Relations of Power

Women’s Networks in the Middle Ages

Contributions by Abigail S. Armstrong Contributions by Emma O. Bérat Contributions by Karen Dempsey Contributions by Irina Dumitrescu Contributions by Alyssa Gabbay Contributions by Rebecca Hardie Contributions by Jitske Jasperse Contributions by Julia Hillner Contributions by Stephanie Hollis Contributions by Máirin MacCarron Contributions by Mercedes Pérez Vidal Contributions by Lucy K. Pick Edited by Emma O. Bérat Edited by Rebecca Hardie Edited by Irina Dumitrescu

Book cover: Relations of Power

Extent: 199 pages

Publisher: V&R unipress

Subjects: Gender & Sexuality, Medieval Studies

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(January 2021)

ISBN: 9783847112426

6.3 x 9.25 inches

Price: $62.00

Out of stock

This interdisciplinary volume considers how women’s networks, and particularly women’s direct and indirect relationships to other women, constituted and shaped power from roughly 300 to 1700 AD. The essays in this collection juxtapose scholarship from the fields of archaeology, art history, literature, history and religious studies, drawing on a wide variety of source types. Their aim is to highlight not only the importance of networks in understanding medieval women’s power but also the different ways these networks are represented in medieval sources and can be approached today. This volume reveals how women’s networks were widespread and instrumental in shaping political, familial and spiritual legacies.


Women’s networks – their relations with other women, men, objects and place – were a source of power in various European and neighbouring regions throughout the Middle Ages. This interdisciplinary volume considers how women’s networks, and particularly women’s direct and indirect relationships to other women, constituted and shaped power from roughly 300 to 1700 AD. The essays in this collection juxtapose scholarship from the fields of archaeology, art history, literature, history and religious studies, drawing on a wide variety of source types. The volume’s aim is to highlight not only the importance of networks in understanding medieval women’s power but also the different ways these networks are represented in medieval sources and can be approached today. This volume reveals how women’s networks were widespread and instrumental in shaping political, familial and spiritual legacies.

  • Contributions by Abigail S. Armstrong
  • Contributions by Emma O. Bérat
  • Contributions by Karen Dempsey
  • Contributions by Irina Dumitrescu
  • Contributions by Alyssa Gabbay
  • Contributions by Rebecca Hardie
  • Contributions by Jitske Jasperse
  • Contributions by Julia Hillner
  • Contributions by Stephanie Hollis
  • Contributions by Máirin MacCarron
  • Contributions by Mercedes Pérez Vidal
  • Contributions by Lucy K. Pick
  • Edited by Emma O. Bérat
  • Edited by Rebecca Hardie
  • Edited by Irina Dumitrescu