Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 8200
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Stafford , Pauline.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Powerful Women in the Early Middle Ages: Queens and Abbesses [the author compares the network of royal women originating from the tenth century Ottonians with the royal women in the seventh century English kingdoms; she examines the structures (including family, monasteries, queenship, and regencies) through which women exercised power].
  • Source: The Medieval World.  Edited by Peter Linehan and Janet L. Nelson.  Routledge, 2001.  Pages 398 - 415.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Abbesses Family Marriage Politics Power Queens Regents
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles;General
  • Century: 7, 10
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Four figures. Figure One "Queen Emma and Her Sons, Harthacnut and Edward," frontispiece of the "Encomium of Queen Emma," written for the queen by a Flemish monk in 1041-1042 (London, British LibraryAddit. MS 32241, fol. 1v.). Figure Two "The Virgin Mary as Ruler and Intercessor," Reichenau, circa 970- 980. The figure of the Virgin is probably influenced by representations of Byzantine empresses, and could reflect the appearance of the Empress Theophano herself. Figure Three Processional cross from the Treasury of the Minster at Essen, showing Abbess Matilda and her brother Duke Otto, children of Otto I's son Liudolf. The iconography could suggest a joint gift, 973-980. Figure Four "Christ Adored by Emperor Otto II, His Wife Theophano, and Their Young Son Otto III, carved ivory, Milan, late tenth century.
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  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: University of Liverpool
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2001.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0415181518