Reform and Resistance, livre ebook

Explores the relationship between gender and identity in early medieval Germanic societies.

Explores the relationship between gender and identity in early medieval Germanic societies.

Honorable Mention, 2010 First Book Prize presented by the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship

The early Middle Ages were a vibrant period rich with possibility for both men and women. Reform and Resistance explores the relationship between gender and identity in early medieval Germanic societies, centering mostly on competing perceptions of female subject formation in times of conversion, reform, and resistance. While women played an active role in the spread of Christianity during the Middle Ages, their freedoms were often restricted by the Church during periods of reform, when uniformity and conformity were important. Helene Scheck's inquiry extends beyond one specific region or historical moment through two centuries and three diverse Germanic regions: Carolingian France, late Anglo-Saxon England, and Ottonian Saxony. Each of these moments exhibits distinct yet interconnected stages of conversion and reform, different stages of cultural amalgamation out of which various possibilities for female subject formation emerge. The book also connects with current conversations about the interrelatedness of power, knowledge, and subjectivity, opening new possibilities for the study of women in early ecclesiastical cultures.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
1. Women in/and Early Ecclesiastical Culture: An Overview
2. The Limits of Orthodoxy: Being Female and Female Being under Charlemagne
3. Soul Searching: Alcuin of York and His Circle of Female Scholars
4. Redressing the Female Subject: Women, Transvestite Saints, and the Anglo-Saxon Benedictine Reform
5. Resounding Silences: Mary and Eve in Anglo-Saxon Reform Literature
6. Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Claiming Her Voice
7. Hrotsvit of Gandersheim: Recasting Female Subjectivities
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index