Reading Guide for Week 5: Noblewomen and Church Reform
A. Norman Noblewomen of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
1. Both authors (Orderic Vitalis and Suger of St Denis) were monks.
Does this fact help explain anything about their treatment of Mabel, Bertrade,
and others?
2. What kind (genre) of source are we confronted with here? Why did
Orderic Vitalis write his massive Ecclesiastical History? How, then, do
the stories of a few women fit into the overall framework of his project?
3. What powers, intentions, and tendencies does Orderic ascribe to
Mabel of Bellême?
4. How does Orderic depict the marriage between Mabel and Roger? What
are the expectations placed on wives by Orderic and his society? On husbands?
5. What does the episode involving Mabel's conflict with Abbot Thierry
tell us about women and power?
6. We have already encountered aristocratic women who favored the use
of poison against their enemies (ie., Fredegund). How are we to interpret
Orderic's narrative of Mabel's attempt to poison Arnold of Echauffour?
Is she ‘simply' evil? Should we employ a gendered analysis here?
7. What were the sources of the power that Mabel (and others) employed?
Is power a gendered concept here? That is, is there "female" power and
"male" power? Explain....
8. How did Mabel meet her end? What does Orderic think about this event?
9. Look carefully at Mabel's epitaph. Notice how Orderic introduces
it. What does the contrast between the tone of the epitaph and Orderic's
obvious hatred of her suggest about Orderic as a source? How ought we to
interpret Mabel and her behavior?
10. Why does Orderic find Earl Roger's second wife to be so much better
a person than Mabel? What does this suggest about what Orderic thought
to be the norms for female behavior?
11. Read the story of Bertrade of Montfort carefully. What can
we learn from it about how marriages were made and how marriages were ended
among the upper aristocracy in France during the late 11th century?
12. Is Bertrade passive? Is she an object? Or is she active, and a
subject? How might your answer to these questions help explain Orderic
and Suger's interpretation of her?
13. Can you detect a difference in custom and tradition regarding marriage
and divorce between the secular aristocracy and the church? What does the
church have to say about Bertrade's actions?
14. Bertrade and King Philip had two sons, Florus and Philip. Yet King
Philip already had an heir (Louis, the future Louis VI) by his first wife.
How as stepmother did Bertrade interfere in the succession to the realm?
Did she favor her own sons? What does this suggest about mothers, queens,
and power?
15. Why do we care that King William left his wife, Matilda, in charge
of Normandy while he was in England?
16. Why is it significant that Matilda enjoyed a separate coronation
ritual?
17. What virtues does Orderic Vitalis ascribe to Queen Matilda? Are
these "feminine" virtues?
18. Why did the Norman knights clamor to return home to Normandy? What
does this anecdote say about Orderic's assumptions about female nature,
desires, and attitudes? How is it reminiscent of the medical/philosophical
texts we studied in the first part of the course?
19. What images of women and their place in society does the episode
involving Aubrée, wife of Albert of Cravent, offer? According to
this anecdote, what were women supposed to do? How were they supposed to
act? Were they to be passive? What were their "natural" interests and tendencies?
20. What does the story of Avice, daughter of Herbrand, suggest about
proper roles and attitudes for women? How might this text have been considered
an exemplum (model example) for new wives?
21. A recent historian has written about noblewomen's "power of persuasion".
How does the story of Adela of Blois fit this concept?
B. Church Reform: Clerical Marriage and Misogynist Propaganda
1. According to Pope Gregory VII, why should priests remain unmarried?
2. Who are the ‘virgin bridegroom' and the ‘virgin bride'? Why should
their example be emulated by priests?
3. Peter Damian directed his anger at clerical marriage towards the
wives or concubines of these priests. Why does he blame the women? Where
have we seen this type of misogyny before?
4. If Gregory wants priests to be likened to the ‘virgin bridegroom',
with whom does Peter Damian associate these women?
5. Married clergy were understandably not happy to become the brunt
of this criticism. How did they defend themselves? What arguments did they
offer in their own defense?
C. The Cult of the Virgin
1. Pope Gregory VII frequently used maternal imagery in discussing
the church as a body. Locate some examples of this tendency in his letters.
Why is this imagery significant? Could such laudatory images come to be
shared by ordinary women? Why or why not?
2. Pope Gregory also makes frequent reference to the Virgin Mary. How
does he view her?
3. How does Gregory's maternal imagery and fondness for the Virgin
mitigate the kind of misogyny found in the last set of readings?
4. What does Gregory think of motherhood? Is it a good thing? Why or
why not?
5. In his metaphor of the loaf of Christ, what role does St Bernard
of Clairvaux assign to Mary? What allows the miraculous convergence of
the three elements of Christ into one body (loaf)?
6. What does Amadeus of Lausanne have to say about Mary? What qualities
does he admire in Mary?
7. Amadeus offers suggestions to his listeners about when they ought
to pray to the Virgin. In what circumstances did he imagine she would intervene?
What sort of behavior would she exhibit towards the faithful?
8. Amadeus calls on his listeners to follow Mary's example. What does
he mean by this? Why is this so signficant for an interpretation of women?
9. Look closely at the Miracles of the Virgin collected by Johannes
Herolt. What powers does Mary have? Are they ‘feminine' powers, or masculine
ones? What is her role in heaven? Is this role a gendered role? How does
she interact with Christ?
10. Peter Abelard's interpretation of the Virgin and of women in general
is extremely significant. How does he use the new devotion towards the
Virgin to reverse old misogynies? What role do women play in salvation?
11. The eleventh-century prayer to the Virgin is perhaps less positive
in linking the Virgin to women in general. How universal does this prayer
consider the Virgin's traits to be? Why is that?
12. Did St Bernard think Mary was a role model for other women? Did
he think they could measure up to her?
D. Norman Laws (early 13th Century) (Amt, 53-59)
1. What does Norman law say about dowers? What is a dower? Why is it
significant for women?
2. When might a woman be unable to recover or enjoy her dower?
3. Why did Norman Law prohibit widows from having sole custody of their
sons?
4. In cases of rape of unmarried women, who is expected to give expert
testimony in court? Why is this notable and/or unusual?
5. What recourse does a convicted rapist have? Does his victim have
a say in the matter?
6. What procedure is to be followed in cases of rape of married women?
Who undertakes the prosecution and proof of the crime? What about
in cases of rape of widows?
7. What do the varying rules concerning rape suggest about marital
status? How were women of different marital status valued by society?
8. What protection do prostitutes have? Is this significant?
9. What does the Norman law of dower suggest about women's access to
wealth? To power? To independence?
E. Land Grants of Matilda and William of Stickney (c.1170-1198)
(Amt, 152-154)
1. What can we learn about women's place in secular society from these
land grants (or charters)?
2. Is it significant that William and Matilda appear together in the
granting clause of the first two charters? Why? When does Matilda appear
alone? Why?
3. Historians argue about the significance of the consent that various
family members gave to such grants (ie., Matilda consents to her husband's
gift; Alan, her son, consents to Matilda's gift). What different sorts
of interpretation could we put on such consent clauses?
F. The Roll of Ladies and Boys and Girls (1185)
According to secular law as it developed in the twelfth century,
a man (lord) who gave land (a fief) to a lesser man (a vassal) retained
rights over the widow and/or minor heirs of this vassal. That is
to say that he (the lord) could often pick new husbands for the widow and
guardians for the minor children. Obviously, as the most important lord
in the realm, the King of England was reaped the greatest reward from such
a custom, and in 1185 he caused his men to draw up a list of those widows
and minors who were under his direct control.
1. Why would it be financially lucrative for a lord to possess the
right to marry off his vassal's widow, or to assign guardianship of his
vassal's children? Knowing that such a lord held this power, how might
prospective husbands (for the widow) and guardians (for the children) argue
their case (think venally here ...). Why would a man want to be the
guardian of minor children? What else would come along with the minor heir?
(think in terms of land and money ....)
2. Can we learn about ages of marriage (and widowhood) from this text?
At what age did these women start producing children? Look at the
amazing case of Beatrice, widow of Richard Gubiun, for instance.
3. Look at the land that these widows controlled (or, perhaps, look
at the value of the lands that came attached with these women). Does this
explain why the king was so anxious to know who was "in his gift", as well
as why they might well be desirable as wives for new husbands?
4. What might a new husband hope to gain by marrying one of these women?
Would there be a difference in "desirability" between a 24-year old widow
with infant sons and a 50-year widow with grown sons? Why?
5. What did the king gain by having these women "in his gift"?