9780823256877 (hardback)

0823256871 (hardback)

"Religious Women in Early Carolingian Francia, a groundbreaking study of the intellectual and monastic culture of the Main Valley during the eighth century, looks closely at a group of manuscripts associated with some of the best-known personalities of the European Middle Ages, including Boniface of Mainz and his "beloved,"abbess Leoba of Tauberbischofsheim. This is the first study of these "Anglo-Saxon missionaries to Germany" to delve into the details of their lives by studying the manuscripts that were produced in their scriptoria and used in their communities. The author explores how one group of religious women helped to shape the culture of medieval Europe through the texts they wrote and copied, as well as through their editorial interventions. Using compelling manuscript evidence, she argues that the content of the women's books was overwhelmingly gender-egalitarian and frequently feminist (i.e., resistant to patriarchal ideas). This intriguing book provides unprecedented glimpses into the "feminist consciousness" of the women's and mixed-sex communities that flourished in the early Middle Ages"-- Provided by publisher.

"This study of the intellectual culture of the women's monasteries of the Main Valley during the eighth century, based on analysis of the manuscripts produced and used by women religious, argues that the content of the women's books was overwhelmingly gender-egalitarian and frequently feminist (that is, resistant to patriarchal ideas)"-- Provided by publisher.

Fordham series in medieval studies

Machine generated contents note:

List of Color Plates

List of Abbreviations

Preface: Medieval Feminism

Acknowledgments

Part I: Introductions: People, Places, Things

1. Syneisactism and Reform: Gender Relations in the Anglo-Saxon Cultural Province in Francia

2. The Monastic Landscape of the Anglo-Saxon Cultural Province in Francia

3. The Gun(t)za and Abirhilt Manuscripts: Women and their Books in the Anglo-Saxon Cultural Province in Francia

Part II: Textual Analysis

4. "I am Crucified in Christ" (Galatians 2:20): The Kitzingen Crucifixion Miniature and Visions of the Apostle Paul

5. "We Interpret Spiritual Truths to People Possessed of the Spirit" (1 Cor. 2:13): Studying the Bible with the Fathers of the Church

6. "The Sensual Man does not Perceive those Things that are of the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2:14): History and Theology in the Stories of the Saints"

7. "An Eternal Weight of Glory" (2 Cor. 4: 17): Discipline and Devotion in Monastic Life

Part III: Conclusions

8. "Now Concerning Virgins, I Have No Commandment of the Lord" (1 Cor. 7:25): Consecrated Women and Altar Service in the Anglo-Saxon Cultural Province in Francia

9. "Through a Glass Darkly" (1 Cor. 13:12): Textual Transmission and Historical Representation as Feminist Strategies in Early Medieval Europe

Notes

Bibliography: Manuscripts and Printed Materials

Index.

Monastic and religious life of women > Germany > Main River Valley > History > Middle Ages, 600-1500.

Nuns > Germany > Main River Valley > Intellectual life.

Transmission of texts > Germany > Main River Valley > History > To 1500.

Scriptoria > Germany > Main River Valley > History > To 1500.