Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England 450-1500

A unique recovery of the history of women's lives in England during the medieval period basing its scholarship on primary sources and not on the 19th century assumptions underlying most studies of the period. Leyser (medieval history, St. Peter's College and St. Edmund Hall, Oxford) describes women's contributions to their society from the entry of the Anglo-Saxons to the Anglo-Norman period, focusing on "everywoman" attitudes towards sex, marriage, motherhood, and work from the peasant to the aristocrat. The conclusion concentrates on questions of spirituality in female monasticism, and the literary images that characterize them. Includes illustrations. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.