To the Glory of Her Sex

About this book

To the Glory of Her Sex presents an account of medieval women's activities as correspondents, readers, writers, and literary patrons from antiquity through the fourteenth century. The writings explored here represent a cross-section of virtually every field in historical and literary studies, including Latin literature, romance literature in French, political and religious correspondence, theological and moral treatises written for women, and histories and biographies commissioned by or addressed to women. Reading in the public and private correspondence of medieval women, for example, Ferrante discovered to what degree their involvement in affairs of the world and their role in the work of prominent men have been underestimated. Among the major figures in this panorama are Elisabeth Schonau, Hildegard of Bingen, Hrotsvit, Marie de France, and Christine de Pizan.