This book fills a gap in the market by providing detailed small-scale studies of women as members of a whole range of different types of communities. Women from a wide variety of backgrounds are discussed in terms of regionality. Women from the geographical areas which correspond roughly to modern Wales, England, France, Italy, and Germany are included; in terms of Jewish and Christian faiths are covered in terms of social and economic conditions, rich and poor, religious and secular, noblewomen and commoners are represented. Although one study looks at evidence from as early as the ninth century, for the most part the book concentrates on the period between 1200 and 1500. These essays all consider the historical experience of women to be distinct from men, but they are not restricted to a single theoretical perspective or approach.
