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Book SynopsisTable of Contents1 A History of Women in Christianity: An Introduction 1
References 8
2 Filling the Hungry with Good Things: Women in Christianity to 200 10
Named Women in the Letters of Paul 11
Jews and God-Fearing Women in Hellenistic Society 13
Women in the Pax Romana 16
Pauline Paradoxes: Defining the Body of the Christian Community 20
The Pastoral Epistles 23
Thecla, an Early Christian Superhero 24
Prophecy and Secret Knowledge: Women in Gnosticism and Montanism 26
References 29
3 From Agnes to Sant’Agnese: Women as Witnesses, 200–350 33
The Third-Century Crisis and the Transformation of the Empire 35
Martyrdom, Memory, and Place 36
Christiana sum: Women, Martyrdom, and Christian Identity 37
Martyrdom as Christian Genre Literature 39
Deaconesses, Missionaries, and Martyrs in the Provinces 40
Saints and Legends 42
Maria orans: Proclamation and Liturgy 43
The New Holy Places 45
Asceticism and the New Martyrs 47
Macrina and the Household Community 50
References 51
4 Romancing Stones: Women in Christianity, 350–500 55
Wars and Rumors of Wars 56
A Woman Alone 58
Women in Community 59
The Virgin and the Widow 61
The Ascetic Patroness 62
Everyday Saints 67
A Family of Helenas: Theodosian Women 70
References 75
5 Bridgeheads in the Early Medieval Kingdoms: Women at the Frontiers, 500–750 79
Rome Reunited? Theodora and Justinian 80
Presbyterae and Deaconesses in the Early Medieval West 82
Women in the Early Medieval Archipelago 83
A Golden Age for Women? 85
Women and Early Medieval Monasticism 86
Women and Insular Christianity 89
Gregory the Great’s Correspondents 91
Queens of the Franks 93
The Abbesses of The Ecclesiastical History of the English People 96
References 97
6 Charlemagne’s Daughters: Women, Empire, and Reform, 750–1050 101
The Rise of the Carolingians 103
Charlemagne and the World of the Carolingian Court 105
King Solomon’s Wives 108
Women and the Benedictine Reform in England 110
The Triumph of Orthodoxy: Women Saints in Byzantium 112
Ottonian Queens 114
Women and the Gregorian Reform 116
References 117
7 New Learning, Old Problems: Women and the Reformations of the Twelfth Century, 1050–1200 122
Women and the Crusades 123
Clerical Identity and Lay Enthusiasm 125
The Empress and the Anglo-Normans 126
Sunday Daughters 129
Nuns and Priests: Men and Women Together 132
The World of the Cloister: Herrad and Hildegard 134
Héloïse and Abelard 138
References 141
8 Clare and Company: The Social Mystics, 1200–1300 145
The Boom-Time and the Poor 146
The Perfect and the Inquisition 148
Embracing Poverty 150
The Confessor and the Religious Woman 151
Women and the Cistercians 153
Beguines and Penitents 157
References 164
9 The Political Visionary, 1300–1500 169
The Late Middle Ages: Crisis and Transformation 170
A Climate of Suspicion 172
Devotion in the Vernacular 173
The Angelic Speech of Bridget of Sweden 177
The Political Visionary: From Catherine of Siena to Joan of Arc 179
From Weeping to Preaching: Magdalene Spirituality 182
Sisters in a Common Life 185
References 187
10 Witness in Translation: Women in the Protestant Reformation, 1500–1600 192
Women and the Reformation 194
Women and the Town Councils197
Doctor Katharina 199
Reformation Magdalenes 200
Cuius regio: Royal Women and the Reformation 203
Italian Spirituali 204
The King’s Great Matter and the Queen’s Religion206
References 211
11 Women in the Catholic Reformation, 1500–1600 216
The Council of Trent and the Catholic Reformation 217
The Virgin and the Magdalene 218
In the Shadow of Isabella: From the Beatas to Teresa of Avila 220
“
People are people”: Caritas Pirckheimer223
English Women and the Old Religion 225
Queen Mary227
Recusant Women and the Jesuits 228
Mary and Martha: The New Catholic Orders 231
References 237
12 Conclusion 241
References 244
Index 245
