Illuminating Women in the Medieval World

$24.95 at The Getty Museum.

Christine Sciacca  This fascinating book gives readers a rare window into the little-known, but complex, lives of medieval women. When one thinks of women in the Middle Ages, the images that often come to mind are those of damsels in distress, mystics in convents, female laborers in the field, and even women of ill repute. In reality, however, medieval conceptions of womanhood were multifaceted, and women’s roles were varied and nuanced. Female stereotypes existed in the medieval world, but so too did women…