The Lady in Medieval England 1000-1500

by Peter R. Coss

A study of the role of the lady in 11th and 12th century society, how she related to predominant male culture, interacted with gentlemen, and suffered at the hands of rogues of her own class. The text is illustrated by contemporary drawings from manuscripts and documents.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, British Literature, Womens, Medieval History

214 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1998

Reviews

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what it describes. Strictly looking at the lady, with some discussion of what the term meant.

Stuff from the Doomsday Book, to wills, to coats of arms. Court cases about abduction and murder. Statues of women and indications of significance. Letters to and from ladies. And lots of stuff.

[LibraryCin · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

This is a nonfiction history of “ladies” in medieval England. Ladies - not just meaning women - but upper class nobility “ladies”. It covered things like inheritance, heraldry (coats of arms, usually from the father or husband, used in women’s seals), kidnapping (aka “ravishing”!), marriage, romance…

Too academic for my liking. There were some interesting nuggets, but also a lot of big words, long paragraphs, and quotes in Middle English. When I’m bored by a book, I don’t put it down, but I tend to skim. I definitely skimmed (or just skipped) anything in Middle English, and a bit more. Otherwise, bits and pieces caught my attention, but not enough to even say it was “ok” (in my rating system). The interesting bits gave it the .5 stars above not liking it, as a whole.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pulls a lot of information from court records, but doesn't really answer the question of are these the exceptions or the usual cases for upper class women in this time period.

[Mustardseeds]

DNF. Interesting, but I think it may be a thesis or something. V academic and that makes it too difficult for me at the moment. I’ll probably go back to it some other time.

[Michael Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is an academic specialist in English medieval social history, with a special interest in knighthood and the gentry, and these two volumes are best read as a pair. While few knights in the medieval period became aristocrats, all noblemen were knights, at least in theory. Beginning with the Conquest and the introduction of the feudal system, they were the ruling class by virtue of arms, though Coss also examines the Saxon roots of some aspects of knighthood. He also considers in some detail the relationship of the knight first to gentility and then to lordship, showing how the characteristics of knighthood were changed in the process. The book’s only fault, in fact, is the lack of subject headings in the index.

A knight must have a lady, but while many books have been written about medieval women, few have focused on the knight’s female counterpart in society. Again, emphasis is on the aristocracy, since that’s where the records are, though Coss depends heavily on surviving letters and contemporary literature as well as household accounts, and he even employs such sources as monumental effigies and brasses. Both books are stimulating studies with many examples drawn from noble families of the period.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a survey sort of book, largely drawing from familiar source - the Paston letters, Margery Kemp's book. Like most medieval history surveys, I bought it for the pictures. But I found it a quick read and it had a few juicy tidbits in there from less well-known sources.