In this course, we will consider both idealized and misogynist depictions of women as characters in Middle English texts as well as the often complicated ways these stereotyped portrayals relate to one another. We will also study women as writers; among our course texts will be the first books written in English by women as well as birthing charms likely written by women to encourage safety of mother and child during childbirth. Several of our readings will be religious, including some truly surprising miracles of the Virgin Mary, lives of tenacious and daring female martyrs, devotional literature for lay women, and accounts of female heretics. But we will study a number of secular texts, too, including poems about women who brew beer and stories featuring witches and female giants.

This course will change how you think about the Middle Ages!