Childhood in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Childhood in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
Author: Albrecht Classen
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2011-12-22
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110895447

Earlier theses on the history of childhood can now be laid to rest and a fundamental paradigm shift initiated, as there is an overwhelming body of evidence to show that in medieval and early modern times too there were close emotional relations between parents and children. The contributors to this volume demonstrate conclusively on the one hand how intensively parents concerned themselves with their children in the pre-modern era, and on the other which social, political and religious conditions shaped these relationships. These studies in emotional history demonstrate how easy it is for a subjective choice of sources, coupled with faulty interpretations – caused mainly by modern prejudices toward the Middle Ages in particular – to lead to the view that in the past children were regarded as small adults. The contributors demonstrate convincingly that intense feelings – admittedly often different in nature – shaped the relationship between adults and children.

Routledge Revivals: Women and Gender in Medieval Europe (2006)

Routledge Revivals: Women and Gender in Medieval Europe (2006)
Author: Margaret Schaus
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 2033
Release: 2017-07-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351681583

First published in 2006, Women and Gender in Medieval Europe examines the daily reality of medieval women from all walks of life in Europe between 450 CE and 1500 CE. This reference work provides a comprehensive understanding of many aspects of medieval women and gender, such as art, economics, law, literature, sexuality, politics, philosophy and religion, as well as the daily lives of ordinary women. Masculinity in the middle ages is also addressed to provide important context for understanding women's roles. Additional up-to-date bibliographies have been included for the 2016 reprint. Written by renowned international scholars and easily accessible in an A-to-Z format, students, researchers, and scholars will find this outstanding reference work to be a valuable resource on women in Medieval Europe.

Balancing the Scales

Balancing the Scales
Author: Marie A. Conn
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2003
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780761825135

Balancing the Scales, a book of essays by faculty members of Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, is an exploration of the manipulation and transformation of symbolic concepts of women. A multidisciplinary collection, representing Art History, English, Spanish Language and Literature, Psychology, and Theology, this book hopes to raise awareness of the historical perception of women before and after the so-called patriarchal revolution. In the eighth century BCE, the Greek poet Hesiod changed the character of Pandora, a manifestation of the Great Earth Mother, into Pandora, the bringer of evil. This fundamental change in the nature of the female archetype influenced the biblical writers and their depiction of Eve. In the medieval period, artistic renderings of the Whore of Babylon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun resulted in cultic images of women as either whore (Eve) or pure virgin (Mary). The apparitions and miraculous images of the Black Madonna at Montserrat and Guadalupe show the persistence of the divine feminine in popular culture even as institutional religion denies her existence. The story of Cleopatra breaks open the question of why strong women are seen as frightening. The essays conclude with psychological study of the imbalance induced by millennia of patriarchal domination, resulting in the loss of the sacred feminine.