Midwives and Warriors

Rereading and interpreting medieval sources with an eye to reconstructing women's realities, this work explores the development of female identity through ideas about "women's work."

Midwives to Warriors: Women and Work in the Middle Ages allows readers to explore women's work over a span of some 300 years, from 1200 to1500. During this period, certain types of work, midwifery, for example, were clearly gendered, while others were not. This makes medieval occupations a fruitful field for consideration of the ways in which femininity became defined.



Intended for scholars as well as general readers, Midwives to Warriors uses examples from medieval literature, instruction manuals, chronicles, cookbooks, and medical treatises, along with 40 reproductions of manuscript illuminations and woodcuts, to illustrate the range of tasks performed by women in the Middle Ages. It also debunks certain myths about medieval women, noting, among other things that the idea of the medieval lady on a pedestal is, like the chastity belt, apparently a later construct neither supported by the historical record nor found in medieval fictions.


* Original materials and documents, drawn from published as well as unpublished sources, include medieval literature, instruction manuals, chronicles, cookbooks and medical treatises

* Approximately 40 reproductions from illuminated manuscripts and early printed books enhance the text

* A chronology covers the years 1200-1500

* A comprehensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources enables further research