Product Description

Written primarily for undergraduates, this book weighs the evidence for and against the various theories relating to the position of women at different time periods. Professor Mate examines the major issues deciding the position of women in medieval English society, asking questions such as, did women enjoy a rough equality in the Anglo-Saxon period that they subsequently lost? Did queens at certain periods exercise real political clout or was their power limited to questions of patronage? Did women’s participation in the economy grant them considerable independence and allow them to postpone or delay marriage? Professor Mate also demonstrates that class, as well as gender, was very important in determining age at marriage and opportunities for power and influence. Although some women at certain times did make short-term gains, Professor Mate challenges the dominant view that major transformations in women’s position occurred in the century after the Black Death.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98745 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 126 pages

Review
"[Mate] looks at the ways in which historians have seen the position of women in medieval society from the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon period to the end of the 15th century." Book News

"Mate's book contains much useful information and makes a compelling argument..." Comitatus

"[Mate] looks at the ways in which historians have seen the position of women in medieval society from the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon period to the end of the 15th century." Book News

"Mate's book contains much useful information and makes a compelling argument..." Comitatus

Customer Reviews

Incredibly irritating
I find not only some of the factual information a bit dodgy but also the presentation. Examples for the former:
Mate refers to `slaves' in Britain at the time of the Norman invasion which I think is not an appropriate term, and implies that Christianity was introduced into Britain around 800 (blithely ignoring the influx with the Romans, Celtic monks and St. Augustine & co.). Mate looks at the period through modern eyes, applying values that are inappropriate to the time e.g.`... abbesses never questioned their inability to become priests.' And similar.

Regarding her use of English, Mate treats `male' as an adjective or as a noun, as the mood takes her. `Domesday' is mostly a noun and I don't think she ever refers to the Domesday book. Some sentences could do with judiciously placed commas because without them you have to read them at least twice to understand what she means, and occasionally a sentence in the present tense pops up in a description (past tense) of the period.

I had to look up some vocabulary that was unfamiliar to me (e.g presentments, truck wages) but Mate doesn't doesn't always use them as I understand the meaning from my dictionary. I read `.... in 1086, at the time of the Domesday inquest, ...' (this is not what I understand an inquest to be).' And I read `fine' where I'm sure she means simply `tax'or `levy'.

Mate quotes various studies which have proved what, for me, is the blindingly obvious - `In a military society .... women were at a distinct disadvantage since they were not trained to fight.' `She therefore concluded that women's chief sphere of action was the home'. Is that necessary in a book of only 100 pages?

And as a final personal comment I refuse to believe that prostitues in the late Middle Ages `were often forced to wear distinctive clothing'. I reckon it was the same then as now - they chose to be easily identifiable.

Excellent Book
This book has much to offers to specialists in medieval history, to understand and assess her work, we need first to examine the prior debate about the condition of women in the later middle ages.