Women in the Middle Ages: The Lives of Real Women in a Vibrant Age of Transition

Frances Gies · Joseph Gies

nov 2010 · Harper Collins

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An ambitious work that traces the stories and fates of women in Medieval Europe over the course of a millennium. “A wealth of solid information.” —The New York Times

Medieval history is often written as a series of battles and territorial shifts. But the essential contributions of women during this period have been too often relegated to the dustbin of history. In Women in the Middle Ages, Frances and Joseph Gies reclaim this lost history, in a lively historical survey that charts the evolution of women’s roles throughout the period, and profiles eight individual women in depth. We learn of Hildegarde of Bingen, an abbess who was a noted composer and founded two monasteries; of Eleanor de Montfort, a 13th-century Princess of Wales who was captured by Edward I and held as a political prisoner for three years; and women of somewhat more modest means, such as the spouse of an Italian merchant, and a peasant’s wife.

Drawing upon their various stories, talented historians Frances and Joseph Gies—whose books were used by George R. R. Martin in his research for Game of Thrones—offer a kaleidoscopic view of the lives of women throughout this tumultuous period.

“[The Gieses] specialize in making the Middle Ages accessible to nonspecialists.” —The New Yorker