This book brings together a group of leading historians of the European middle ages. It ranges widely from the late Antique/Medieval transition to the early sixteenth century. Nine essays and four thematic reviews cover such topics as memory, sanctity, nunneries, the transformation of the Roman world, the Black Death, canon law, the Christian challenge to late Antique masculinity, the transmission of knowledge, visionaries' childhoods, late medieval courts, Byzantine coinage, the Norman Conquest of southern Italy and the proceedings of the Papal penitentiary.
The author indicates the possibilities and potential of a gendered approach to medieval history. They demonstrate how such an analyst can and should inform some of the key questions and periodisations of these centuries and how it can illuminate even the most traditional and apparently unlikely topics and source materials. It will be important to all students of medieval Europe.