“[An] important and powerful contribution to the understanding of medieval texts and the place of women in medieval society.”—Medieval Review
 
“The contributions are valuable in . . . their teasing out of the nuances of violence in medieval writing, in particular sexual violence.”—Medium Aevum  
 
“Texts are scrutinized for evidence of a code of violence against women operating beyond the boundaries of the texts themselves . . . . This is a stimulating collection, which eschews any easy, reductive conclusions. Its interest reaches far beyond the limits of gender studies.”—Oxford Art Journal  
 
“The essays are . . . eminently readable, and . . . contribute, in many significant ways, to the current discourse on women and the Middle Ages.”—Parergon  
 
“A useful survey.”—Choice  
 
“Thought-provoking.”—International Journal of the Classical Tradition  
 
“[An] excellent collection. . . . A useful and well-argued study of medieval gender constructs.”—AUMLA  
 
"A valuable collection that makes an important contribution to a topic very current in medieval feminist scholarship. . . . The articles successfully combine close readings with critical sophistication."--Nancy A. Jones, College of the Holy Cross and Brandeis University


"Will appeal to the growing number of medievalists in English, history, French, and Spanish who are interested in the study of women in the Middle Ages."--Elizabeth Robertson, University of Colorado

This volume brings together specialists from different areas of medieval literary study to focus on the role of habits of thought in shaping attitudes toward women during the Middle Ages. The collection is unusual in the breadth of its coverage and diversity of its critical approaches. The essays range from Old English literature to the Spanish Inquisition and encompass such genres as romance, chronicles, hagiography, and legal documents. In its use of well-known authors (Chaucer and Christine de Pizan) and lesser-known writers, this collection provides a rich and useful survey for researchers in women’s studies and medieval literature.

Introduction: Violence against Women and the Habits of Thought, by Anna Roberts
The Violence of Exegesis: Reading the Bodies of lfric's Female Saints, by Shari Horner
Women, Power, and Violence in Orderic Vitalis's Historia Ecclesiastica, by Jean Blacker
The Mont St. Michel Giant: Sexual Violence and Imperialism in the Chronicles of Wace and La<3>amon, by Laurie Finke and Martin Shichtman
Consuming Passions: Variations on the Eaten Heart Theme, by Madeleine Jeay
The Rhetoric of Incest in the Middle English Emaré, by Anne Laskaya
"Quiting" Eve: Violence against Women in the Canterbury Tales, by Angela Weisl
Rivalry, Rape, and Manhood: Gower and Chaucer, by Carolyn Dinshaw
Gender Subversion and Linguistic Castration in Fifteenth-Century English Translations of Christine de Pizan, by Jane Chance
Domesticating the Spanish Inquisition, by Deborah Ellis
Violence, Silence, and the Memory of Witches, by Jody Enders


Anna Roberts is associate professor of French at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She is the author of Queer Love in the Middle Ages.

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"Thought provoking." - International Journal of the Classical Tradition
--International Journal of the Classical Tradition

"This is a very accessible and exciting collection. . . . Literary scholars and gender historians alike will be wise to invest in this important and powerful contribution to the understanding of medieval texts and the place of women in medieval society." -- Medieval Review
--Medieval Review

"A stimulating collection which eschews any easy, reductive conclusions. Its interest reaches far beyond the limits of gender studies. At at time when interest in Christine de Pizan is growing in multiple disciplines, this concise and well-wrought volume could well serve as a model." -Oxford Art Journal
--Oxford Art Journal

"The essays are short and eminently readable, and, especially when taken as a whole, contribute, in many significant ways, to the current discourse on women and the Middle Ages." -Parergon
--Parergon