For decades medieval scholarship has been dominated by the paradigm that women who wielded
power after c. 1100 were exceptions to the rule of female exclusion from governance and the
public sphere. This collection makes a powerful case for a new paradigm. Building on the
premise that elite women in positions of authority were expected accepted and routine these
essays traverse the cities and kingdoms of France England Germany Portugal and the Latin
Kingdom of Jerusalem in order to illuminate women's roles in medieval power structures. Without
losing sight of the predominance of patriarchy and misogyny contributors lay the groundwork
for the acceptance of female public authority as normal in medieval society fostering a new
framework for understanding medieval elite women and power.
