In this carefully constructed book, Medieval Women, M. M. Postan has set for herself the task of editing the scintillating research of her late colleague and fellow medievalist, Eileen Power. The sensitivity with which this book is formulated is evidenced by its first observation. Power indicates that a culture is often judged by the status it allots to women as well as how they are treated. Power reveals her deft historical skills when she observes with simple lucidity that the Middle Ages offers its scholars a particularly daunting task of appraisal on this topic. To understand the true position of women Power declares that there must be a blending of their everyday life, its legal rights and restrictions, and a consideration of their theoretical status.
After offering a brief overview of the status of women during the Middle Ages, Power's book is formatted into four additional chapters. These chapters focus on the lady, the working woman in town and country, the education of women and nunneries. If an age is to be judged by how it treats its women then the Middle Ages is to be seen in terms of the many contradictions which it generated. During the Medieval era, women were both revered and denigrated. Fascinatingly, Power
indicates that the religious cult of the virgin spawned its secular parallelism, the cult of the lady.
Another of Power's fascinating insights is that it is a "small but vocal minority" who repressed the "expressed opinions" of any age. During the Middle Ages how women were to be perceived was formed by the twin groups of the Church and the aristrocracy. Ironically, the historical attitudes regarding women of the Middle Ages were shaped by the celibate clergy and the narrow caste of the wealthy. One of the overwhelming strengths of Power's vast research is that she insists upon expanding this overly restricted view. Postan indicates that Power's own interest in the medieval wool tra...