'Forgetting the weakness of her sex and a woman's softness': Historians of the Anglo-Norman world and their female subjects.

摘要

The number of historians who wrote during the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries creates the unusual problem of too many sources. The sheer number of interesting and powerful women does the same. In order to narrow the topic of the presentation of women in texts from this period, I have chosen nine historians and six women to focus on. The period from 950 to 1150 is a crucial period for the development of the scholastic method and therefore it gives us the most interesting, if not most confusing, period to work from. Additionally, this project focuses geographically on the Anglo-Norman world: England, Normandy, Blois, and the surrounding counties of influence. This work is further restricted to eight major historians, one historical compilation, and six women from this place and time. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle will form the basis for a study of monastic methods of the early period. Eadmer, Hugh of Fleury, and William of Jumieges will round out the monastic historians. William of Malmesbury, Orderic Vitalis, the author of the Gesta Stephani, and Robert of Torigny comprise the category of liminal historians. William of Poitiers, Henry of Huntingdon, and John of Salisbury will represent the scholastic historians. The Mercian lady AEthelflaed, the Norman Adela of Blois, the four Anglo-Norman queens, Matilda of Flanders, Matilda of Scotland, the Empress Matilda, and Matilda of Boulogne, will form the basis of the historical study.