Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England, 450-1500 Book

Much of the difficulty in knowing anything substantial about the early period from 450 onwards lies in evidence, or rather the lack of, and Part One is devoted to case studies in the Anglo Saxon context of what sort of evidence does exist and where its limitations lie. Here, archaeology, a few histories, law codes and some vernacular literature provide scant answers, but also raise many intriguing questions that in later period a greater variety of source material will illuminate more fully.

Part Two is devoted to the eleventh century, with particular emphasis on the Norman Conquest, as evidence improves over time. This is still the history of white royal and noble women at this point, but it's an enormous improvement on so many histories of the period which really boil down to telling us about the lives of white royal men, as if humanity only had one gender and one class. Women like Queen Emma were feisty and resilient, and the portraits provided in this section are certainly tantalising.

By Parts Three and Four, the evidence of women's lives beyond the royal circle is much better, and thematic chapters emerge detailing work, sex, marriage and motherhood, and the life of older women under the chapter heading 'Widows'. In short, the same domestic concerns which have always shaped lives and probably always will do in some ways, but which were overarching in the Middle Ages.

Reading this impeccably researched and fascinating history, I was almost constantly reminded that life has improved over the centuries and that histories need no longer be those of just a privileged few. There was a sadness in this book at the limits on the available stories to be told, which I sensed was shared by the author. That made this history very powerful indeed.