Books in the Gender in History series

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. The first major work on noblewomen in the twelfth century and Normandy, and of the ways in which they exercised power. Offers an important reconceptualisation of women's role in aristocratic society and suggests new ways of looking at lordship and the ruling elite in the high middle ages. Considers a wide range of literary sources such as chronicles, charters, seals and governmental records to draw out a detailed picture of noblewomen in the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman realm. Asserts the importance of the life-cycle in determining the power of aristocratic women. Demonstrates that the influence of gender on lordship was profound, complex and varied.

This book is a ground-breaking study of women in Britain and British America through two centuries of pivotal changes in the law, economy and empire. It shows how the expansion of women's legal status gave them increased financial independence and undermined patriarchal relationships within the household. -- .

An account of noblewomen in Wales in the high Middle Ages, focusing on Nest of Deheubarth

Women of letters writes a new history of English women's intellectual worlds using their private letters as evidence of hidden networks of creative exchange. The book argues that many women of this period engaged with a life of the mind and demonstrates the dynamic role letter-writing played in the development of ideas. -- .

Uses court records to re-evaluate women's economic roles in early modern Scotland. -- .

The first study of how a group of diverse women spread, built and sustained a national network of branches supporting the militant suffrage campaign in Britain in the years before the First World War -- .