|
Internet Women's History History Sourcebook
Editor: Paul Halsall
"Yes, I am fond of history."
"I wish I were too. I read it a little as a duty, but it tells me nothing that does
not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or
pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all
-- it is very tiresome:"
Catherine Morland, in Northhangar Abbey (1803),
by Jane Austen
How are historians to remedy the silence about women in many traditional
accounts of history? This question has received a number of distinct answers.
The first solution was to locate the great women of the
past, following the lead of much popular historiography that focuses on "great
men". The problem here is that just as the "great men" approach to history
sidelines and ignores the lives of the mass of people, focusing on great women merely
replicates the exclusionary historical approaches of the past.
The next solution was to examine and expose the history of
oppression of women. This approach had the merit of addressing the life histories
of the mass of women, but, since it has proved to be possible to find some degree of
oppression everywhere, it tended to make women merely subjects of forces that they
could not control. On the other hand, historians' focus on oppression revealed that
investigating the structures of women's lives was crucial.
In recent years, while not denying the history of oppression, historians
have begun to focus on the agency of women. All human beings are subject
to some degree of social forces that limit freedom, but within those limits people are
able to exercise greater or lesser degrees of control over their own lives. This insight
applies equally to women even in oppressive societies.
These various approaches to the history of women are not exclusive. This sourcebook attempts to present online documents and secondary discussions which reflect the various
ways of looking at the history of women within broadly defined historical periods and
areas.
***
This page is a subset of texts derived from the three major online Sourcebooks listed below.
For help in research, homework, and so forth see
Notes: |
In addition to direct links to documents, links are made to a
number of other web resources. |
2ND
|
Link to a secondary article, review or discussion on a given
topic. |
MEGA
|
Link to one of the megasites which track web
resources. |
WEB
|
Link to a website focused on a specific issue.. These are not
links to every site on a given topic, but to sites of serious educational value. |
Contents
- The Historical Study of Women
- Human Origins
- Ancient Egypt
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Gender Construction
- Ancient Mesopotamia
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Gender Construction
- Greece
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Gender Construction
- Rome
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Gender Construction
- Medieval Europe
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Early Modern Europe
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Modern Europe
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- North America
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Women Authors
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Latin America
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- China
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Japan
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- India
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- South East Asia
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Australasia
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Africa
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- The Islamic World
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Apologetics
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Further Resources in
Women's History
The
Historical Study of Women
Human
Origins
Ancient
Egypt
General
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Warriors
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
- Egyptian Love
Poetry, c. 2000 - 1100 BCE [At this Site]
- The Offering of Uha,
c. 2400 BCE [At this Site]
Male and Female Circumcision in Egypt.
- Princess Ahura: The
Magic Book, c. 1100 BCE [At this Site]
On the brother-sister marriage of the two children of the King Merneptah.
Women's Agency
Gender Construction
Ancient
Mesopotamia
General
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Warriors
Women Writers
Goddesses
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Gender Construction
Greece
General
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Warriors
- Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): Artemisia at Salamis,
480 BCE
Artemesia was rule of Halicarnassus.
- Aspasia
- Olympia
- Arsinoë
- Cleopatra VII
Women Writers and Intellectuals
-
Sappho (c.580 BCE): Poems, at
[Sappho.com]
-
Diogenes Laertius (3rd Cent. BCE): Life of Hipparchia from Lives, Book VI. 96-98 [At Diotima]
- Diogenes Laërtius: The Lives
and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers Book VI: The Cynics [Antisthenes, Diogenes,
Monimus, Onesicritus, Crates, Metrocles, Hipparchia, Menippus, Menedemus.][At this Site]
Goddesses
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
- Sophocles (496-405/6 BCE)
The second of the great tragic poets. He wrote over 100 plays, but only seven complete
ones survive. The dates here are likely but not certain. The following have female heros.
-
Antigone 442 BCE
See 2ND Study Guide [At
Brooklyn College]
-
Antigone 442
BCE [At Diotima]
A much more modern translation, with extensive annotation.
- Euripides (c.485-406 BCE)
- Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE)
- Menander (342/1-293/89 BCE)
- Herondas (aka Herodas) (c.300-250 BCE): A Mother and Her Truant Son,
from The Third Mime, c. 3rd Cent. BCE
Gender Construction
Rome
General
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Warriors
Women Writers and Intellectuals
- Sulpicia (Late 1st Cent. CE):
Poems [At Diotima]
or in
Latin [At The Latin Library]
The only surviving Roman female poet.
- Socrates Scholasticus: The
Murder of Hypatia
A leading female philosopher, Hypatia was murdered by a Christian mob in Alexandria, urged
on by St. Cyril. See also The
Hypatia Page. Three historical version's of Hypatia's murder are available, and useful
for comparative purposes
Goddesses
- Demeter and Eleusis
- Cybele
- Isis
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Gender Construction
- Petronius Arbiter (c.27-66 CE): Satyricon c.61 CE
See 2ND The Satyricon of
Petronius [At Southwestern][Modern Account]
- Priapea (collected 5th Cent CE) in
Latin [At IPA]
Said by the Oxford Classical Dictionary2 to be "uniformly
obscene".
Medieval
Europe
General
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Warriors
- Procopius: On the Nika
Revolt, from The Wars
The Empress Theodora
- Cartulary of Saint Trond: Richelinde: A Gift of Serfs to Abbey of
St. Trond, 938
- Michael Psellus(1018-after 1078): Chronographia,
full text.
The history of the Roman Empire 976-1078 by one of the liveliest writers of the middle
ages. During the period 1028-1056, the rulership of the Empire depended on two empresses -
Zoe and Theodora.
- Joan, Countess of Flanders: Grant to Weavers of
Exemption from the Taille, 1224
- Margaretta, Countess of Flanders & Hainault: A Purchase of Tithes and
Remission of a Tax, 1246
-
Empress Matilda: To Archbishop
Anselm, c. 1100, [At Internet Archive, from Millersville]
- Peter of Blois: Letter 154,
to Queen Eleanor, 1173, trans. M. Markowski [[email protected]]
- Johann Nider: on Joan
of Arc, (d. 1438) See also
Catholic
Encyclopedia: ST. JOAN OF ARC
- Joan of Arc: Letter to
the King of England, 1429
- Transcript of Trial
of Joan of Arc, full text.
- The Trial of Joan of
Arc, 1431 [excerpts]
- Sieur Louis de Conte: Personal Recollections of
Joan of Arc [in fact, a fictional account by Mark Twain]
- Nicolas, Nicholas Harris: The
Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York: The Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV [At R3]
Nicolas's introductory memoirs of Yorkist royalty, with commentary on the
Ricardian controversies of the time; the privy purse expenses of Elizabeth of York. To
come: the Wardrobe Accounts. A lengthy series of documents, consisting of 24 interlinked
files.
Women Writers
- WEB Bibliography of Works by and About
Women Writers of the Middle Ages (Robbins Library)
- Egeria. Description of the
Liturgical Year in Jerusalem: Translation [At Oxford]
- Egeria: Travelogue,
Translated by M.L. McClure, The Pilgrimage of Etheria, (New York, 1915) [At Yale]
-
Saint Brigid of Ireland (ascribed): The Heavenly Banquet [At Eircom]
- Huneberc of Heidenheim: The
Hodoeporican of St. Willibald, 8th Century
- Huneberc of Heidenheim. Prologue
to the Hodoeporicon of St. Willibald. c. 750-75CE. Alternate trans. by Thomas Head [At
ORB]
-
Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (b.c 930/40-d.c.1002): St. John,
[At Internet Archive, from Millersville]
See also
Catholic Enclopedia:
Hroswitha
- Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (c.930/40-c.1002): The Plays of Roswitha,
Including Full texts of Gallicanus and Dulcitius
- Anna Comnena (1083-after 1048): The Alexiad.
[Full text]
The account of her father, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I, by Princess Anna
Comnena is perhaps the most important historical work by a woman writer written before the
modern period.
- Anna Comnena (1083-after 1048): The Alexiad [Books 10
and 11]
See also
Catholic Encyclopedia:
Anna Comnena
- Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): Lyrics, Latin and
English, [At irupert.com].
See also the Hildegard
of Bingen page [At Internet Archive, from Millersville]; and the
Catholic Encyclopedia article.
- Constance of Brittany and Gerald of Wales: On Louis VII of France
- Heloise: Letter to Abelard,
trans. C.K. Scott Moncrief The text is also available in Latin [At
Georgetown]; and
French [At Internet Archive]
See also Photographs of
Tomb of Abelard and Heloise, Père-Lachaise (Cemetery : Paris, France); and
Jean Vignaud: Abelard and
Heloise Surprised by the Abbot Fulbert (1819)
-
Hadewijch
of Antwerp, d.c. 1260. [At Internet Archive, from Millersville]
The page contains links to five of her letters and four of her poems.
- Blessed Cecilia Cesarine, O.S.B. The Legend of St. Dominic
-
Marguerite Porète: The Mirror of
Simple Souls, (written 1296/1306), trans. Bonnie Duncan and Ellen L Babinsky,
[At Internet Archive, from Millersville]
Porète's book, a mystic account of the ascent of the soul, was condemned in 1306, and was
burned in her presence!
- Catherine of Siena: Dialogue
of the Seraphic Virgin, 1370, full text now available [At CCEL]. See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: Catherine of
Siena, Saint
-
Christine de Pizan (1363-1431): Treasure of
the City of Ladies. [At Internet Archive, from Women Writers of the Middle Ages/Millersville]
-
Julian of Norwich: Shewings [Full
Text]
. See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: Juliana of
Norwich, and WEB Julian of Norwich Page. [At
Luminarim
- The Book of Margery Kempe: The
Birth of Her First Child and Her First Vision [At luminarium.org]
see the Luminarium: Margery Kempe
Page
- Margery Kempe: Treatise of
Contemplation, from her Book as reprinted in The Cell of Self-Knowledge [At CCEL],
For many centuries this was the only well-known part of Margery's writing.
- Margery Kempe (1413-1415): Book
of Margery Kempe. (Text--Butler-Bowden translation of Chapter 26-34, 37-41)[At
Traveling to Jerusalem/U Sth Colorado]
-
Marie de France: Lays: [At Project Gutenberg]
-
Laura Certa: Letter
to Bibulus Sempronius, 13 January 1488 [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
Religious Women: Saints
- Fourth Book of Maccabees: The
Death of the Maccabees circa. 63 BCE-70CE [RSV]
This book is in an "Appendix" of Greek Orthodox Bibles (although not part of the
Latin Church's deuterocanonica). Its account of the persecution the Maccabees
influenced later martyrdom accounts in many ways. The Maccabees and their mother were
celebrated as saints in Orthodox churches.
- St. Methodius of Olympus: Oration
Concerning Simeon and Anna On The Day That They Met in The Temple translated in St.
Pachomius Library
- Acts of Paul and Thecla translated in St. Pachomius Library
- Vibia Perpetua: The
Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity. The
Latin Original is available
[At The Latin Library]. See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: Sts.
Felicitas and Perpetua; and Peter Dronke's
Discussion of Perpetua [At Internet Archive, from Millersville]
This text is composed, in part, of Perpetua's own account of her trial, and of her
visions. It is thus among the earliest of all texts ascribed to a Christian woman.
According to Thomas Heffernan [Sacred Biography, (New York: Oxford UP, 1988), 190]
this text also sees the earliest use of the topos of Christ, the Bridegroom of the
saint. Perpetua is "the wife (matrona) of Christ, the beloved of God" (17:2)
- Eusebius: Ecclesiastical
History: Martyrdom of St. Domnina and Daughters [From Ante-Nicene and Nicene
Fathers Series]
A text, and a story, which has always been problematic - the saint and her daughters drown
themselves rather than submit to rape.
- Acts of Xanthippe,
Polyxena and Rebecca [From Ante-Nicene and Nicene Fathers Series]
- Martyrdom of St. Pelagia of
Ceasarea translated from Ge'ez, [At St. Pachomius Library]
-
Palladius: The Lausiac History [extended excerpts]
Includes lives of a number of important Late Roman saintly women, such as Melania the
Elder and Melania the Younger.
- Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-d.c.395): Life of Macrina, trans.
W.K. Lowther Clarke.
One of the most important lives of a female saint. This is an account of Gregory's
strongminded sister, Macrina (c.327-379)
-
Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-d.c.395): Funeral Oration for the
Empress Flaccilla, trans Casimir McCambly, [At Nyssa Homepage/Uconn]
- Gregory Nazianzus: Oration:
On his Sister Gorgonia
- 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.
- Life of Irene,
Abbess of the Convent of Chrysobalanton, trans. Jan Olof Rosenqvist.
- Life of St. Mary of Egypt from the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete. See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: Saint Mary of
Egypt
- Life of Mary the Younger,
d.c. 903, trans Paul Halsall, [First five chapters, and concluding prayer]
- Holy Women of Byzantium: Ten Saints' Lives
in English Translation [At DO]
Complete texts of translations of female saints lives. The data in these texts present an
opportunity to those who do not read Greek to gain a a massively richer view of Byzantine
society than available hitherto. In addition to the political history of Byzantium, which
has always been available, the data is now available to address comparative issues in many
areas of social and cultural history - religious practice/belief, roles of men and women,
variant sexual minorities, ethnic groupings, family history, the cultural history of disease,
and so forth.
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
-
1. Life of St. Mary/Marinos / translated
by Nicholas Constas / 92 k
-
2. Life of St. Matrona of Perge / Jeffrey
Featherstone and April Mango / 305 k
- B. Female Solitaries
-
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
- Gregory I (DIALOGOS): Second
Dialogue (Life of St. Scholastica)- [From Ante-Nicene and Nicene Fathers Series]
- Rudolf of Fulda: Life of Leoba,
c. 836
- The Life of Liutberga,
9th Century, trans, Jo Ann McNamara.
- St. Bridget of Sweden (d.1373): Revelations to the
Popes, Latin edition by Arne Jönsson, [and Microsoft Word Version],
-
Heliga Birgittas uppenbarelser,
Revelations of St. Bridget, in Swedish [At Göteborg University]
-
The Life and Doctrine of
Saint Catherine of Genoa [At CCEL]
Includes a Life, The Spiritual Dialogue, and Treatise on Purgatory, all from a 1874, 1907
English version. It is unclear from the etext if this Life is a translation of the Libro
de la vita mirabile e dottrina santa de la beta Caterinetta da Genoa, or a modern
work.
- Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510): Treatise on Purgatory [At EWTN],
Full text
-
Thomas de Cantimpré, The
Life of Christina Mirabilis, in Latin, [At Peregrina Press's Matrologia Latina site]
-
William Caxton: The
Life of Saint Cecilia (1483) trans by Caxton from Jacobus de Voragine: Golden
Legend. [At Catholic Forum]
Cecilia is the Patron saint of music in the west.
- Geoffrey Chaucer: The Life of Saint
Cecilia (The Second Nun's Tale), c. 1380, [Modernized English, At Internet Archive, from Virginia Tech]. The
original Middle
English is also available [At University of Virginia]. Chaucer's account is based on
the Golden Legend.
- Jacobus de Voragine (1230-1298): The Golden Legend
Texts in Voragine's order, numbering following William Ryan, (Princeton: 1993)
-
Life of Markella of Chios,
(date uncertain), [At Demetrios Greek Orthodox]
It is unclear if this is a modern or old [how old] life of Markella. The sexual
overtones of the text, are, however, intense.
-
A Legend of the Austrian Tyrol: St. Kümmernis [At this Site]
A story of a saint who women grows a beard so she can become a bride of Christ.
Religious Women: Monasticism
- Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents [At DO]
A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founder's Typika and Testaments. The texts (from
61 monasteries) include a number of texts commissioned by women founders, as well as
documents for womens monasteries.
-
2ND Jeffrey Conrad, Egyptian and Syrian Asceticism
in Late Antiquity: A Comparative Study of the Ascetic Idea in the Late Roman Empire during
the Fourth and Fifth Centuries. [At SFSU]
- 2ND Nonna Harrison, The Feminine Man in Late Antique
Ascetic Piety, Union Seminary Quarterly Review 48:3-4, [At Internet Archive, from Columbia U.]
- 2ND Lina Eckenstein, Women Under Monasticism, Chapters
on Saint-Lore and Convent Life Between A.D. 500 and A.D. 1500. (New York: Russell and
Russell, 1963), chaps. 4, 6, 7, 9 [At Yale]
- 2ND Kevin Corrigan, Syncletica and
Macrina: Two Early Lives of Women Saints, Vox Benedictina 6/3 (1989) 241-256.
[At Peregrina Press's Matrologia Latina site]
-
2ND Onnie Duvall, Radegund of Poitiers (ca.
518-587), [At ORB]. See also Alex Perkins:
Life of Radegund, [At
Cambridge]
-
2ND Margot H. King, The Desert Mothers: A
Survey of the Feminine Anchoretic Tradition in Western Europe, [At Peregrina Press's
Matrologia Latina site],
-
2ND Margot H. King, The Desert Mothers
Revisited: The Mothers of the Diocese of Liège, [At Peregrina Press's Matrologia
Latina site]
-
2ND Abby Stoner, Sisters Between: Gender and the Medieval
Beguines [At sfsu.edu]
-
2ND Katherine Gill, Open Monasteries for
Women in Late Medieval and Early Modern Italy: Two Roman Examples
Part of Matrix - A Collection of Resources for
the Study of Women's Religious Communities, 500-1600
- Election of Avice as the first abbess of Malling. 7th March 1108 See Wikipedia: Malling Abbey [Manuscript, transcription, translation and introduction by Christopher Monk from the Textus Roffensis, online at Rochester Cathedral]. See also Wikipedia: Textus Roffensis (1122-1124).
- Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) : Dialogue 1370 [At CCEL] See
also
Catholic Encyclopedia:
Catherine of Siena, Saint
- Julian of Norwich (1343-1443): Revelations
of Divine Love 1371 [At CCEL] See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: JULIANA OF
NORWICH
- 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.
-
Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510): Treatise on Purgatory [At EWTN]
The Cult of the Virgin Mary
Women's Oppression
Misogyny
- Athanasius: Life of
Anthony [From Ante-Nicene and Nicene Fathers Series]. See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Anthony or
Encyclopedia Britannica
(9th ed): Athanasius
Just as the martyrdom of Polykarp is a model text for many other martyrdom accounts, the Life
of Anthony provided a model for accounts of saints - later called confessors whose sanctity was manifested by a holy - usually monastic - life rather than by a heroic
death for the faith.
-
Sprenger and Kramer: The Malleus
Maleficarum [The Hammer of Witches], 1484, [Full Text] [At Sacred Texts]
- Witchcraft Legends, Translated and/or
edited by D. L. Ashliman, [At Pitt]
-
Ibn Fadlan. Risala, 921 CE [At
VikingAnswerLady]
Ibn Fadlan was an Arab chronicler. In 921 C.E., the Caliph sent Ibn Fadlan with an embassy
to the King of the Bulgars of the Middle Volga. Ibn Fadlan wrote an account of his
journeys with the embassy, called a Risala. This Risala is of great value as a
history. It contains an account of a Viking version of suttee.
Courtly Love
The Structure of Women's Lives
Marriage
- Selections from the
Bible on Marriage available 10/6/98
- 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
- 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-li>
- Codex Justinianus: Children
of Mixed Marriages, c. 530 [Xl.48.xxiv.]
- The Contract of
Marriage, in the Ecloga of Leo III, (726)
- The Ecloga on Sexual Crimes (8th Cent.)
- 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
- Anglo Saxon Dooms,
560-975,
- Gratian: On Marriage
- Novembre 1169 : Pactes entre
Guilhem de Monpellier et Bernard d'Anduze en vue du mariage de leurs enfants respectifs.
In Latin
- Innocent III (r.1198-1216): Letters on
Marriage, and Women, 1203-1204
- The Law of Brusthem,
1175, on a mixed marriage between a slave and a freewoman.
- Hugh, in agreement with his wife Emma and his sons, grants land at Southgate to St Andrew’s, Rochester. 1114-23 [Manuscript, transcription, translation and introduction by Christopher Monk from the Textus Roffensis, online at Rochester Cathedral]. See also Wikipedia: Textus Roffensis (1122-1124).
- An Agreement made by the monks of Rochester with the wife of Robert Latimer. c.1100-c.1123[Manuscript, transcription, translation and introduction by Christopher Monk from the Textus Roffensis, online at Rochester Cathedral]. See also Wikipedia: Textus Roffensis (1122-1124).
- Manorial Marriage and
Sexual Offense Cases
- The Crow of the
Bestiaries
- Sale of Daughter as a
Concubine
- Wife Sues to Get
Husband Back
- Church Courts Pursue
Adulterers, 1289
- Peter of Blois: Letter 154,
to Queen Eleanor, 1173,trans. M. Markowski [[email protected]]
- Aquinas: On Sex: Summa
Theologiae II-II, 153-154
- Synod of
Castilian Jews, 1432
Ordinances from assembly of the Jews of the kingdom of Castile at Valladolid in 1432
-- includes a discussion on forced marriage.
Everyday Life
-
Stephen de Bourbon: De Supersticione: On
St Guinefort
The basis of the film The Sorceress about a sainted dog. Based on the tradition
of St. Christopher as being "dog-faced".
-
Master Huen's Boke of Gode Cookery
A compilation of Medieval recipes from period sources, with modern adaptations for the
20th c. kitchen. With diverse facts on food & feasting in the Middle Ages, and many
things related historically. [At SCA site: at labs.net]
Everyday Life: Jewish Women
Women's Agency
- Tacitus: Germania full text.
- Gregory of Tours: The Conversion of
Clovis, from History of the Franks, Book II
- Gregory of Tours: History
of the Franks, (6th century)
Complete text of Earnest Brehaut's 1916 abridged translation.
- Bede: Abbess Hilda of Whitby (d. 679) from Ecclesiastical Histoy
- Æthelflæd [Aetheflaed], Lady of the Mercians (d .918): Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 911-918, daughter of Alfred the Great and the only woman to rule Anglo-Saxon England in her own right.
- Wynflaed (d. c 950/960): Will of Wynflæd concerning land at Ebbesborne, Wilts.; Charlton (probably Horethorne, Somerset); Coleshill, Berks.; Inggeneshamme (perhaps Inglesham, Wilts.); Faccombe, Hants; Adderbury, Oxon.; and at Chinnock, Somerset; the beneficiaries including Shaftesbury and Wilton. [At the Electronic Sawyer. Click the "Translation" icon for full translation.] See BL for Images of Manuscript. See Wikipedia: Wynflaed.
- Emma of Normandy (d. 1052): Encomium Emmae Reginae[Encomium of Queen Emma], exceprts, mid 11th Century. Complete text at Internet Archive.
-
Russian Primary Chronicle: The
Christianisation of Russia (988), [At Univ.Durham]
- 1135 : Serment de
fidélité prêté par Guillem VI, seigneur de Montpellier, au comte et à la comtesse de
Melgueil. In Latin
- 12 novembre 1166:
Convention et confédération de paix, concorde et commerce entre les consuls de
Gênes et l'archevêque Pons, la vicomtesse Ermengarde et le peuple de Narbonne. In Latin
- 30 avril 1196 : Testament
d'Ermengarde, vicomtesse de Narbonne. In Latin
- The Case of Na Prous, a
beguine, 1325
- Geoffrey Chaucer: Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, original language.
- Geoffrey Chaucer: Canterbury
Tales: Prologue to Wife of Bath's Tale [Modern Text] , (c.1380) [d.1400] or Parallel Text Version,
[using HTML Tables]
- 2ND Robert Palmer: Women and the Law [At Houston]
Glanvill on Law as it applies to women in England, 1188
- Le Menagier [or Goodman]
of Paris: on ideal marriage
- Bernardino of Siena: Sermons on Wives and
Widows , (1427)
-
WEB Matrix: A Collection of Resources for the study of
women's religious communities, 500-1600
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).
Feminism
Gender Construction
Men's Roles
- To Cry a Joust:
Abillement for the Joust, 15th Century, [At Chronique]
See Knighthood, Chivalry & Tournaments
Resource Library [At Chronique]
- Challenge
of John Astley, Squire, to Philip Boyle, Knight of Aragon, On the occasion of his
knighting, 1442, [At Chronique]
- A Joust: Pierre de
Masse's Challenge, 1438
- Peter Abelard: History
of My Calamities [selections]. The full text is also available in English translation by Henry Adams Bellows and in Latin [At
Georgetown]; See also
Catholic
Encyclopedia: PETER ABELARD; and Eric Gans:
Chronicles of Love and Resentment - Abelard and Heloise
- Guibert of Nogent (1053-1124): Autobiography, full
text, trans. C.C. Swinton Bland
- Guibert of Nogent (1053-1124): On his childhood,
Selections from his Autobiography
Sexualities
- People With A History: An
Online Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* History
- Medieval Homoerotic Texts
- Two Versions of the Rite of Adelphopoiia
- Theodore of Studium: Reform
Rules [d.826] contains interesting references to adelphopoiia and dangers of
monastic friendships.
- 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.
- Aquinas: On Unnatural
Sex: Summa Theologiae II-II, 154, 10-11,
- 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.
- Robert of Flamborough: Summa
Confessorum - on Luxuria
-
A Legend of the Austrian Tyrol: St. Kümmernis [At this Site]
A story of a saint who women grows a beard so she can become a bride of Christ.
Early
Modern Europe
General
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Political Leaders
- Christopher Columbus: Letter
to King and Queen of Spain, prob. 1494 [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- Elizabeth I: Against the
Spanish Armada, 1588 [At this Site]
- Queen Elizabeth I of England (b.1533, r. 1558-1603): Selected Writing and Speeches [At this Site]
- Catherine the Great of Russia: Various Documents on
Enlightenment and Government, excerpts [At this Site]
- The Division of
Poland, 1772, 1793, 1795 [At this Site]
The very different attitudes of Catherine II and Maria Theresa.
- Luise Gottsched: Description of
the Empress Maria Theresa, 1749 [At this Site]
- Marie Antoinette: Letter
to Her Mother, 1773 [At this Site]
- Madame Campan: Memoirs
of the Private Life of Marie Antoinette, 1818 [At this Site]
Women Writers
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
Modern
Europe
General
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Political Leaders
- Margaret Thatcher: Christianity
and Wealth, Speech made to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, May 21,
1988 [At this Site]
Women Writers
-
WEB Victorian Women Writers Project
Library
-
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797): Maria, 1795-97 [At Project Gutenberg]
[Full Text]
[The attribution in the text to Mary Shelley must be wrong, since Mary W. died giving
birth to Mary Godwin (later Shelley) in 1797.] Mary Shelley (1797-1851):
Frankenstein, 1818
[At Project Gutenberg] [Full Text]
- Mary Shelley (1797-1851): The
Last Man [At this Site]
- WEB The Gaskell Page [At
Nagoya]
A Comprehensive web page dedicated to the works of Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-65). It
includes ALL of Mrs. Gaskell's writings as etexts, as well as a lot of ancillary material
about 19th-century England.
-
Elizabeth Gaskell: North
and South, 1855, excerpts [At Internet Archive, from Clinch Valley College]
-
Elizabeth Gaskell: Mary
Barton - A tale of Manchester life [At Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
-
Elizabeth Gaskell: North
and South [At Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
-
Elizabeth Gaskell: Cranford [At Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
-
Vera Brittain: Testament
of Youth, excerpts [At Virginia]
Women Leaders in Professions
- Florence Nightingale (1820-1910): Rural Hygiene [At
this Site]
Life on the farm was not that much of an improvement over a factory. But, eventually, the
social activists turned their eyes on the countryside as well.
-
WEB Florence Nightingale: Selected
Correspondence [At kumc.edu]
- Marie Curie (1867-1934): On
the Discovery of Radium [At this Site]
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
- General
- France
- Britain
- Russia
Women's Agency
- Scottish Immigration to
the American Colonies, 1772 [At this Site]
Includes the reasons why a single women might emigrate.
- Samuel Bamford (1788-1872): Passages in the Life of a
Radical-on the Peterloo Massacre, 1819 [At this Site]
Discusses the part given to women's voices early 19th century English radicalism.
- Ada E Leslie: Letters from a Victorian
Governess/Companion, to Royal families written during the period 1883-1894.
- Baroness M. De Packh: On The March to Siberia,
c. 1840 [At this Site]
- Anne Maier: Autobiography,
1912, excerpts [At this Site]
- Maria Sukloff: The
Story of An Assassination, extracts [At WSU]
-
Rosa Luxemburg, "The
War and the Workers": The Junius Pamphlet, 1916 [At H-Net]
-
Rosa Luxemburg: "The War
and the Workers": The Junius Pamphlet, 1916 [At this Site]
-
Alexandra Kollontai: The
Workers' Opposition 1921 [At Marxists.Org]
-
Julie Heifetz: The Confession,
based on a speech to a - school class 1982 [At RPI]
-
Christa M.: A German
witness describes prisoners from Dachau [At Yale]
-
Anna W.: A Gypsy survivor
describes medical experiments at Ravensbrück [With Multimedia][At Yale] .
Religious Women
- Bernadette Soubirous: My Name
is Bernadette, 1858, [At EWTN]
-
Bishop's Commission on the
- Apparitions of Mary at Lourdes 1858, and
Final Report [At Catholic Online].
See also
Cult Images of Mary.
- Marian Apparitions Page
Extremely pious, but complete for Europe.
- Thérèse of Lisieux: Modern Account
of Her Life, [At EWTN]
- Thérèse of Lisieux: Extracts
from her Writings, [At EWTN]
- Thérèse of Lisieux: Pius
XI: Homily at the Canonization of St. Thérèse, 17 May 1925, [At EWTN]
The file also includes the bull of canonization Vehementer exultamus hodie
- Congregation for the Causes of Saints: Decrees Regarding the
Canonization of the servants of God, Jacinta Marto and Francisco Marto, 1989 [At
EWTN]
The visionaries at Fatima.
-
Jim Forest: Dorothy Day Biography [At
Catholic Worker]
- WEB Madame Blavatsky: Works [At Blavatsky.net]
Large number of texts from the major figure in Theosophy.
Feminism
- Olympe de Gouges: Declaration
of the Rights of Women, 1791, excerpts [At this Site]
-
Mary Wollstonecraft: Vindication of the
Rights of Women, excerpts [At Internet Archive, from Baylor]
- Mary Wollstonecraft: Vindication
of the Rights of Women [Full Text][At this Site]
- Caroline Norton (1808-1877): English Laws for Women in the
Nineteenth Century, 1854 [At Victorian Women Writers Project]
- Caroline Norton (1808-1877): A Letter to the Queen on Lord
Chancellor Cranworth's Marriage and Divorce Bill 1855 [At Victorian Women Writers
Project]
- John Stuart Mill: The
Subjection of Women [At this Site][Full Text]
-
Friederich Engels: The
origin of the family, private property, and the State, 1884 [At Marxists.org] [Full Text]
- Emmeline Pankhurst: Militant
Suffragism, 1913 [At this Site]
- Emmeline Pankhurst: My
Own Story, 1914 [At this Site]
Gender Construction
North
America
General
Great Women
Political Leaders/ Social Activists
Women Writers
Women Leaders in Professions
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
- General
- Work
- Marriage Law
- Fashion
-
Bruce Bliven: "Flapper Jane",
from The New Republic, September 9, 1925. [At Pitt State][Added 7/20/98]
Women's Agency
-
Anne Bradstreet: A Dialogue
Between Old England and New, 1630 [At Hanover]
- Scottish Immigration to
the American Colonies, 1772 [At this Site]
Includes the reasons why a single women might emigrate.
- Elinore Pruitt Stewart: Letters
of a Woman Homesteader [At UVA][Full Text]
-
DeAnne Blanton: Women
Soldiers of the Civil War, Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives Spring 1993,
vol. 25, no. 1 [At National Archives][Modern Text]
-
WEB The Mary Anne Sadlier Archive [At Virginia]
Mary Anne Sadlier (1820-1903), an Irish-American immigrant, wrote sixty volumes of work --
from domestic novels to historical romances to children's catechisms.
-
WEB Temperance
and Prohibition [At Ohio State]
- WEB American Life Histories,
Manuscripts from the Federal Writers's Project, 1936-1940 [At Library of Congress]
Over 2,900 online oral histories from the Depressison era. The site also has image files.
Feminism
- See Library of Congress: National
Women's Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921 [At Library of Congress]
Full texts of 167 books and other documents.
- Seneca Falls Declaration,
1848 [At this Site]
- Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): 'An't
I a Woman?', 1851 [At this Site]
A rough-hewn account.
- Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): 'Ain't I a Woman?', 1851
[At this Site]
The usual cleaned-up version.
-
Oliver Gilbert: Narrative
of Sojourner Truth, based on information provided by Sojourner Truth, 1850 [At Project Gutenberg]
- Woman's Rights Petition to
the New York Legislature, 1854 [At Furman]
- Report of the Select
Committee [On the Women's Rights Petition], In Assembly, March 27, 1854 [At
Furman]
- Catherine Booth (1829-1890): Female Ministry: or, Woman's
Right to Preach the Gospel, 1859 [At Indiana] [Full Text]
- Susan B. Anthony: On
Women's Right to Vote, 1873 [At this Site]
- The Woman's Crusade of
1873-74 [At Schaffer Drug Library]
A high point of anti-liquor/drugs activity.
- Woman's Christian Temperance Union: Growth of Membership and of
Local, Auxiliary Unions, 1879-1921 [At this Site]
- Richard Hamm: American
Prohibitionists and Violence, 1865-1920 [Modern Account][At Schaffer Drug Library]
- Frances E. Willard: Address
to Women's National Council, February 22-25, 1891 [At this Site]
- Hearing of the Women
Suffrage Association, before the House Committee on the Judiciary, January 18, 1892
[At Hanover]
- Margaret Sanger (1883-1966): Autobiography,
excerpts [At this Site]
On why she became a crusader for birth control.
-
Margaret Sanger (1883-1966):Woman and
the New Race, 1920 [Full Text][At Project Gutenberg]
-
Margaret Sanger (1883-1966): The Pivot of Civilization,
full text [At Project Gutenberg]
- Jane Addams: Why
Women Should Vote, 1915 [At this Site]
-
WEB Suffragists Oral
History Project [At Berkeley]
- The Passage of the 19th
Amendment, Articles from the New York Times, 1919-1920 [At this Site]
- 2ND Dresden Dickie: Margaret Sanger and Eugenics and MS Word Format,
Student Paper [At this Site]
- National Organization of Women: Statement of Purpose,
1966 [At Hanover]
-
NOW Statement of
Purpose, 1966 [At USInfo]
-
WEB Our
Bodies. Ourselves Reading Room, Articles and Speeches [At Feminist.com]
- WEB The Andrea Dworkin Online
Library [At IGC]
An interesting and generous site which makes many of Dworkin's writings available online.
-
Andrea Dworkin: Intercourse,
1987 [At Dworkin Online Library]. Dworkin rejects the argument that she calls all
heterosexual intercourse rape. See
Interview 1995.
-
Are liberation theology, feminism compatible? [At Internet Archive, from UMR]
On a clash between US Feminist and Liberation theologians.
Gender Construction
Latin
America
General
Great Women
Women Political Leaders/Social Activists
Women Writers
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
China
General
Great Women
- The Empress Wu:
- Isaac Taylor Headland, 1859-1942: Court life in
China: the capital, its officials and people, (New York, F.H. Revell, c1909), full
text
Contemporary discussion of reform efforts in late imperial China, with a significant
discussion of the lives of elite women, and an extended account of the rule of the Empress
Dowger.
- Image: People:
Cixi Tse hsi The Dowager Empress
- Image: People:
Cixi Tse hsi The Dowager Empress
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
- The Legend of
Miao-Shan
The divinity with perhaps the most devotion in China is Guan Yin. She began as a male
bodhisattva, but has now become the Chinese Goddess of Mercy through assimilation of the
Buddhist belief with this old Chinese story.
- The Tale of Mulan, the Maiden
Chief, c. 502-556 CE [At this Site]
A heroic Chinese woman warrior, and a virgin. [Cf. Joan of Arc.]
- Pruitt, Ida, A Daughter of Han: The Autobiography of a Chinese Working Woman by Ida
Pruitt from the Story Told Her by Ning Lao T'ai t'ai, (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1945, repr. Stanford CA; Stanford University Press, 1967) Daughter of Han Reading
Guide
Feminism
Gender Construction
Japan
General
Great Women
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
India
General
Great Women
Women's Oppression
It is important to note that, while I in no way, wish to minimize the
implications of the sati/suttee, a number of the readings here must be understood as
western colonialist texts, and be addressed from that perspective.
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
South
East Asia
General
Great Women
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
Australasia
General
Great Women
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
Africa
General
Great Women
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
Gender and Sexualities in Modern Africa
The
Islamic World
General
- See WEB Islamic History
Sourcebook
- WEB Women in Islam [At Answering
Islam]
The website is a site devoted to arguments with Muslims. This web page contains links to
explanations, defences, and attacks on the subject of women in Islam.
-
The Qur'an: The Women [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
From Surah's 2 and 4.
-
Ibn Battuta: Malian
Women, [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
Great Women
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Apologetics
Feminism
Gender Construction
-
The Qur'an on
Homosexuality.
-
Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of
Friendship [chapter on Arabia and Persia], with extracts from Rumi, Hafiz and
Saadi.
-
The Tale of Nur Al-Din Ali
and his Son Badr Al-Din Hasan,
from The Arabian Nights, translated Sir. Richard Francis Burton.
- Abu Nawas (c.756-810): Poetry
-
Sadi: Gulistan, 13th Century CE, Full text
of Persian prose/poetry text with significant homoerotic content.
- Rumi: Poetry
-
Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1522 - 1592): Lesbian Love in A
Turkish Bath, 1560 [At Internet Archive, from Letters Magazine]
-
2ND Richard Burton: Terminal Essay, from his edition of the Arabian
Nights.
Burton' compilation of data on variety of societies was meant to explain some of the
stories in The Nights. In doing so, he provided first overview of Islamic
homosexuality.
-
2ND Islam and Homosexuality [At Islam
Geocities]
An extremely homophobic article which claims Islam never tolerated homosexuality.
Further Resources in Women's History
- Web Guides
- Academic Sites
© This text is copyright. The specific electronic form, and any notes and questions
are copyright. Permission is granted to copy the text, and to print out copies for
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If any copyright has been infringed, this was unintentional. The possibility of a site
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Efforts have been made to ascertain the copyright status of all texts here, although,
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Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at
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for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the
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© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 1 February 2023 [CV]
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