Recalculating the Equation: Powerful Woman = Extraordinary

Abstract

or much of the modern historiography on medieval women, any woman who exercised any sort of power or influence was considered in some way "extraordinary." The idea that a noble-born woman could be powerful and influential without qualification was simply not something that most scholars working before 1990 could digest or, in some cases, even recognize. Hence caveats were applied to account for a woman' s power: she was an heiress; she was from a powerful family; she had an "unusual" relationship with her husband or son; she was a powerful personality; she had influential friends. The operating assumption was that for a woman to have power either she or her situation had to be remarkable or unusual. That it was common and accepted for aristocratic women to hold courts, resolve disputes, mete out punishments, make proclamations, have clients, be patrons, command men, or hold office was something that had yet to be acknowledged or assimilated. 2 1. These comments were originally presented at "Debating Women and Power in the Middle Ages: A Round Table Discussion" in 2014 at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds. The roundtable was organized by myself and Elena Woodacre and sponsored by Medieval Prosopography and the Royal Studies Network. Other roundtable participants included Theresa Earenfight

Political Culture and the Changing Role of Countesses, 750–1050

“…As she points out, before 1990 it was rarely acknowledged that 'it was common and accepted for aristocratic women to hold courts, resolve disputes, mete out punishments, make proclamations, have clients, be patrons, command men, or hold office'. 8 In contrast, more recent studies of politics in the central Middle Ages have repeatedly demonstrated aristocratic women wielding power in these ways. 9 Kimberley LoPrete talks of 'lordly women', women who acted in the same way as any male lord.…”