Part 1 Myths and mysteries - from antiquity to the medieval world, Michel Rouche: mother goddesses, war priestesses; marriages - Roman women, Christian women, Frankish women; virgin martyrs, amorous-nuns; radegunda, Aldegunda; virgin saints and holy virgins; married woman, consecrated women; Mary Magdalene; powers; beauty. Part 2 Society depicted - the Middle Ages, Chiara Frugoni: good and bad government; a man's view - courtly love, seduction, profane intimacy, misogynies; private emotions - pain, modesty, fatigue; role reversal; powers - almost queens; beauty - the beautiful saint. Part 3 From the sky to the earth - 6th-18th centuries, Joel Cornette: virgins - from the empress virgin to rapturous maternity; forms of ecstasy - Teresa and God's wound, Ardour and rapture; Queens - the hive of political intrigue; Mary the consoler, Catherine the killer; threshold of the home - domestic order, collective chaos; rich and poor; women in a man's life - tenderness, couples; rebellions - dance of the outsiders; witches; women in revolution; powers; beauty. Part 4 Creators, created - 19th-20th centuries, Anne Higonnet: women at home - the radiant hearthside, house of suffering, maternity; women together - the invention of the little girl, classes, race, mutual desires; who am I? - transformations, the body in question; women of love - creation, inspiration, victims of desire, obsession, mourning; powers; beauty; women and their images or a woman's gaze.
