Studies on Medieval and Early Modern Women: Pawns or Players? (review)

Reviews 217 Parergon 21.2 (2004) interested equally in every essay. Yet it is fair to say that the book does make a useful contribution to the study of medieval Scottish civilisation. Editorial care has ensured that the essays are meticulously presented. They are also supported by a Timeline; a list of Scottish Monarchs, c. 500-1542; and a map of Medieval Scotland, each related to the events, persons, places, or battles to which contributors refer. Not even the dustjacket is wasted; its design includes the mid fifteenthcentury map of Scotland from John Hardyng’s Chronicle, Bodleian Library, MS Arch Sheldon B 10f.184r, which reinforces the approach taken throughout of assessing Scotland from beyond its borders. To this end an index would also have been helpful, fruitfully opening up, for example, the topic of the ‘Erscheman’, which is either directly or indirectly addressed in several of the essays. Janet Hadley Williams English, School of Humanities The Australian National University Meek, Christine and Catherine Lawless, eds, Studies on Medieval and Early Modern Women: Pawns or Players?, Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2003; paperback; pp. 224; 7 b/w illustrations; RRP £29.95; ISBN 1851827757. One is immediately drawn to this book by a rather eye-catching illustration on the front cover of ‘The Fall of Man’by Lucas Cranach, which has been borrowed from the last article in the book. It is an intriguing picture of Eve in the Garden of Eden being tempted by a female serpent who is identical to her except for the snake-like tail. Since this serpent is synonymous with the devil and generally considered male, the reader is instantly aware that this book offers something different to the study of women in the medieval and Early Modern periods. This volume includes some of the papers presented at two conferences at Trinity College Dublin: ‘Pawns and Players’ in December 1999 and ‘Women at Home, Women Abroad’ in February 2001. The 11 essays are both eclectic and interesting. They explore the ways in which women interacted with the societies that both governed and shaped their lives, to manipulate and force outcomes mainly for the better of themselves, their families and charges. The first and last essays demonstrate the ways in which female sexuality was perceived from literary, theological, mythical and artistic perspectives in the medieval and Early Modern eras. John Flood examines Christian Latin epic poetry, popular in Early Modern Europe, in relation to Eve as the ‘mother of all the 218 Reviews Parergon 21.2 (2004) living’and as the ‘prototype for all womankind’(p. 19).Although Eve is primarily portrayed in a negative vein, writers such as Cyprian of Gaul, Dracontius andAtivus offer a more diverse interpretation of her and the pivotal role she played in the Fall of mankind. Unlike the more biblical approaches of the time, Flood suggests that these Latin epic poets ‘provided a venerable precedent which prepared the way for more nuanced treatments of the role of Eve (and consequently the nature of women) which sometimes emerged in early-modern Europe’ (p. 35). The last essay is well-illustrated with paintings from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries which give a deeper understanding to Samantha J. E. Riche’s text: ‘“Hyr Wombe Insaciate”: the Iconography of the Feminised Monster’. This fascinating article discusses aspects of female sexuality in relation to monsters, particularly dragons, the serpent in the Garden of Eden and other mythical beasts. One such picture is that of St George and the dragon whereby the expected purity and piety of the female in the guise of a virginal princess is juxtaposed with all that is detested in women, in the form of a female dragon. This work adds an interesting dimension to the field of sexual politics in the late medieval period. In contrast to these mostly unflattering portrayals of medieval and Early Modern women, Kimberly LoPrete has investigated the political dealings of countess Adela of Blois, daughter of William the Conqueror. Adela was a more than adequate manager and politician in the absence of her husband. LoPrete investigates this virago-like woman as an individual lord in her own right and not just the daughter, mother or wife...