History 525

Medieval Women: Power, Piety and Production

Tanner

Credit hours: 5
GEC categories:
Prerequisites: Some background in medieval history (500-1500 AD) is helpful but not required.

Text Books:

Example Syllabus:
Website:

Course Objectives:

Course Content: Political power is traditionally associated with men, and women who exercised this power have been portrayed as anomalies. Is this an accurate assessment of women and power in the medieval period? Were medieval womens contributions to the economy restricted to their activities within the household? Or did they work outside the home? Is this distinction meaningful in the medieval economy? Were religious ideals and experience influenced by ones gender? If so, how and why? In all these areas, what impact did ones social status have? These are some of the questions we will explore for the period between c. 600 and c. 1500 AD in western Europe. Well tackle these issues through an examination of primary sources written by women and men, and in discussion of current scholarship in a collection of articles. A majority of class time will be spent on discussion of the readings, but I will be providing a framework for these discussions with mini-lectures.

Method of Presentation: discussion with mini-lectures as needed

Method of Evaluation: participation (40%), 3 papers and a final

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