Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"An impressive demonstration of how far a scholar can go with painstaking investigation and interpretation of scattered and limited evidence. . . . There is a great deal to admire and ponder [in this book]." *
The Medieval Review *
"
The Beguines of Medieval Paris is an informative and lively book that will make readers see these women not as the hypocritical figures of the satirical tradition nor as the targets of hostile papal pronouncements but as active and charitable women who carved out an important place for themselves in a city replete with religious orders and institutions." *
Catholic Historical Review *
"Tanya Stabler Miller presents the reader with an elegant, thoroughly researched and persuasively argued study, providing invaluable insight into this urban female community but also making an informed addition to the growing understanding of Later Medieval spirituality more broadly." *
French History *
"This lovely book engages with the histories of work, women, and spirituality, as well as with urban and intellectual history. . . . Excellent." *
Journal of Interdisciplinary History *
"This is a wonderful new study of the beguines who lived in Paris and enjoyed considerable public respect, especially by King Louis IX. . . . Tanya Stabler Miller provides a detailed discussion of the available sources and illustrates through a variety of approaches how and why the beguines could establish themselves so well against all protests and condemnations by the theologians and clerics." *
Mediaevistik *
"Tanya Stabler Miller writes with intelligence and clarity. The contributions she makes to our understanding of how female spirituality was connected to female labor are revelatory." * William Chester Jordan, Princeton University *
"An important and rich case study. In telling detail,
The Beguines of Medieval Paris sheds light on the broader contours of this religious movement." * Walter Simons, Dartmouth College *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter 1. The Prud'homme and the Beguines: Louis IX and the Foundation of the Beguinage of Paris
Chapter 2. The World of the Beguinage
Chapter 3. Beguines, Silk, and the City
Chapter 4. Masters and Pastors: Sorbonne Scholars, Beguines, and Religious Instruction
Chapter 5. Religious Education and Spiritual Collaboration at the Beguinage of Paris
Chapter 6. "There Are Among Us Women Called Beguines"
Chapter 7. The King's Beguines
Appendix. Beguines Whose Occupations Are Known
Notes
Bibliography
Index
