Did queens exercise real or counterfeit power? Did the promotion of the cult of the Virgin enhance or restrict their sphere of action? Is it time to revise the early feminist view of women as victims? Important papers on Emma of England, Margaret of Scotland, coronation and burial ritual, Byzantine empresses and Scandinavian queens, among others, clearly indicate that a reassessment of the role of women in the world of medieval dynastic politics is under way. Contributors: JANOS BAK, GEORGE CONKLIN, PAUL CROSSLEY, VOLKER HONEMANN, STEINAR IMSEN, LIZ JAMES, KURT-ULRICH JASCHKE, SARAH LAMBERT,...

The great strength of this collection is its wide range...a valuable work for anyone interested in the social aspects of the medieval nobility. CHOICE Articles on the origins and nature of "nobility," its relationship with the late Roman world, its acquisition and exercise of power, its association with military obligation, and its transformation into a more or less willing instrument of royal government. Embracing regions as diverse as England (before and after the Norman Conquest), Italy, the Iberian peninsula, France, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and the Romano-German empire, it ranges over...