A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807056278 ISBN 13: 9780807056271

Publisher: Beacon Pr, 1988

Describes the daily life of noblewomen, nuns, and peasants in feudal England and Europe, looks at the treatment of lepers, begars, prostitutes, and criminals, and offers brief profiles of prominent medieval women

From Library Journal:

This excellent synthesis of contemporary literature explores the activities of women at all social levels in France, England, the Low Countries, and Germany between 1100 and 1500: queens and noble ladies; nuns, recluses, and mystics; businesswomen and women on the land; nurses; prostitutes and women involved in various kinds of crime, including witchcraft. Emphasis is on the actual texture of their lives. While medieval theologians and lawyers stressed women's legal and intellectual inferiority and necessary subjection, the reality was quite different. Among the hundreds of women discussed, Labarge gives special and deserved attention to the mystic/writer Hildegard of Bingen and the influential writer Christine de Pizan. The general reader and advanced student will value this graciously written, thoughtful, and imaginatively illustrated work. Bennett D. Hill, St. Anselm's Abbey, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.