richmond-rex: Medieval life was not divided neatly into public and private realms or into men’
richmond-rex: Medieval life was not divided neatly into public and private realms or into men’s work and women’s work. In theory and practice, and in romance and in reality, women participated in a variety of roles in the waging of war and negotiating of peace, both with and without men. Put another way, the iconic tower of medieval romance could serve as a lady’s prison, but it could also provide the vantage point where a female leader could observe and strategize. The conventional image of the lady in the tower gives neither the lady nor the tower enough credit. — Anne Clark Bartlett, “Translation, Self-Representation, and Statecraft: Lady Margaret Beaufort and Caxton’s Blanchardyn and Eglantine (1489)”; Essays in Medieval Studies 22 (2005) -- source link
#reblog#medieval era#english history