelfth century the Order of Fontevraud gathered both monks and religious sisters under the authority of an abbess. This is a systematic study that provides a multitude of concrete examples. No aspect of feminine activity in the course of the medieval periods is neglected: administration of property, professions and commerce, the intellectual life, even politics; writers, educators, sovereigns, and those who enlivened the royal courts. Moreover, the author draws from the history of law and the history of events and social customs to sketch something never before attempted, an outline of the evolution of the power of women. This is a classic work without reference to which any inquiry into the questions addressed here must remain incomplete.
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