Medieval Lit. Rec

When the concept of the “medieval woman” is brought up in conversation, it is not an uncommon occurrence to hear them equated to the weak damsels-in-distress types that are depicted in our modern depiction of medieval stories. Princesses swoon over the arms of dashingly muscular men in armor, unable to stand on their own two feet. Not only are these depictions overwhelmingly underwhelming in their portrayal of women, they are also devastatingly modern in their understanding of the lives of medieval people. Just like the modern woman, medieval women lived full, complex, rich lives: they too were concerned with politics, their place in the world, romance, womanhood, and all of the things that women of all time periods have found themselves occupied with. 

Medieval people, just like all the book-loving folk who are fond of Gal’s Guide, were obsessed with reading. This is seen both in the boom of stories, learning, and the spread of books, but also in the ways in which they interacted with society! Those in high society would need to be skilled in “reading” social situations to glean the truth beneath polite society. When you begin to dive into the world of medieval stories, especially period texts like chivalric/courtly romances, be sure to be careful to try to “read” the message beneath the text and see the ways in which medieval writers were communicating their feelings through their writing!

The purpose of this recommendation list is to encourage all our friends at Gal’s Guide to try to understand some of our earliest fellow readers and storytellers, so we can all understand the history of story-sharing a little bit better!

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Medieval Writers (By or About Women)

• The Lais of Marie de France translated by Joan Ferrante & Robert Hanning (Such titles as “Le Fresne”, “Yonec”, and “Lanval” center women in their stories, exploring themes of autonomy within a restrictive social order.)
• The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer 
• The Tale of the Rose by Christine de Pizan
• The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan
• The Letters of Abelard and Heloise 
• Medieval Writings on Secular Women by Elizabeth van Houts

About Medieval Women

• Uppity Women of Medieval Times by Vicki Leon (Available at Gal’s Guide)
• Women in Medieval/Renaissance Europe (Women in European History and Culture, Vol. 2) by Susan Hill Gross (Available at Gal’s Guide)
• Three Medieval Views of Women: “La Contenance des Fames,” “Le Bien des Fames,” “Le Blasme des Fames” by Gloria K. Fiero (Available at Gal’s Guide)
• Damsels Not in Distress: The True Story of Women in Medieval Times (The Library of the Middle Ages) by Andrea Hopkins, PhD (Available at Gal’s Guide) 
• Women in the Middle Ages by Frances Gies (Available at Gal’s Guide)
• Woman as Image in Medieval Literature from the Twelfth Century to Dante by Joan M. Ferrante
• Songs of the Women Trouvères by Eglal Doss-Quinby, Joan Tasker Grimbert, Wendy Pfeffer, and Elizabeth Aubrey
• Women Defamed and Women Defended: An Anthology of Medieval Texts by Alcuin Barnes, Karen Pratt, and C. William Marx 
• The Case for Women in Medieval Culture by Alcuin Blamires
• To the Glory of Her Sex: Women’s Roles in the Composition of Medieval Texts by Joan M. Ferrante

Modern Fiction with a Medieval Spin

• The Good Wife of Bath: A (Mostly) True Story by Karen Brooks
• Cities of Women by Kathleen B. Jones
• Meg Mackintosh and the Mystery at the Medieval Castle – title #3: A Solve-It-Yourself Mystery (Meg Mackintosh Mystery series) by Lucinda Landon (Available at Gal’s Guide)
• Magic Tree House 2: Knights and Castles: A Nonfiction Companion to the Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborn (Available at Gal’s Guide)

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