Contents

• Women's Roles
  • General
  • Women in Religion
  • Women as Writers
  • Women in Politics
  • Noblewomen
  • "Middle" Class Women
  • Towns Women
  • Peasant Women
  • Jewish Women
  • Women at Home
  • Women at Work Outside the Home
  • Women in Business Activities
  • Woman and Misogyny
• Men's Roles
• Constructions of Sexuality and Gender
  • General
  • Legal Control of Sexualuty
  • Theological Norms
  • Homoerotic/Transgendered Subcultures
• Marriage
  • General
  • Theology
  • Law and Marriage
  • Married Lives

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Women's Roles

• General
  • WEB ORB: Medieval Women's Studies [At ORB]
• Women in Religion
  • WEB Matrix: A collection of resources for the study of women's religious communities, 500-1500, [At USC].
    This includes a database of 1146 women's communities and a Documents page, with documents from women's communities at Laycock (13th century), San Sisto (13th century), Santa Francesca Romana (15th century).
  • Socrates Scholasticus: The Murder of Hypatia.
    A leading female philosopher, Hypatia was murdered by a Christian mob in Alexandria, urged on by St. Cyril.
  • Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-d.c.395): Life of Macrina, trans. W.K. Lowther Clarke. Full text.
    One of the most important lives of a female saint. This is an account of Gregory's strongminded sister, Macrina (c.327-379).
  • Life of Matrona of Perge, d.c. 510-515, trans Khalifa Ben Nasser, [full text of Metaphrastic Life: selections from Vita Prima].
    An example of a "transvestite" saint who was also a historical figure.
  • Holy Women of Byzantium: Ten Saints' Lives in English Translation [At DO] 
    Complete texts of translations of female saints lives.
    The texts are all in PDF form [for which you need the free Acrobat reader, downloadable from the index page]. Although it is possible to read these within the browser with Acrobat as a plugin, that often seems to destabilize a system. I recommend downloading the files onto a hard disk, and then opening them with Acrobat running independantly of the Browser.
    • Front Matter, General Introduction, Acknowledgments, List of Abbreviations / 183 k
    • A. Nuns Disguised as Monks
      • <-ef="http://www.doaks.org/HolyWomen/talbch3.pdf">3. Life of St. Mary of Egypt / Maria Kouli / 183 k
      • 4. Life of St. Theoktiste of Lesbos / Angela C. Hero / 153 k
    • C. Cenobitic Nuns
      • 5. Life of St. Elisabeth the Wonderworker / Valerie Karras / 153 k
      • 6. Life of St. Athanasia of Aegina / Lee Francis Sherry / 153 k
      • 7. Life of St. Theodora of Thessalonike / Alice-Mary Talbot / 458 k
    • D. Pious Housewives
      • 8. Life of St. Mary the Younger / Angeliki E. Laiou / 305 k
      • 9. Life of St. Thomaïs of Lesbos / Paul Halsall / 214 k
    • E. A Saintly E-ss
      • 10. Life of St. Theodora of Arta / Alice-Mary Talbot / 92 k
    • Indexes / 122 k
      Index of People and Places; General Index Index of Notable Greek Words
• The Life of Liutberga, 9th Century, trans, Jo Ann McNamara. Full text.
• Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend (Aurea Legenda) 1275, As englished by William Caxton, 1483
  The full text of the 7 volume Temple Classics edition, available in large volume files, and individual feast/saint files, inlcuding a number of women saints.
• Life of Irene, Abbess of the Convent of Chrysobalanton, trans. Jan Olof Rosenqvist.
• Life of Mary the Younger, d.c. 903, trans Paul Halsall, [First five chapters, and concluding prayer].
• Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents [At DO]
  A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founder's Typika and Testaments.
  Contains many documenst by women monastic founders, and about female monasticism.
• Ancrene Wisse, In Middle English, with some Latin. [At Google Books] A collection of rules and advice for English nuns.
• Rule of the Lady Hospitallers of the Royal Monastery of Sigena, 1188, in Latin, [At Internet Archive, from Kansas]
  The Royal Monastery of Sigena was an institution of Lady Hospitallers and enjoyed a great deal of independence and influence. It would appear that its Rule was the work of Sancha, Queen of Aragon.

Men's Roles

• Charters relating to Judicial Duels, 11^th - 12^th Century,  trans. Richard Barton
  • Duel between Engelardus and the monks of Saint-Serge of Angers, c.1100
  • Abbots Daibert and Otbrannus prevent a battle between their monks, 27 and 28 April, 1064
  • Trouble between St Martin of Tours and Holy Cross of Talmont leads to a judicial battle, 1098
  • Abbot Robert of Mont-Saint-Michel seeks the right to determine where duels are held.
• Statuta Armorum (The Statutes of Arms), c. 1260
  An attempt to forbid jousting, etc.
• WEB Knighthood, Chivalry & Tournaments Resource Library. [At Chronique]
• To Cry a Joust: Abillement for the Joust, 15th Century. [At Chronique]
• Challenge of John Astley, Squire, to Philip Boyle, Knight of Aragon, On the occasion of his knighting, 1442. [At Chronique]
•  

Constructions of Sexuality and Gender

• General
  • WEB  For this subject the People With A History: An Online Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* History
• Legal Control of Sexuality
  • Justinian I: Novel 77, [538 CE] and Novel 141, [544 C-a>. [At PWH]
    Includes texts of earlier Roman legislation on homosexuality.
  • Theodore of Studium (d.826): Reform Rules, contains interesting references to adelphopoiia and dangers of monastic friendships.
• Theological Norms
  • Peter Damian: 'The Different Types of Those Who Sin Against Nature', from Liber Gomorrhianus, .c.1048-54.
  • Alain of Lille (d. 1203): The Plaint of Nature, extracts. The full text is also available.
  • Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274): On Sex: Summa Theologiae II-II, 153-154.
  • Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274): On Unnatural Sex: Summa Theologiae II-II, 154, 10-11.
  • A Legend of the Austrian Tyrol: St. Kümmernis
    A female saint who grows a beard.
  • See Medieval Sourcebook: Saints' Lives for more lives of female transvestite saints.
• Homoerotic/Transgendered Subcultures
  • The Nizámu'l Mulk (?-1092 CE) : On the Courtiers and Familars of Kings
  • Homoerotic Medieval Texts.
  • The Passion of Sergius and Bacchus, full text of early passion.
  • Two Versions of the Rite of Adelphopoiia.
  • The Questioning of John Rykener, A Male Cross-Dressing Prostitute, 1395.
    This is the one a a minute number of texts from legal processes on same-sex activities in late medieval England. The document contains a facsimile of the Roll membrane, a Latin transcription, and a translation.

Marriage

• General
  • Selections from the Bible on Marriage
• Theology
  • St Augustine: On Marriage and Concupiscence, excerpts.
    A crucial text for understanding why marriage was such a problem for medieval canonists and theologians.
  • St Jerome (c. 320-420): On Marriage and Virginity, From Letter XXII to Eustochium and from the treatise Against Jovinian
  • St Jerome (c. 320-420): On The Song of Songs, From the treatise Against Jovinian
• Law and Marriage
  • Corpus Iuris Civilis: The Digest and Codex on Marriage. See also Catholic Encyclopedia: History of Marriage.
  -
  • Codex Justinianus: Protection of Freewomen Married to Servile Husbands, c. 530 [Vll.24.i.]
  • Codex Justinianus: Children of the Unfree, c. 530 [Xl.48.xxi.]
  • Codex Justinianus: Children of Mixed Marriages, c. 530 [Xl.48.xxiv.]
  • The Contract of Marriage, in the Ecloga of Leo III, (726).
  • A Husband's Endowment Of His Future Wife On Their Betrothal - Southern Burgundy, 994.
  • Council Legislation on Marriage.
  • Tables of Kindred and Degrees - both Roman and German methods of calculation.
  • The Law of Brusthem, 1175, on a mixed marriage between a slave and a freewoman.
  • Gratian:  On Marriage.
  • Innocent III (r.1198-1216): Letters on Marriage, and Women, 1203-1204
  • Manorial Marriage and Sexual Offense Cases.
  • Church Courts Pursue Adulterers, 1289
  • Robert of Flamborough: Summa Confessorum: on Luxuria..
• Married Lives
  • The Crow of the Bestiaries.
  • Sale of Daughter as a Concubine.
  • Wife Sues to Get Husband Back .
  • Constance of Brittany and Gerald of Wales: On Louis VII of France.
  • [Tierney 88] Le Menagier [or Goodman] of Paris: on ideal marriage.
  • Bernardino of Siena: Sermons on Wives and Widows , (1427).

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NOTES:

copyrighted means the text is not available for free distribution. In some cases alternate versions are available, and are working through the pipeline.

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created 1996: last revised 4/16/2007