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Review
???A delightful book, beautifully illustrated with over 40 illustrations. It provides insights into some of the historical contingencies that have been responsible for moulding subsequent images of women.??? The Times Educational Supplement
Product Description
Throughout her career as a medieval historian, Eileen Power was engaged on a book about women in the Middle Ages. She did not live to write the book but some of the material she collected found its way into her popular lectures on medieval women. These lectures were brought together and edited by M. M. Postan. They reveal the world in which women lived, were educated, worked and worshipped. Power gives a vivid account of the worlds of the lady, the peasant, the townswoman and the nun. The result is a historical yet intimate picture of a period gone by yet with resonances for today. An intimate portrait of the writer and social historian, by Maxine Berg, is also included.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Although Power's work has dated slightly, her review of the position of women within medieval England remains an excellent introduction to the topic. The fate of aristocratic women and wealthy widows are covered particularly well, and readers obtain a good understanding of their day-to-day worries and concerns. The emphasis placed on marriage and land in women's lives is a fair assessment. There is less coverage of female peasants, reflecting the fewer sources available in Power's lifetime. The chapters on educational opportunities makes clear the limited options for women of the time, and the section on nunneries is useful. Use of medieval illustrations and extracts from literature make this read even more worthwhile.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Unknown Binding
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Throughout her career as a medieval historian, Eileen Power was engaged on a book on women in the Middle Ages.
She did not live to write the book but some of the material she collected found its way into her popular lectures on medieval women.
These lectures are now brought together, edited by M. M. Postan, and reveal the world in which women lived, were educated, worked, and worshipped.
Power gives a vivid account of the worlds of the lady, the peasant, the townswoman, and the nun.
The result is a historical yet intimate picture of a period gone by yet with resonances for today. For this edition, Maxine Berg is also included, offering an intimate portrait of the writer and social historian.
Special Hardback Edition in Card Cover from Folio Society
-----------------------------------
Throughout her career as a medieval historian, Eileen Power was engaged on a book on women in the Middle Ages.
She did not live to write the book but some of the material she collected found its way into her popular lectures on medieval women.
These lectures are now brought together, edited by M. M. Postan, and reveal the world in which women lived, were educated, worked, and worshipped.
Power gives a vivid account of the worlds of the lady, the peasant, the townswoman, and the nun.
The result is a historical yet intimate picture of a period gone by yet with resonances for today. For this edition, Maxine Berg is also included, offering an intimate portrait of the writer and social historian.
Special Hardback Edition in Card Cover from Folio Society
-----------------------------------
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
nicely done
17 April 1999
Format:Paperback
I found this book to be very nicely done. As my hobby is historical re-creation, I have found that many books about medieval women are very textbookish in style, and frequently BORING!!! Medieval Women is written in a very easy to read, conversational style. This book had short, simple chapters with rich documentation of everything that the author said. This book also has some great illustrations from the period which enrich the text and make this short piece quite a page-turner.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Excellent
18 Jan 2000
Format:Paperback
As an Historian, I found Ms. Power's book to be enlightening. She has managed to capture the true day-to-day existence of women in this time period, without falling into the mire of Courtly Love. Her use of records is inovative as are the truths she draws from the records. All in all one of the better books written on the subject.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Power's lectures may date from the 1920s and 30s, but they still offer an adequate introduction
19 Dec 2010
Format:Paperback
"Medieval Women" contains a useful but sometimes agonizingly basic overview of half the European population, focusing in its five sections on attitudes toward women, aristocratic women, working women, education, and nuns. The texts--lectures that economic historian Eileen Power had delivered, revised, and fine-tuned for two decades--were among her papers when she died in 1940, and M. M. Postan, her husband (and a famous historian in his own rate), prepared them for this collection.
The resulting book is neither as comprehensive nor as grand as the title might lead you to believe. But in the 1920s and 30s (much less in 1975, when this collection was published), there was little on the topic for general audiences. Previous to its publication, most (male) scholars had focused on the hagiography of saints and abbesses, the biographies of well-known royal women, or the portrayal of women in literature. In other words, with few exceptions, what historians understood of women was gathered largely through the idealized filter of fiction. Power does not ignore these sources, but her lectures instead exhibit an additional familiarity with the types of documents that later scholars would dig into to reveal the lives of women in more factual detail: statutes, court records, wills, and letters.
To those who have read other books in the field, Power's book will inevitably seem cursory and lean. Still, what's surprising is the continuing relevance (and overall accuracy) of her impressionistic survey. Furthermore, because these were originally delivered as lectures, the five chapters are easy to read, and they are nicely supplemented by several dozen illustrations. Even though it was never intended to be a book, this collection of Power's lectures is much better than the lamentable "Women in the Middle Ages," by Joseph and Frances Gies, and it remains a good introduction for students and general readers who are not quite ready to dig in to more elaborate textbooks and monographs.
The resulting book is neither as comprehensive nor as grand as the title might lead you to believe. But in the 1920s and 30s (much less in 1975, when this collection was published), there was little on the topic for general audiences. Previous to its publication, most (male) scholars had focused on the hagiography of saints and abbesses, the biographies of well-known royal women, or the portrayal of women in literature. In other words, with few exceptions, what historians understood of women was gathered largely through the idealized filter of fiction. Power does not ignore these sources, but her lectures instead exhibit an additional familiarity with the types of documents that later scholars would dig into to reveal the lives of women in more factual detail: statutes, court records, wills, and letters.
To those who have read other books in the field, Power's book will inevitably seem cursory and lean. Still, what's surprising is the continuing relevance (and overall accuracy) of her impressionistic survey. Furthermore, because these were originally delivered as lectures, the five chapters are easy to read, and they are nicely supplemented by several dozen illustrations. Even though it was never intended to be a book, this collection of Power's lectures is much better than the lamentable "Women in the Middle Ages," by Joseph and Frances Gies, and it remains a good introduction for students and general readers who are not quite ready to dig in to more elaborate textbooks and monographs.
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