Medieval Women

• Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England (wife of King Richard II). Authoritative source for a brief account; open access with visual images: http://www.history.ac.uk/richardII/anneofb.html

• Anthology of Middle English Literature—works by Margery Kemp, Julian of Norwich, and others, plus a searchable bibliography and essays, which may be downloaded. Open and free access. http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/

• Christina of Markyate, an electronic version of the noted Life of Christina (11^th century English mystic) is not available online, but a useful biography (by H. Leyser) is available with open access at: http://books.google.com/books/about/Christina_of_Markyate.html?id=1F0P99wYN30C

• Eleanor of Aquitaine—brief review of her place in history, with useful annotated bibliography; open access, free, at: http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/eleanor.html

• Columbia University, Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, has made available a collection of letters to and from women in the Middle Ages, which were originally collected and translated by Professor Joan Ferrante. Free open access to the repository at: https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/

• Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index, University of Iowa libraries – open access to journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages. http://inpress.lib.uiowa.edu/feminae/WhatIsFeminae.aspx

• Fordham University, Robbins Library, Bibliography of works by and about women writers of the Middle Ages. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/womenbib.asp

• Joan of Kent, Princess of Wales (wife of the Black Prince & and mother of Richard II), useful, brief account of her life, open access with visual images:  http://tudorqueen6.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/ancestors-of-queen-katherine-joan-of-kent-princess-of-wales/

• Julian of Norwich, open access to work by and about Julian. http://www.umilta.net/

• Marguerite Porete
  • International Marguerite Porete Society — bibliography, conferences and calls for papers, and web links available to the public for free. http://margueriteporete.net/
  • Marguerite Porete Page — James Walsh’s edition of Richard Methley’s Latin translation of the Middle English Cloud of Unknowing and Mirror of Simple Souls. Open access, free PDFs. https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/gallacher-cloud-of-unknowing and https://ia801209.us.archive.org/22/items/TheMirrorsOfSimpleSouls/The%20Mirrors%20of%20Simple%20Souls.pdf
  • Mirror of Simple Souls — digitized manuscript. Free, open access through Google Books. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ex9h2dlmo5YC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

   

• Marie de France,  renoun female French poet who wrote for the Norman-ruled British court in the 12th Century.

  • The “Lais” of Marie de France, a verse translation into English of 8 of the Lais by Judith P. Shoaf, copyrighted (1991-1996). Open access, but restrictions on use apply. http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jshoaf/Marie/
  • The “Lais” of Marie de France, free and open acces with no restrictions on use of 17 of the Lais, in an English translation  done in 1911, by Eugene Mason. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11417/11417-h/11417-h.htm
  • University of Tennessee at Martin — open access bibliography of web resources relating to Marie de France. http://www.utm.edu/staff/bobp/vlibrary/mdfrancemss.shtml
  • e-codices — open access to digitized manuscripts.
  • British Library — open access to digitized manuscripts.

   

• Monastic Matrix, a scholarly resource for the study of women’s religious communities from 400 to 1600 CD, at Ohio State University.  http://monasticmatrix.org

• Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship – promotes study of the patristic, medieval, and early modern periods from the perspective of women and gender. Open and free access  http://smfsweb.org/

• Women’s History Sourcebook — extensive information by and about women in the middle ages. Open, free access through The Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham Center for Medieval Studies. Especially useful for teachers. http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/women/womensbook.asp#Medieval%20Europe