Women, Wealth, and Community in Perpignan, c. 1250-1300: Christians, Jews, and Enslaved Muslims in a Medieval Mediterranean Town

ISBN-13: 9781032441917 / Angielski / Miękka / 2023 / 276 str.

Rebecca Lynn Winer

Opis

This book investigates the gender system at work in medieval Perpignan. Using a series of notarial registers, unique as surviving records for the social history of the thirteenth-century realms of Aragon and Majorca, Rebecca L. Winer opens a window onto the experiences of women and their families. Her interpretive framework reveals medieval assumptions about the distinct natures of Christian, Jewish, and enslaved Muslim women by analyzing which actions were curbed, controlled, or fostered in these different groups. Analyzing how class, gender and religious difference shaped everyday practice, the volume constitutes a major contribution to the history of inter-faith relations and medieval studies.

Recenzje

'For Winer, women are the key to decoding the mysteries of a multi-ethnic medieval community. Her important study provides fascinating and instructive contrasts of Christian and Jewish women's business practices and family situations, while her discussion of Muslim women at the bottom of the social ladder demonstrates the ways in which Mediterranean slavery in this era was a feminized and domestic institution.' Judith R. Baskin, Knight Professor of Humanities, University of Oregon ’The book contributes interestingly to our growing stock of knowledge about the considerable differences between the workings of different Mediterranean societies, not to mention the massive contrasts between northern and southern Europe, for example in the degree of female involvement in the money market.’ History ’Winer demonstrates skill at drawing conclusions from legal contracts and other documents of practice. Her use of engrossing details, and her careful yet sympathetic approach, encourage empathy with, as well as analysis of, the situations of medieval women.’ The Medieval Review ’The work is both thoughtful and perceptive... a welcome addition to the complex social history of the region.’ Speculum

Spis treści

Contents: Introduction: Gender and the three religions in medieval Perpignan; The Christian woman as daughter, wife, mother, and widow; Christian widowed mothers and guardianship; The Jewish woman as daughter, wife, and widow; Jewish widowed mothers as caregivers for their fatherless children; Inside the home: Christian servants and enslaved Muslim women; Bibliography; Index.

O autorze

Rebecca Lynn Winer is Assistant Professor at the Department of History, Villanova University, USA.