Women, Audience, and Public Acts in Medieval Flanders

The intersection of economic dynamism, Germanic custom, and religious decentralization made thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Flanders one of the most heterosocial societies in Europe. The county's primarily oral-aural culture turned anyone pursuing daily business into a public performer. Women, acting as their own agents, routinely participated in the public arena, not only as members of the audience whose presence validated public acts, but also as the performers whose oral presentation of petitions shaped and formed Flemish society. An examination of medieval Flemish women's activities reveals that polarized notions of gender characterizing contemporary learned opinion had little impact on the conventional wisdom and practices of their time.