Internet Women's History Sourcebook
Editor: Paul Halsall
"Yes, I am fond of history."
"I wish I were too. I read it a little as a duty, but it tells me nothing that does
not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or
pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all
-- it is very tiresome:"
Catherine Morland, in Northhangar Abbey (1803), by Jane Austen
How are historians to remedy the silence about women in many traditional
accounts of history?
This question has received a number of distinct answers.
The first solution was to locate the great women of the
past, following the lead of much popular historiography that focuses on "great
men". The problem here is that just as the "great men" approach to history
sidelines and ignores the lives of the mass of people, focusing on great women merely
replicates the exclusionary historical approaches of the past.
The next solution was to examine and expose the history of
oppression of women. This approach had the merit of addressing the life histories
of the mass of women, but, since it has proved to be possible to find some degree of
oppression everywhere, it tended to make women merely subjects of forces that they
could not control. On the other hand, historians' focus on oppression revealed that
investigating the structures of women's lives was crucial.
In recent years, while not denying the history of oppression, historians
have begun to focus on the agency of women. All human beings are subject
to some degree of social forces that limit freedom, but within those limits people are
able to exercise greater or lesser degrees of control over their own lives. This insight
applies equally to women even in oppressive societies.
These various approaches to the history of women are not exclusive. This sourcebook attempts to present online documents and secondary discussions which reflect the various
ways of looking at the history of women within broadly defined historical periods and
areas.
***
This page is a subset of texts derived from the three major online Sourcebooks listed below.
Notes: |
In addition to direct links to documents, links are made to a
number of other web resources. |
2ND
|
Link to a secondary article, review or discussion on a given
topic. |
WEB
|
Link to a website focused on a specific issue.. These are not
links to every site on a given topic, but to sites of serious educational value. |
Contents
- The Historical Study of Women
- Human Origins
- Ancient Egypt
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Gender Construction
- Ancient Mesopotamia
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Gender Construction
- Greece
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Gender Construction
- Rome
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Gender Construction
- Medieval Europe
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Early Modern Europe
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Modern Europe
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- North America
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Women Authors
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Latin America
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- China
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Japan
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- India
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- South East Asia
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Australasia
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Africa
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- The Islamic World
- General
- Great Women
- Women's Oppression
- The Structure of Women's Lives
- Women's Agency
- Apologetics
- Feminism
- Gender Construction
- Further Resources in
Women's History
The
Historical Study of Women
-
Linda Gordon: What's New in
Womens' History [Was At Virginia, now Internet Archive]
-
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese: Between Individualism and Fragmentation: American Culture and the New Literary Studies of Race and Gender 1990 [Was At Montclair, now Internet Archive]
- Wikipedia: Feminist History
- Women in the History of Science A Sourcebook edited by Hannah Wills, Sadie Harrison, Erika Jones, Farrah Lawrence-Mackey and Rebecca Martin , 2023 [At UCL] [Local backup version here]
This is the full text of a sourcebook with 50 documents, and discussion about women in the history of science. At some points the usual definition of "science" is pushed somewhat. [Published w under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licence allows you to share and adapt the work for non-commercial use providing attribution is made to the author and publisher (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work)]
- Paul Halsall: Early Western Civilization under the Sign of Gender: Europe and the Mediterranean (4000BCE-1400CE) in Blackwell Companion to Gender History, edited by Teresa A Meade and Merry E Wiesner-Hanks, Cambridge: Blackwell, 2005, 285-306. [PDF]
Back to Index
Human
Origins
Back to Index
Ancient
Egypt
General
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Warriors
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
- Egyptian Love
Poetry c. 2000 - 1100 BCE [At this Site]
- The Offering of Uha
c. 2400 BCE [At this Site]
Male and Female Circumcision in Egypt.
- Princess Ahura: The
Magic Book c. 1100 BCE [At this Site]
On the brother-sister marriage of the two children of the King Merneptah.
Women's Agency
- For Women: see WEB Diotima: Ward Texts [All now via Internet Acrhive]
- Will of Prince Nikaure, son of King Khafre (ca. 2600 B.C.)
- The Wills of Two Brothers and the Inheritance of One Brother's Wife (ca. 1900 B.C.)
- Dispute over Property between a Mother and Daughter
- Marriage Agreement between a Bridegroom and his Father-in-law
- A Wife Wins a Dispute over Her Inheritance
- A Woman Charges her Husband with Wife Abuse
- A Father's Promise to his Daughter in Case of Divorce
- A Woman Asks an Oracle to Settle a dispute over land
- The Will of Amonkhau in Favor of His Second Wife (ca. 1100 B.C.)
- A Daughter's Double Inheritance of Family Property (13th c. B.C.)
Gender Construction
Back to Index
Ancient
Mesopotamia
General
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Warriors
Women Writers
Goddesses
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
- WEB Lilith Stories [At Jewish and Christian Lit] [Internet Archive version here]
But see Eliezar Segal: Looking for Lilith [At U Alberta] [Internet Archive version here]
- Book of Judith [At Bible Gateway]
The Book of Judith is a kind of novel, and is in the RC and Orthodox Bible, bit not the Jewish or Protestant canons. The book contains an account of conversion to Judaism (Judith 14: 6-10)
Gender Construction
Back to Index
Greece
General
- See Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
-
WEB Diotima
A resource for information on women, gender, sex, sexualities, race, ethnicity, class, status, masculinity, enslavement, disability, and the intersections among them in the ancient Mediterranean world. [Had had intermittant availability so here we will retain links to the older version at Internet Archive.]
- NB: "Old" Diotima still available [Internet Archive version]
- WEB Women’s Life in Greece and Rome: Sourcebook in Translation (selections) by Mary Lefkowitz and Maureen Fant [At Diotima]
- NB: "Old" version Women’s Life in Greece and Rome: Sourcebook in Translation [Was at Old Diotima, now Internet Archive]
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Warriors
Women Writers and Intellectuals
- Sappho (c.580 BCE): Poems [Was At Sappho.com, now Internet Archive]
- Sappho (c.580 BCE): Poems [At UH] [Internet Archive version here]
- Sappho (c.580 BCE): Poems [At Poetry Foundation]
- Diogenes Laertius (3rd Cent. CE): Life of Hipparchia from Lives, Book VI. 96-98 [Was At Diotima, now Internet Archive]
- Diogenes Laërtius: The Lives
and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers Book VI: The Cynics [Antisthenes, Diogenes,
Monimus, Onesicritus, Crates, Metrocles, Hipparchia, Menippus, Menedemus.][At this Site]
Goddesses
- Sacrifice to Rhea: the Phrygian Mother-Goddess Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica I:1078-1150 [Was At Eliade, now Internet Archive]
- To Earth, Mother of All Homeric Hymn xxx [Was At Eliade, now Internet Archive]
- Hymn to Demeter 7th Cent BCE [At this Site]
The canonical text of the Mysteries.
- Hymn to Demeter Homeric Hymns: To Demeter,11, 185-299, 7th Cent BCE [Was At Eliade, now Internet Archive]
- The Eleusinian Mysteries: Various Texts [Was At Eliade, now Internet Archive]
- Plato (427-347 BCE): On Initiation Phaedo 69 [Was At Eliade, now Internet Archive]
- Dionysius and the Bacchae Euripides, The Bacchae, 677-775 [Was At Eliade, now Internet Archive]
- Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): Zalmoxis: The God of the Gates Histories IV, 93-6 [Was At Eliade, now Internet Archive]
A Thracian mystery God.
- Orphic Hymn to Hekate 5th Cent BCE [At Hermetic Fellowship] [Internet Archive version here]
- Initiates in the Orphic-Pythagoran Brotherhood Taught the Road to the Lower World The Funerary Gold Plates, Plate from Petelia, South Italy, 4th-3rd century BCE [Was At Eliade, now Internet Archive]
- St Clement of Alexandria: The Phallic Cult of Dionysus [At this Site]
- Lucius Apuleius (c. 123-c. 170 CE): Metamorphoses or The Golden Ass, trans. Adlington 1566 [Was At Eserver, now Internet Archive] See also Latin Text [At Bibliotheca Augustana]
See also the WEB Apuleius Website [At Internet Archive]
- Lucius Apuleius (c. 123-c. 170 CE): Metamorphoses trans. Adlington 1566 [Project Gutenberg]
- Lucius Apuleius (c. 123-c. 170 CE): Metamorphoses trans. Adlington 1566 [Internet Archive]
- Lucius Apuleius (c. 123-c. 170 CE): Metamorphoses trans. A. S. Kline 2013 [Poetry in Translation] [Local copy here]
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
- Sophocles (496-405/6 BCE)
The second of the great tragic poets. He wrote over 100 plays, but only seven complete
ones survive. The dates here are likely but not certain. The following have female heros.
- Antigone 442 BCE [At this Site, formerly ERIS]
See Study Guide [Was At Brooklyn College, now Internet Archive]
- Antigone [At Johnston Texts] [Internet Archive version here]
- Antigone 442 BCE [Was At Diotima, now Internet Archive]
A much more modern translation, with extensive annotation.
- Antigone translation and notes by Wm. Blake Tyrrell and Larry J. Bennett [At Diotima] [Archive version here]
- Euripides (c.485-406 BCE)
- Electra [At Johnston Texts] [Internet Archive version here]
- Alcestis translated by C. A. E. Luschnig [At Diotima]
- Andromache
- Bacchae [At Johnston Texts] [Internet Archive version here]
- The Bacchae [At this Site, formerly ERIS] won trilogy competition, posthumously, in c.405 BCE
See 2ND Study Guide [At Brooklyn College]
- Electra [At Johnston Texts] [Internet Archive version here]
- Hecuba
- Helen a modern actable translation by Andrew Wilson [At Classics Pages] [Internet Archive version here]
- Herakleidae (Children of Herakles) [At Johnston Texts] [Internet Archive version here]
- Hippolytus [At this Site, formerly ERIS] won trilogy competition in 428 BCE.
- Hippolytus [At this Site, formerly ERIS] won trilogy competition in 428 BCE.
- Hippolytus [At Johnston Texts] [Internet Archive version here]
- Ion translated by C. A. E. Luschnig [At Diotima]
- Iphigenia at Aulis won trilogy competition, posthumously, in c.405 BCE
- Iphigenia In Tauris
- Medea translated by C. A. E. Luschnig [At Diotima] [Internet Archive version here]
- Medea [At Johnston Texts] [Internet Archive version here]
See 2ND Study Guide [Was At Brooklyn College, now Internet Archive]
- The Phoenissae a modern actable translation by Andrew Wilson [At Classics Pages]
- Rhesus
- The Suppliants
- Trojan Women translated by C. A. E. Luschnig [At Diotima]
- Women of Troy [At Johnston Texts] [Internet Archive version here]
- Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE)
- The Ecclesiazusae (Women in Politics) [Was At Eserver, now Internet Archive]
- Lysistrata 411 BCE [Was At Eserver, now Internet Archive]
About a sex strike.
See 2ND Study Guide [Was At Brooklyn College, now Internet Archive]
- Lysistrata [At Johnston Texts] [Internet Archive version here]
- Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): Lysistrata extracts, [Was At EAWC, now Internet Archive]
- The Thesmophorizusae 411BCE [Was At Eserver, now Internet Archive]
- Menander (342/1-293/89 BCE)
- Herondas (aka Herodas) (c.300-250 BCE)
Gender Construction
- WEB The Chicago Homer [Northwestern University]
A multilingual database that uses the search and display capabilities of electronic texts to make the distinctive features of Early Greek epic accessible to readers with and without Greek. Except for fragments, it contains all the texts of these poems in the original Greek. In addition, the Chicago Homer includes English and German translations, in particular Lattimore's Iliad, James Huddleston's Odyssey, Daryl Hine's translations of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns, and the German translations of the Iliad and Odyssey by Johan Heinrich Voss.
- The Iliad trans. into prose by Samuel Butler [At this Site, formerly ERIS][Full Text]
- The Iliad trans. into prose Samuel Bulter [At MIT][Full Text]
- The Iliad trans. Alexander Pope [Project Gutenberg]
- The Iliad trans. Andrew Lang [Project Gutenberg]
- The Iliad trans. William Cowper [Project Gutenberg]
- The Iliad trans. Edward, Earl of Derby [Project Gutenberg]
- The Iliads trans. George Chapman [Project Gutenberg] [This is the version that inspired John Keats: On First Looking into Chapman's Homer. Keats found the the standard translation by Alexander Pope uninspiring.]
- The Iliad trans. Theodore Buckley [Project Gutenberg]
- The Iliad in Ancient Greek [Project Gutenberg]
- The Iliad trans. Ian Johnston [Internet Archive version here]
- The Iliad, abridged trans. Ian Johnston [Internet Archive version here]
- The Iliad trans. Robert Fagles [Internet Archive borrow facility][Recommended]
- See 2ND Study Guide [Was At Brooklyn College, now Internet Archive]
- Thersites
- Achilles and Hector
- The Odyssey trans. Samuel Butler [At this Site, formerly ERIS][Full Text]
- The Odyssey trans. Samuel Butcher and A. Lang [At this Site]
- The Odyssey trans. Samuel Butcher and A. Lang [At Bartleby][Full Text]
- The Odyssey trans. Samuel Butler [At MIT][Full Text]
- The Odyssey trans. Samuel Butcher and A. Lang [Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
- The Odyssey trans. Samuel Butler [Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
- The Odyssey trans. William Cowper [Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
- The Odyssey trans. Alexander Pope [Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
- The Odyssey in Latin [Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
- The Odyssey A in Ancient Greek [Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
- The Odyssey trans. Ian Johnston [Internet Archive version here]
- The Odyssey abridged trans. Ian Johnston [Internet Archive version here]
- The Odyssey trans. Robert Fagles [Internet Archive borrow facility][This Recommended or recent translation by Emily Wilson]
- Homeric Fragments [At OMACL]
- Homeric Hymns [At OMACL]
- Hesiod: Works and Days [At OMACL]
- Chariton (2nd Cent CE?): Chaireas and Callirhoe [Synopsis of the Plot][Was At Montclair, now Internet Archive]
- Achilles Tatius (2nd Cent CE): Clitophon and Leucippe trans S. Gaselee 1917, Full Text. [Internet Archive]
- Longus (2nd Century CE): Daphnis and Chloe trans. George Thornley 1657, full text [Internet Archive]
- Heliodorus of Emesa (3rd or 4th Centr CE): The Aethiopica or Theagenes and Chariclea, trans Thomas Underdowne 1587, rev. F.A. Wright [At Elfinspell] [Internet Archive version here]
- Heliodorus (fl. 220-250 CE): Ethiopian Story [Synopsis of the Plot][At Montclair]
-
Thucydides (c.460/-c.399 BCE): On
Aristogeiton and Harmodius (Book 6) [At PWH]
- See People with a History: Greece
-
WEB Eroticism
in Antiquity [Now at Internet Archive]
-
Plato (427-347 BCE): The
Symposium [At Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
-
Plato (427-347 BCE): The Symposium [At
PWH][Full Text]
-
Aeschines (c.389 - c.322 BCE): Against
Timarchus [At PWH][Full Text]
- Athenaeus (2nd Century CE): Alexander's Homosexuality from The Deipnosophists Book XIII (601-606) [At this Site]
Back to Index
Rome
General
- See Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
- WEB Diotima
A resource for information on women, gender, sex, sexualities, race, ethnicity, class, status, masculinity, enslavement, disability, and the intersections among them in the ancient Mediterranean world. [Had had intermittant availability so here we will retain links to the older version at Internet Archive.]
- NB: "Old" Diotima still available [Internet Archive version]
- WEB Women’s Life in Greece and Rome: Sourcebook in Translation (selections) by Mary Lefkowitz and Maureen Fant [At Diotima]
- NB: "Old" version Women’s Life in Greece and Rome: Sourcebook in Translation [Was at Old Diotima, now Internet Archive]
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Warriors
Women Writers and Intellectuals
- Sulpicia (Late 1st Cent. CE): Poems [Was At Diotima, now Internet Archive] or in Latin [At Latin Library]
The only surviving Roman female poet.
- Sulpicia (Late 1st Cent. CE): Poems [At Diotima]
- Socrates Scholasticus (c.380-after 439): The Murder of Hypatia.
A leading female philosopher, Hypatia was murdered by a Christian mob in Alexandria, urged on by St. Cyril. See also The Hypatia Page. Three historical version's of Hypatia's murder are available, and useful for comparative purposes:
- Damascius: The Life of Hypatia from the Life of Isidore, reproduced in The Suda. [Was At cosmopolis.com, now Internet Archive]
- Socrates Scholasticus (c.380-after 439): The Life of Hypatia [Was At cosmopolis.com, now Internet Archive]
- John of Nikiu (fl. 680-690): The Life of Hypatia. [Was At cosmopolis.com, now Internet Archive]
Goddesses
- Demeter and Eleusis
- Cybele
- Isis
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Gender Construction
- See People with a History: Rome
- Juvenal (c. 55/60-127 CE): Satire 2 Latin | Satire 2 English | Satire 2 English/Latin
- Juvenal (c. 55/60-127 CE): Satires 1,2,3,8,9. trans. N. Rudd [Was At Princeton, now Internet Archive]
- Tacitus (b.56/57-after 117 CE): The Murder of Pedanius Secundus (Annals 14) [Was At Michigan, now Internet Archive]
On the murder of a slave-owner by his slave, possibly because of homosexual jealousy. The senate addresses whether all the slaves in the house should be killed.
- Petronius Arbiter (c.27-66 CE): Satyricon c.61 CE
- The Satyricon translated by Alfred R. Allinson, 1930. [English translation linked to Latin text][At Sacred Text Archive] [Internet Archive version here] Also in Latin [At Latin Library].
[Note that most modern teachers would use the Arrowsmith translation (New American Library) which is considered to be very good.]
- The Banquet of Trimalchio from the Satyricon [At this Site]
- Trimalchio's Feast [Was At Coloraro, now Internet Archive]
excerpt from the Satyricon.
- 2ND The Satyricon of Petronius [ Was At Southwestern, now Internet Archive]
- Priapea (collected 5th Cent CE) in Latin [Was At IPA, now Internet Archive]
- Priapea (collected 5th Cent CE) in Latin and Engliosh, trans. Richard Burton [At Sacred Texts] [Internet Archive version here]
Said by the Oxford Classical Dictionary to be "uniformly obscene".
Back to Index
Medieval
Europe
General
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Warriors
- Procopius: On the Nika
Revolt, from The Wars [At this Site]
The Empress Theodora
- Procopius (c. 500 – 565): The Secret History trans, H.B Dewing. Full text. [Wikisource]
- Æthelflæd [Aetheflaed], Lady of the Mercians (d .918): Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 911-918 daughter of Alfred the Great and the only woman to rule Anglo-Saxon England in her own right. [At this Site].
- Cartulary of Saint Trond: Richelinde: A Gift of Serfs to Abbey of
St. Trond 938 [At this Site]
- Regino of Prüm: Canon 19 on Women in Law Courts (early 10th century), trans Charles West. [At Turbulent Priests] [Internet Archive version here]
- Michael Psellus(1018-after 1078): Chronographia
full text. [At this Site]
The history of the Roman Empire 976-1078 by one of the liveliest writers of the middle
ages. During the period 1028-1056, the rulership of the Empire depended on two empresses -
Zoe and Theodora.
- A notice of an assembly at Varennes where Queen Ermengard of Provence restored the cell of Baume to the abbey of Gigny 890 [At Salutemmundo] [Internet Archive backup of index page here]
- The will of Countess Gersindis of Toulouse (the orthography of whose name I have yet to settle on) 972. [At Salutemmundo] [Internet Archive backup of index page here]
- A charter of Liutgard of Chartres and her friend Godeleva granting land to the abbey of Saint-Père de Chartres Aug 979 [At Salutemmundo] [Internet Archive backup of index page here]
- Wynflaed (d. c 950/960): Will of Wynflæd concerning land at Ebbesborne, Wilts.; Charlton (probably Horethorne, Somerset); Coleshill, Berks.; Inggeneshamme (perhaps Inglesham, Wilts.); Faccombe, Hants; Adderbury, Oxon.; and at Chinnock, Somerset; the beneficiaries including Shaftesbury and Wilton. [At the Electronic Sawyer. Click the "Translation" icon for full translation.] See BL for Images of Manuscript. See Wikipedia: Wynflaed.
- Emma of Normandy (d. 1052): Encomium Emmae Reginae [Encomium of Queen Emma], excerpts, mid 11th Century [At this Site]. Complete text at Internet Archive.
- An Agreement made by the monks of Rochester with the wife of Robert Latimer. c.1100-c.1123[Manuscript, transcription, translation and introduction by Christopher Monk from the Textus Roffensis online at Rochester Cathedral]. See also Wikipedia: Textus Roffensis (1122-1124)
- Hugh, in agreement with his wife Emma and his sons, grants land at Southgate to St Andrew’s, Rochester. 1114-23 [Manuscript, transcription, translation and introduction by Christopher Monk from the Textus Roffensis online at Rochester Cathedral]. See also Wikipedia: Textus Roffensis (1122-1124).
- Joan, Countess of Flanders: Grant to Weavers of
Exemption from the Taille 1224 [At this Site]
- Margaretta, Countess of Flanders & Hainault: A Purchase of Tithes and
Remission of a Tax 1246 [At this Site]
-
Empress Matilda: To Archbishop
Anselm c. 1100 [Was At Millersville, now Internet Archive
- Peter of Blois: Letter 154,
to Queen Eleanor 1173, trans. M. Markowski [At this Site]
- Johann Nider: on Joan
of Arc (d. 1438) See also
Catholic
Encyclopedia: ST. JOAN OF ARC
- Joan of Arc: Letter to
the King of England, 1429 [At this Site]
- Transcript of Trial
of Joan of Arc full text [At this Site]
- The Trial of Joan of
Arc 1431 [excerpts] [At this Site]
- Sieur Louis de Conte: Personal Recollections of
Joan of Arc [in fact, a fictional account by Mark Twain][At this Site]
- Nicolas, Nicholas Harris: The Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York: The Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV [Internet Archive/R3]
Nicolas's introductory memoirs of Yorkist royalty, with commentary on the Ricardian controversies of the time; the privy purse expenses of Elizabeth of York. To come: the Wardrobe Accounts. A lengthy series of documents, consisting of 24 interlinked files.
Women Writers
- WEB Bibliography of Works by and About Women Writers of the Middle Ages (Robbins Library)
- WEB Epistolæ: Medieval Women's Letters [At Columbia] [Internet Archive backup here]
Epistolæ is a collection of medieval Latin letters to and from women. The letters collected here date from the 4th to the 13th centuries, and they are presented in their original Latin as well as in English translation.
- Egeria. Description of the Liturgical Year in Jerusalem: Translation [At Oxford]
- Egeria (4th Century): Journal of the Jerusalem Liturgical Year [Latin and English][At Oxford]
- Egeria: Description of the Liturgical Year in Jerusalem: Translation 4th Century [At Oxford]
- Egeria: Travelogue Translated by M.L. McClure, The Pilgrimage of Etheria, (New York, 1915) [Was At Yale, now Internet Archive]
- Egeria: The Pilgrimage of Etheria ed. and trans M.L. McClure and C. L. Feltoe, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1919. [At CCEL]
-
Saint Brigid of Ireland (ascribed): The Heavenly Banquet [Was At Eircom, now Internet Archive]
- Huneberc of Heidenheim: The
Hodoeporican of St. Willibald 8th Century [At this Site]
- Huneberc of Heidenheim. Prologue to the Hodoeporicon of St. Willibald. c. 750-75CE. Alternate trans. by Thomas Head [At this Site]
- Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (b.c 930/40-d.c.1002): St. John
[Was At Millersville, now Internet Archive]
See also
Catholic Enclopedia:
Hroswitha
- Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (c.930/40-c.1002): The Plays of Roswitha [At this Site]
Including Full texts of Gallicanus and Dulcitius
- Anna Comnena (1083-after 1048): The Alexiad.
[Full text] [At this Site]
The account of her father, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I, by Princess Anna
Comnena is perhaps the most important historical work by a woman writer written before the
modern period.
- Anna Comnena (1083-after 1048): The Alexiad [Books 10
and 11] [At this Site]
See also
Catholic Encyclopedia:
Anna Comnena
- Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): Lyrics Latin and English. [Was At irupert, now Internet Archive].
- Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179): Visions from Scivias English. [At Columbia] [Internet Archive version here]
See also the Hildegard
of Bingen page [At Internet Archive, from Millersville]; and the
Catholic Encyclopedia article.
- Constance of Brittany and Gerald of Wales: On Louis VII of France
- Heloise: Letter to Abelard
trans. C.K. Scott Moncrief. The text is also available in Latin [At
Georgetown]; and
French [At Internet Archive]
See also Photographs of
Tomb of Abelard and Heloise Père-Lachaise (Cemetery : Paris, France); and
Jean Vignaud: Abelard and
Heloise Surprised by the Abbot Fulbert (1819)
- Hadewijch of Antwerp d.c. 1260. [Wikiquote]
The page contains links to five of her letters and four of her poems.
- Blessed Cecilia Cesarine, O.S.B. The Legend of St. Dominic [Was at OP, now Internet Archive]
- Marguerite Porète: The Mirror of Simple Souls (written 1296/1306), Chaps 119-122. PDF [At Colorado] [Internet Archive version here]
- Marguerite Porète: The Mirror of Simple Souls (written 1296/1306), Chaps 1-14. [At Kenyon] [Internet Archive version here]
- Catherine of Siena (1347-1380): Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin 1370, full text now available [At CCEL].
- Angela, of Foligno, 1248?-1309. The book of divine consolation of the Blessed Angela of Foligno Translated from the Italian by Mary G. Steegmann. Introd. by Algar Thorold.(London, Chatto and Windus; New York, Duffield & co., 1909) [Internet Archive]
- St. Bridget of Sweden: Revelations to the Popes d. 1373, Latin edition by Arne Jönsson, [and Microsoft Word Version],
- Heliga Birgittas: Uppenbarelser [Revelations of St. Bridget], in Swedish [At Göteborg University]
- The Life and Doctrine of Saint Catherine of Genoa [At CCEL]
Includes a Life, The Spiritual Dialogue, and Treatise on Purgatory, all from a 1874, 1907 English version. It is unclear from the etext if this Life is a translation of the Libro de la vita mirabile e dottrina santa de la beta Caterinetta da Genoa, or a modern work.
- WEB Christine de Pizan Digital Scriptorium [Johns Hopkins]
- Christine de,Pizan (c.1363-c.1431): The book of the Duke of true lovers: now first translated from the Middle French of Christine de Pisan ; with an introduction by Alice Kemp-Welch ; the ballads rendered into the original metres by... (London : Chatto and Windus, 1908) [Project Gutenberg]
- Christine de Pizan: Treasure of the City of Ladies (1405), full text in French [Project Gutenberg]
- Christine de Pizan: Treasure of the City of Ladies (1405), full text in English [Internet Archive borrow facility]
- WEB Julian of Norwich Page. [At Luminarium]
- Julian of Norwich: Shewings [Full Text] See also Catholic Encycloped-Juliana of Norwich
- The Book of Margery Kempe [At TEAMS]
- WEB see the Luminarium: Margery Kempe Page [with a picture of Margery]
- Margery Kempe: The Book of Margery Kempe: The Birth of Her First Child and Her First Vision. [At luminarium.org]
- Margery Kempe: The Book of Margery Kempe: Her Pride and Attempts to Start a Business. [At luminarium.org]
- Margery Kempe: The Book of Margery Kempe: Margery and Her Husband Reach a Settlement. [At luminarium.org]
- Margery Kempe: The Book of Margery Kempe: Pilgrimmage to Jerusalem. [At luminarium.org]
- Margery Kempe (1413-1415): Book of Margery Kempe. (Text--Butler-Bowden translation of Chapter 26-34, 37-41)[At Internet Archive was at Traveling to Jerusalem/U Sth Colorado]
- Margery Kempe: Treatise of Contemplation from her Book as reprinted in The Cell of Self-Knowledge. [At CCEL]
For many centuries this was the only well-known part of Margery's writing.
- Margery Kempe (1413-1415): Book of Margery Kempe. (Text--Butler-Bowden translation of Chapter 26-34, 37-41) [At Internet Archive was at Traveling to Jerusalem/U Sth Colorado]
-
Marie de France: Lays: [At Project Gutenberg]
-
Laura Certa: Letter
to Bibulus Sempronius 13 January 1488 [Was At CCNY, now Internet Archive]
Religious Women: Saints
- Fourth Book of Maccabees: The
Death of the Maccabees circa. 63 BCE-70CE [RSV] [At this Site]
This book is in an "Appendix" of Greek Orthodox Bibles (although not part of the
Latin Church's deuterocanonica). Its account of the persecution the Maccabees
influenced later martyrdom accounts in many ways. The Maccabees and their mother were
celebrated as saints in Orthodox churches.
- St. Methodius of Olympus: Oration
Concerning Simeon and Anna On The Day That They Met in The Temple translated in St.
Pachomius Library [At this Site]
- Acts of Paul and Thecla translated in St. Pachomius Library [At this Site]
- Vibia Perpetua: The
Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity. The
Latin Original is available
[At The Latin Library]. See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: Sts.
Felicitas and Perpetua; and Peter Dronke's
Discussion of Perpetua [Was At Millersville, now Internet Archive]
This text is composed, in part, of Perpetua's own account of her trial, and of her
visions. It is thus among the earliest of all texts ascribed to a Christian woman.
According to Thomas Heffernan [Sacred Biography, (New York: Oxford UP, 1988), 190]
this text also sees the earliest use of the topos of Christ, the Bridegroom of the
saint. Perpetua is "the wife (matrona) of Christ, the beloved of God" (17:2)
- Eusebius: Ecclesiastical
History: Martyrdom of St. Domnina and Daughters [From Ante-Nicene and Nicene
Fathers Series]
A text, and a story, which has always been problematic - the saint and her daughters drown
themselves rather than submit to rape.
- Acts of Xanthippe,
Polyxena and Rebecca [From Ante-Nicene and Nicene Fathers Series]
- Martyrdom of St. Pelagia of
Ceasarea translated from Ge'ez [At this Site]
-
Palladius: The Lausiac History [extended excerpts] [At this Site]
Includes lives of a number of important Late Roman saintly women, such as Melania the
Elder and Melania the Younger.
- Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-d.c.395): Life of Macrina trans.
W.K. Lowther Clarke.[At this Site]
One of the most important lives of a female saint. This is an account of Gregory's
strongminded sister, Macrina (c.327-379)
- Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-d.c.395): Funeral Oration for the Empress Flaccilla trans Casimir McCambly [At Lectio Divina] [Internet Archive version here]
- Gregory Nazianzus: Oration:
On his Sister Gorgonia [At this Site]
- Life of Matrona of Perge
d.c. 510-515, trans Khalifa Ben Nasser, [full text of Metaphrastic Life: selections
from Vita Prima] [At this Site]
An example of a "transvestite" saint who was also a historical figure.
- Life of Irene,
Abbess of the Convent of Chrysobalanton trans. Jan Olof Rosenqvist. [At this Site]
- Life of St. Mary of Egypt from the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete [At this Site] See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: Saint Mary of
Egypt
- Life of Mary the Younger
d.c. 903, trans Paul Halsall, [First five chapters, and concluding prayer] [At this Site]
- Holy Women of Byzantium: Ten Saints' Lives in English Translation, ed. Alice-Mary Talbot [At Internet Archive]
Complete texts of translations of female saints lives. The texts are all in a single PDF for the enitre vook or EPUB form. The former individual PDFs are no longer available.
- Front Matter, General Introduction, Acknowledgemets, List of Abbreviations
- A. Nuns Disguised as Monks
- 1. Life of St. Mary/Marinos / translated by Nicholas Constas
- 2. Life of St. Matrona of Perge / Jeffrey Featherstone and Cyril Mango
- B. Female Solitaries
- 3. Life of St. Mary of Egypt / Maria Kouli
- 4. Life of St. Theoktiste of Lesbos / Angela C. Hero
- C. Cenobitic Nuns
- 5. Life of St. Elisabeth the Wonderworker / Valerie Karras
- 6. Life of St. Athanasia of Aegina / Lee Francis Sherry
- 7. Life of St. Theodora of Thessalonike / Alice-Mary Talbot
- D. Pious Housewives
- 8. Life of St. Mary the Younger / Angeliki E. Laiou
- 9. Life of St. Thomaïs of Lesbos / Paul Halsall
- E. A Saintly Empress
- 10. Life of St. Theodora of Arta / Alice-Mary Talbot
- Indexes / 122 k
Index of People and Places; General Index; Index of Notable Greek Words
- Gregory I (DIALOGOS): Second
Dialogue (Life of St. Scholastica) [From Ante-Nicene and Nicene Fathers Series]
- Rudolf of Fulda: Life of Leoba
c. 836 [At this Site]
- The Life of Liutberga
9th Century, trans, Jo Ann McNamara. [At this Site]
- St. Bridget of Sweden (d.1373): Revelations to the
Popes Latin edition by Arne Jönsson, [and Microsoft Word Version]
- Ancient Lives of Scottish Saints trans W.M. Metcalfe 1845 [At Internet Archive]
St, Ninian vy Ailred of Rievaux; St Columbia by Cuimine the Fair; St. Columba by Adamnan; St. Sevanus; St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, by Turgot; St. Magnus
- Heliga Birgittas uppenbarelser
Revelations of St. Bridget, in Swedish [At Göteborg University]
-
The Life and Doctrine of
Saint Catherine of Genoa [At CCEL]
Includes a Life, The Spiritual Dialogue, and Treatise on Purgatory, all from a 1874, 1907
English version. It is unclear from the etext if this Life is a translation of the Libro
de la vita mirabile e dottrina santa de la beta Caterinetta da Genoa, or a modern
work.
- Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510): Treatise on Purgatory full text [At EWTN]
- Jacques De Vitry: Life of Mary of Oignies in Latin [At Umilta]
- Jacques De Vitry: Life of Mary of Oignies full text in Latin, ed. Margot King [Was At Peregrina Press's Matrologia Latina site now Internet Archive]
- Thomas de Cantimpré: The Life of Christina Mirabilis in Latin, [Was At Peregrina Press's Matrologia Latina site, now Internet Archive]
- Thomas de Cantimpré: Vita Lutgardis Virgine in Aquiriae Brabantia in Latin, [At Intratext] and Liber I Liber II and Liber III in Latin [Was At Peregrina Press's Matrologia Latina site now Internet Archive]
Lutgard was born at Tongres in 1182. D, at Aywieres, 1246. Feast. June 16. She was a mystic, and, for the last eleven years of her life, blind. [DOS]
- Jacobus de Voragine/William Caxton: The Life of Saint Cecilia. trans by Caxton (1483) from Jacobus de Voragine: Golden Legend. [Was at Catholic Forum, now Internet Archive]
Cecilia is the Patron saint of music in the west.
- Geoffrey Chaucer: The Life of Saint
Cecilia (The Second Nun's Tale) c. 1380, [Modernized English, At Internet Archive, from Virginia Tech]. The
original Middle
English is also available [At University of Virginia]. Chaucer's account is based on
the Golden Legend.
- Jacobus de Voragine (1230-1298): The Golden Legend
- Jacobus de Voragine (1230-1298): The Golden Legend
Texts in Voragine's order,numbering following William Ryan, (Princeton: 1993)
- Life of Markella of Chios (date uncertain) [Was At Demetrios Greek Orthodox, now Internet Archive]
It is unclear if this is a modern or old [how old] life of Markella. The sexual
overtones of the text, are, however, intense.
-
A Legend of the Austrian Tyrol: St. Kümmernis [At this Site]
A story of a saint who women grows a beard so she can become a bride of Christ.
Religious Women: Monasticism
- WEB Monastic Matrix [At St Andrews]
A collection of resources for the study of women's religious communities, 500-1500. This includes a database of 1146 women's communities and a Documents page, with documents from women's communities at Laycock (13th century), San Sisto (13th century), Santa Francesca Romana (15th century).
- Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents [Was At Dumbarton Oaks, now Internet Archive]
A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founder's Typika and Testaments. Edited by John
Thomas and Angela Constantinides Hero with the assistance of Giles Constable. To access chapter files individually see here
-
2ND Jeffrey Conrad, Egyptian and Syrian Asceticism in Late Antiquity: A Comparative Study of the Ascetic Idea in the Late Roman Empire during the Fourth and Fifth Centuries. [Was At SFSU, now Internet Archive]
- 2ND Nonna Harrison, The Feminine Man in Late Antique
Ascetic Piety Union Seminary Quarterly Review 48:3-4 [Was At Columbia, now Internet Archive]
- 2ND Lina Eckenstein, Women Under Monasticism Chapters
on Saint-Lore and Convent Life Between A.D. 500 and A.D. 1500. (New York: Russell and
Russell, 1963), chaps. 4, 6, 7, 9 [Was At Yale, now Internet Archive]]
- 2ND Kevin Corrigan, Syncletica and Macrina: Two Early Lives of Women Saints Vox Benedictina 6/3 (1989) 241-256.
[Was At Peregrina Press's Matrologia Latina site, now Internet Archive]
-
2ND Onnie Duvall, Radegund of Poitiers (ca. 518-587) [Was At ORB, now Internet Archive]. See also Alex Perkins: Life of Radegund [Was At
Cambridge, now Internet Archive]
-
2ND Margot H. King, The Desert Mothers: A Survey of the Feminine Anchoretic Tradition in Western Europe[Was At Peregrina Press's Matrologia Latina site, now Internet Archive]
-
2ND Margot H. King, The Desert Mothers Revisited: The Mothers of the Diocese of Liège [Was At Peregrina Press's Matrologia Latina site, now Internet Archive]
-
2ND Abby Stoner, Sisters Between: Gender and the Medieval Beguines [Was At sfsu.edu, now Internet Archive]
-
2ND Katherine Gill, Open Monasteries for Women in Late Medieval and Early Modern Italy: Two Roman Examples [Was at Matrix, now Internet Archive]
- Ancrene Wisse In Middle English, with some Latin. [At Google Books]
A collection of rules and advice for English nuns.
- Rule of the Lady Hospitallers of the Royal Monastery of Sigena 1188, in Latin, [At Internet Archive, from Kansas]
The Royal Monastery of Sigena was an institution of Lady Hospitallers and enjoyed a great deal of independence and influence. It would appear that its Rule was the work of Sancha, Queen of Aragon.
- Election of Avice as the first abbess of Malling. 7th March 1108 See Wikipedia: Malling Abbey [Manuscript, transcription, translation and introduction by Christopher Monk from the Textus Roffensis online at Rochester Cathedral]. See also Wikipedia: Textus Roffensis (1122-1124).
- Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) : Dialogue 1370 [At CCEL] See
also
Catholic Encyclopedia:
Catherine of Siena, Saint
- Julian of Norwich (1343-1443): Revelations
of Divine Love 1371 [At CCEL] See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: JULIANA OF
NORWICH
- Rule of the Lady
Hospitallers of the Royal Monastery of Sigena 1188, in Latin, [At Internet Archive, from Kansas]
The Royal Monastery of Sigena was an institution of Lady Hospitallers and enjoyed a great
deal of independence and influence. It would appear that its Rule was the work of Sancha,
Queen of Aragon.
-
Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510): Treatise on Purgatory [At EWTN]
- Wendy M. Reynolds: The Goddess Brighid [Was at Millersville, now Internet Archive]
A paper discussing, and linking to a variety of resources, the idea that St.
- Brigit is a Christianization of the Celtic goddess "Brighid". The Catholic Encyclopedia Article:
Brigid of Ireland is worth reading in conjunction with this site.
The Cult of the Virgin Mary
Women's Oppression
Misogyny
- Athanasius: Life of
Anthony [From Ante-Nicene and Nicene Fathers Series] At this Site]. See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Anthony or
Encyclopedia Britannica
(9th ed): Athanasius
Just as the martyrdom of Polykarp is a model text for many other martyrdom accounts, the Life
of Anthony provided a model for accounts of saints - later called confessors whose sanctity was manifested by a holy - usually monastic - life rather than by a heroic
death for the faith.
- 2ND Standard Misquotation Assigned to John Chrysostom
- Witchcraft Documents inc. the Papal Bull of 1484,
Johannes Nider on witches, and extracts from the Malleus malificaram.
- Sprenger and Kramer: The Malleus
M-icarum [The Hammer of Witches] 1484, full text. [At Sacred Texts] [Internet Archive version here]
- Witchcraft Legends Translated and/or
edited by D. L. Ashliman. [At Pitt] [Internet Archive version here]
-
Ibn Fadlan. Risala 921 CE [At VikingAnswerLady] [Internet Archive version here]
Ibn Fadlan was an Arab chronicler. In 921 C.E., the Caliph sent Ibn Fadlan with an embassy to the King of the Bulgars of the Middle Volga. Ibn Fadlan wrote an account of his journeys with the embassy, called a Risala. This Risala is of great value as a history, although it is clear in some places that inaccuracies and Ibn Fadlan's own prejudices have slanted the account to some extent. . It contains an account of a Viking version of suttee.
- Ibn Fadlan and the Rusiyyah trans of the Risala by James E. Montgomery, Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies3 (2000) PDF. [Internet Archive version here]
Courtly Love
The Structure of Women's Lives
Marriage
- General
- Theology
- St Augustine: On Marriage and Concupiscence excerpts [At this Site]
A crucial text for understanding why marriage was such a problem for medieval canonists and theologians.
- St Jerome (c. 320-420): On Marriage and Virginity From Letter XXII to Eustochium and from the treatise Against Jovinian [At this Site]
- St Jerome (c. 320-420): On The Song of Songs From the treatise Against Jovinian [At this Site]
- Law and Marriage
- Corpus Iuris Civilis: The Digest and Codex on Marriage. See also Catholic Encyclopedia: History of Marriage [At this Site].
- Codex Justinianus: Protection of Freewomen Married to Servile Husbands c. 530 [Vll.24.i.] [At this Site].
- Codex Justinianus: Children of the Unfree c. 530 [Xl.48.xxi.] [At this Site].
- Codex Justinianus: Children of Mixed Marriages c. 530 [Xl.48.xxiv.] [At this Site].
- The Contract of Marriage, in the Ecloga of Leo III, (726). [At this Site].
- A Husband's Endowment Of His Future Wife On Their Betrothal - Southern Burgundy 994. [At this Site].
- Council Legislation on Marriage [At this Site].
- Anglo Saxon Dooms 560-975 [At this Site].
- Tables of Kindred and Degrees - both Roman and German methods of calculation.
- Peasant Servitude and Obligations: Rulings by Louis VI and Louis VII of France (12th Century), , trans. Richard Barton. [At this Site].
- Disputing and Dispute Resolution in Monastic Charters from the Vendômois c. 1040-1118, trans. Richard Barton. [At this Site].
14 documents from the Cartulaire de la Trinité de Vendôme with reference to monastic life, rural life, dispute resolution, duels.
- The Law of Brusthem 1175, on a mixed marriage between a slave and a freewoman. [At this Site].
- Gratian: On Marriage [At this Site].
- Innocent III (r.1198-1216): Letters on Marriage, and Women 1203-1204 [At this Site].
- Manorial Marriage and Sexual Offense Cases [At this Site].
- Pope Urban IV (1261–1264) or Pope Clement IV (1265–1268): De Sinu patris and Audi filia et 1260s [Wikisource]
Letters urging an unnamed nobleman to return to his wife, possibly in reference to the Cypriot queen Plaisance of Antioch and her lover John of Jaffa.
- Church Courts Pursue Adulterers, 1289 [At this Site].
- Robert of Flamborough: Summa Confessorum: on Luxuria.[At this Site].
- Corpus Iuris Civilis: The Digest and Codex on Marriage [At this Site].. See also Catholic Encyclopedia: History of Marriage
- Gratian: On Marriage [At this Site].
- The Law of Brusthem 1175, on a mixed marriage between a slave and a freewoman. [At this Site].
- Peasant Servitude and Obligations: Rulings by Louis VI and Louis VII of France (12th Century), trans. Richard Barton. [At this Site].
- Disputing and Dispute Resolution in Monastic Charters from the Vendômois c. 1040-1118, trans. Richard Barton. [At this Site].
14 documents from the Cartulaire de la Trinité de Vendôme with reference to monastic life, rural life, dispute resolution, duels.
- Novembre 1169 : Pactes entre
Guilhem de Monpellier et Bernard d'Anduze en vue du mariage de leurs enfants respectifs.
In Latin [At this Site].
- Innocent III (r.1198-1216): Letters on Marriage, and Women 1203-1204 [At this Site].
- Manorial Marriage and Sexual Offense Cases. [At this Site].
- Pope Urban IV (1261–1264) or Pope Clement IV (1265–1268): De Sinu patris and Audi filia et 1260s [Wikisource]
Letters urging an unnamed nobleman to return to his wife, possibly in reference to the Cypriot queen Plaisance of Antioch and her lover John of Jaffa.
- Church Courts Pursue Adulterers, 1289 [At this Site].
- Oldradus de Ponte: No. 35 (Questio) early 14th
century.
The issue here is the validity of a marriage contract made under duress. A woman was
kidnapped, held captive and raped over a period of twelve days. During that time, the
villain compelled the woman to pronounce the words of a marriage ceremony, after which he
endeavored to consummate the marriage.
- Married Lives
- The Crow of the Bestiaries [At this Site].
- Sale of Daughter as a Concubine [At this Site].
- An Agreement made by the monks of Rochester with the wife of Robert Latimer. c.1100-c.1123[Manuscript, transcription, translation and introduction by Christopher Monk from the Textus Roffensis online at Rochester Cathedral]. See also Wikipedia: Textus Roffensis (1122-1124).
- Hugh, in agreement with his wife Emma and his sons, grants land at Southgate to St Andrew’s, Rochester. 1114-23 [Manuscript, transcription, translation and introduction by Christopher Monk from the Textus Roffensis online at Rochester Cathedral]. See also Wikipedia: Textus Roffensis (1122-1124).
- Wife Sues to Get Husband Back [At this Site].
- Constance of Brittany and Gerald of Wales: On Louis VII of France. [At this Site].
- Le Menagier [or Goodman] of Paris: on ideal marriage [At this Site].
- Peter of Blois: Letter 154,
to Queen Eleanor, 1173 trans. M. Markowski [At this Site].
- Aquinas: On Sex: Summa
Theologiae II-II, 153-154 [At this Site].
- Synod of
Castilian Jews 1432 [At this Site].
Ordinances from assembly of the Jews of the kingdom of Castile at Valladolid in 1432
-- includes a discussion on forced marriage.
Everyday Life
- Michael Psellus (1018-after 1078): Encomium of His Mother trans Jeffrey Walker, full text. [PDF doc] [At Documenta Catholica] [Internet Archive version here]
- Canute, King of the English: On Heriots and Reliefs c. 1016-1035 [At this Site]
-
Stephen de Bourbon: De Supersticione: On
St Guinefort [At this Site].
The basis of the film The Sorceress about a sainted dog. Based on the tradition
of St. Christopher as being "dog-faced".
- Bernardino of Siena: Sermons on Wives and Widows 1427 [At this Site].
- Master Huen's Boke of Gode Cookery
A compilation of Medieval recipes from period sources, with modern adaptations for the 20th c. kitchen. With diverse facts on food & feasting in the Middle Ages, and many things related historically. [At SCA site: at labs.net] [Internet Archive version here]
Everyday Life: Jewish Women
Women's Agency
- Tacitus: Germania full text. [At this Site].
- Gregory of Tours: The Conversion of Clovis from History of the Franks, Book II [At this Site].
- Gregory of Tours: History of the Franks (6th century) [At this Site].
Complete text of Earnest Brehaut's 1916 abridged translation.
- Bede: Abbess Hilda of Whitby (d. 679) from Ecclesiastical History [At this Site].
- Æthelflæd [Aetheflaed], Lady of the Mercians (d .918): Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 911-918 daughter of Alfred the Great and the only woman to rule Anglo-Saxon England in her own right. [At this Site].
- Wynflaed (d. c 950/960): Will of Wynflæd concerning land at Ebbesborne, Wilts.; Charlton (probably Horethorne, Somerset); Coleshill, Berks.; Inggeneshamme (perhaps Inglesham, Wilts.); Faccombe, Hants; Adderbury, Oxon.; and at Chinnock, Somerset; the beneficiaries including Shaftesbury and Wilton. [At the Electronic Sawyer. Click the "Translation" icon for full translation.] See BL for Images of Manuscript. See Wikipedia: Wynflaed.
- Emma of Normandy (d. 1052): Encomium Emmae Reginae [Encomium of Queen Emma], excerpts, mid 11th Century [At this Site]. Complete text at Internet Archive.
- Russian Primary Chronicle: The Christianisation of Russia (988) [Was At Durham, now Internet Archive]
- 1135 : Serment de fidélité prêté par Guillem VI, seigneur de Montpellier, au comte et à la comtesse de Melgueil. In Latin [At this Site].
- 12 novembre 1166: Convention et confédération de paix, concorde et commerce entre les consuls de Gênes et l'archevêque Pons, la vicomtesse Ermengarde et le peuple de Narbonne. In Latin [At this Site].
- 30 avril 1196 : Testament d'Ermengarde, vicomtesse de Narbonne. In Latin [At this Site].
- The Case of Na Prous, a beguine 1325 [At this Site].
- Geoffrey Chaucer: Prologue to the Canterbury Tales original language. [At this Site].
- Geoffrey Chaucer: Canterbury Tales: Prologue to Wife of Bath's Tale [Modern Text] (c.1380) [d.1400] or Parallel Text Version [using HTML Tables] [At this Site].
- 2ND Robert Palmer: Women and the Law.
[Was At Houston, now Internet Archive]
Glanvill on Law as it applies to women in England, 1188.
- Le Menagier [or Goodman] of Paris: on ideal marriage [At this Site].
- Bernardino of Siena: Sermons on Wives and Widows (1427) [At this Site].
Feminism
Gender Construction
Men's Roles
- To Cry a Joust: Abillement for the Joust 15th Century [Was At Chronique, now Internet Archive]
See Knighthood, Chivalry & Tournaments Resource Library [Was At Chronique, now Internet Archive]
- Challenge of John Astley, Squire, to Philip Boyle, Knight of Aragon On the occasion of his
knighting, 1442 [Was At Chronique, now Internet Archive]
- A Joust: Pierre de Masse's Challenge [Was At Chronique, now Internet Archive]
- Charters relating to Judicial Duels 11th - 12th Century, trans. Richard Barton [At this Site]
- Duel between Engelardus and the monks of Saint-Serge of Angers, c.1100
- Abbots Daibert and Otbrannus prevent a battle between their monks, 27 and 28 April, 1064
- Trouble between St Martin of Tours and Holy Cross of Talmont leads to a judicial battle, 1098
- Abbot Robert of Mont-Saint-Michel seeks the right to determine where duels are held.
- Statuta Armorum (The Statutes of Arms) c. 1260 [At this Site]
An attempt to forbid jousting, etc.
- Peter Abelard: History
of My Calamities [selections]. [At this Site] The full text is also available in English translation by Henry Adams Bellows and in Latin [At
Georgetown]; See also
Catholic
Encyclopedia: PETER ABELARD; and Eric Gans: Chronicles of Love and Resentment - Abelard and Heloise [Was at UCLA, now Internet Archivee]
- Guibert of Nogent (1053-1124): Autobiography full
text, trans. C.C. Swinton Bland [At this Site]
- Guibert of Nogent (1053-1124): On his childhood
Selections from his Autobiography [At this Site]
Sexualities
- See People With A History: An
Online Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* History
- Justinian I: Novel 77, [538 CE] and Novel 141, [544 CE] [At this Site]
Includes texts of earlier Roman legislation on homosexuality.
- Regino of Prüm (early 10th century): Ordo for a Bishop's Visitation of his Diocese (Reginonis Prumiensis Libri Duo de Synodalibus Causis et Disicplinis Ecclesiasticis). [At After Empire] [Internet Archive version here]
There's a high level of interest in sins related to sex, marriage, divorce and homosexuality.
- Medieval Homoerotic Texts [At this Site]
- Two Versions of the Rite of Adelphopoiia [At this Site]
- Theodore of Studium: Reform
Rules [d.826] contains interesting references to adelphopoiia and dangers of
monastic friendships. [At this Site]
- Peter Damian: 'The
Different Types of Those Who Sin Against Nature', from Liber Gomorrhianus [.c.1048-54] [At this Site]
- Alain of Lille (d. 1203): The
Plaint of Nature, extracts. The full text is also
available.[At this Site]
- Aquinas: On Unnatural
Sex: Summa Theologiae II-II, 154, 10-11 [At this Site]
- The Nizámu'l Mulk (?-1092 CE) : On the Courtiers and Familars of Kings [At this Site]
- The Passion of Sergius and Bacchus full text of early passion. [At CMU] [Internet Archive version here]
- Two Versions of the Rite of Adelphopoiia. [At this Site]
- The Questioning of Eleanor Rykener (also known as John), a Cross-Dressing Prostitute, 1395. [At this Site]
This is the one a a minute number of texts from legal processes on same-sex and/or transgender issues in late medieval England. The document contains a facsimile of the Roll membrane, a Latin transcription, and a translation.
- Robert of Flamborough: Summa
Confessorum - on Luxuria [At this Site]
-
A Legend of the Austrian Tyrol: St. Kümmernis [At this Site] [At this Site]
A story of a saint who women grows a beard so she can become a bride of Christ.
Back to Index
Early
Modern Europe
General
- See Internet Modern History Sourcebook
- WEB German History in Documents and Images [At GHDI] [Internet Archive version here]
A vast and invaluable collection of online documents
covering German-speaking countries from 1500 to the present. For each historical era there is a broad selection of texts (in English translation), and with each set a section on "Gender and Family."
- John Cleland: Fanny Hill [Was At Eserver, now Internet Archive][Full Text]
- John Cleland: Fanny Hill [Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Political Leaders
- Wikipedia: List of Women Monarchs: Europe
"Between 1300 and 1800 thirty women acquired official sovereign authority over major European states above the level of duchies." After the death of Catherine the Great of Russia in 1796, although there were reigning queens in constitutional monarchies, no woman held the chief executive power in a European state until Margaret Thatcher became British Prime Minister in 1979. The following list is taken from William Monter, The Rise of Female Kings in Europe, 1300-1800 (2012)
- 1. (1328) Jeanne II, sixteen years old and married, is invited to become monarch of Navarre; joint coronation with husband 1329; widowed 1343; dies 1349, succeeded by son.
- 2. (1343) Joanna I, nineteen, inherits Naples and Provence from grandfather; marries, but joint coronation canceled by husband's murder 1345; joint coronation with second husband 1352; widowed 1362; reigns alone despite two later marriages; deposed 1381; no surviving children; murdered 1382 by first of two adopted heirs.
- 3. (1377) Maria of Sicily, seventeen, succeeds father; kidnapped by Aragonese, married 1391 to teenage prince; joint coronation 1392; dies childless 1401, succeeded by husband.
- 4. (1382) Mary of Hungary, twelve, crowned king with mother as regent; deposed 1384, but usurper murdered 1385; mother also murdered 1385; fiancé crowned 1386; joint reign, dies childless 1395, succeeded by husband.
- 5. (1383) Beatriz of Portugal, ten, succeeds father; married but deposed 1385 by illegitimate half brother; no children; date of death (after 1420) unknown.
- 6. (1384) Jadwiga of Hungary, twelve, crowned in Poland and married to converted pagan Jagiello of Lithuania; joint reign until she dies 1399, a month after childbirth; succeeded by husband. Canonized 1997.
- 7. (1386) After her son (b. 1370) dies unmarried, Margaret of Denmark, thirty-three and widowed, is created “husband” or permanent regent of both Denmark (her father's kingdom) and Norway (her husband's kingdom); also becomes regent of Sweden 1396; with the power to name her successor, she adopts and renames a great-nephew who succeeds her in 1412.
- 8. (1415) Joanna II, forty-five, a childless widow, succeeds brother Ladislas as king of Naples; remarries but removes husband 1419; crowned 1421; dies 1435; succession disputed by two adopted heirs.
- 9. (1425) Blanca, thirty and remarried, inherits Navarre; joint coronation 1429; dies 1441; husband (who lives until 1479) prevents son (b. 1421) from claiming throne.
- 10. (1458) Charlotte, fourteen, inherits kingdom of Cyprus; marries 1459, joint coronation; deposed 1460 by illegitimate half brother through an Egyptian jihad; dies at Rome 1487.
- 11. (1474) Catherine Cornaro, nineteen, king's widow, legally adopted by Venetian Republic; after infant son dies, Venetians proclaim her monarch but depose her 1489; dies in Italy 1510.
- 12. (1474) Isabel the Catholic of Castile, twenty-three and married, claims brother's kingdom and defeats her thirteen-year-old niece Juana in lengthy civil war; reigns jointly with husband until her death in 1504; succeeded by second daughter (b. 1478).
- 13. (1477) Mary of Burgundy, nineteen, inherits Europe's most powerful nonroyal state; marries eighteen-year-old heir of emperor; dies in hunting accident 1482, succeeded by son (b. 1478).
- 14. (1494) Catalina de Foix, twenty-four and married, inherited Navarre from brother 1483; joint coronation with cousin at Pamplona; after kingdom invaded and conquered by Spain 1512, they flee to Béarn; succeeded 1516 by son (b. 1503).
- 15. (1504) Juana of Aragon, twenty-six, “and her legitimate husband” (the phrase used by her mother in 1474) jointly inherit Castile. Abdicates all responsibilities 1506, immediately widowed; legal status creates confusion for forty-nine years; dies 1555 as her son (b. 1500) abdicates.
- 16. (1553) Mary Tudor, thirty-six, inherits England, marries younger cousin (already with royal status), who becomes coruler without coronation or defined political responsibilities; dies childless 1558, succeeded by half sister.
- 17. (1555) Jeanne III, twenty-eight, inherits Navarre; dual coronation with husband; repudiates his authority shortly before his death in 1562; governs alone until her death in 1572; succeeded by son (b. 1553).
- 18. (1558) Mary Stuart, sixteen, sovereign of Scotland since birth, becomes legal adult by marrying French dauphin, giving him crown matrimonial; both her mother, who had governed her kingdom as regent, and her husband die in 1560; returns to govern Scotland 1561; remarries 1565; husband murdered 1566; remarries again but forced to abdicate in 1567 in favor of son (b. 1566); flees to England; beheaded 1587.
- 19. (1558) Elizabeth I of England, twenty-five, Europe's first female monarch who never married; dies 1603, succeeded by son of Mary Stuart.
- 20. (1598) Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia, thirty-two, and husband jointly created sovereign archdukes of Habsburg Netherlands by her father, Philip II; childless; loses sovereign status after husband's death 1621 but remains as regional governor until her death in 1633.
- 21. (1644) Christina of Sweden, inherits father's kingdom at the age of six (1632) and governs by presiding over Council of State at eighteen; coronation 1650; refuses to marry but arranges succession before abdicating 1654; becomes Catholic; dies at Rome, 1690.
- 22. (1689) Mary II, twenty-seven, crowned as joint ruler of England with usurper husband, William III of Orange; dies childless 1694, succeeded by husband.
- 23. (1702) Anne, thirty-seven, Mary II's younger sister, inherits England; married to first prince consort without royal honors; no surviving children; dies 1714, succeeded by nearest Protestant relative.
- 24. (1718) Ulrika Eleonora, thirty and married, acquires Swedish throne over nephew; resigns in favor of husband in 1720 after kingdom refuses joint monarchy; childless; husband outlives her.
- 25. (1725) Catherine, forty-one, widow of Peter I, crowned 1724, Russia's first official female empress; dies 1727, naming stepgrandson (b. 1716) as heir.
- 26. (1730) Anna, thirty-four, childless widowed niece of Peter the Great, becomes Russian autocrat by tearing up signed constitution; dies 1740, succeeded by infant son of her niece.
- 27. (1741) Maria Theresa, twenty-four and married, crowned as king of Hungary under Pragmatic Sanction; also crowned king of Bohemia 1743 (husband holds no legal rank in either kingdom); dies 1780, succeeded by son (b. 1740), her official coregent after husband's death in 1765.
- 28. (1741) Elisabeth, thirty-two, daughter of Peter I and Catherine (see no. 25 above), becomes Russian autocrat after coup d'état; never marries; dies 1762, succeeded by nephew (b. 1728).
- 29. (1762) Catherine II, thirty-three, becomes Russian autocrat after overthrowing husband in coup d'état; dies 1796, succeeded by son (b. 1754).
- 30. (1777) Maria I, forty-two, inherits Portuguese throne; husband (her paternal uncle) receives auxiliary coronation; widowed 1786; incapacitated by illness 1792; son (b. 1766) becomes regent 1799; taken to Brazil, where she dies in 1816.
- Christopher Columbus (1451-1506): Letter to King and Queen of Spain prob. 1494 [At this Site]
- Queen Elizabeth I: Against the
Spanish Armada 1588 [At this Site]
- Queen Elizabeth I of England (b.1533, r. 1558-1603): Selected Writing and Speeches [At this Site]
- A Visit to the Wife of Suleiman the Magnificent (Translated from a Genoese Letter), c. 1550 [At this Site]
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762): Dining With The Sultana 1718 [At this Site]
- Catherine the Great of Russia: Various Documents on Enlightenment and Government excerpts [At this Site]
- Wikipedia: Catherine the Great
- The Division of
Poland 1772, 1793, 1795 [At this Site]
The very different attitudes of Catherine II and Maria Theresa.
- Luise Gottsched: Description of
the Empress Maria Theresa 1749 [At this Site]
- Marie Antoinette: Letter
to Her Mother 1773 [At this Site]
- Madame Campan: Memoirs
of the Private Life of Marie Antoinette 1818 [At this Site]
Women Writers
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
- Duc de Saint-Simon: The
Court of Louis XIV from Memoires [At this Site]
-
Comte de Saint Simon (1675-1755): Memories of of Louis XIV excerpts [Was At Then Again, now Internet Archive]
- The Duchess of Orleans: Versailles
Etiquette 1704 [At this Site]
- Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78): Emile [Full Text][At Project Gutenberg]
- John Jacques Rousseau (1712-78): Emile, ou l'education full text, in French and English [Was At Columbia ILT, now Interent Archive]
- Daniel Defoe: On The
Education of Women 1719 [At this Site]
- WEB German Historical Documents: Family and Gender [At GHDI] [Internet Archive version here]
- Marriage
- Wikipedia: Early Modern European Cuisine
- Gervase Markham (1568?-1637): Country contentments, or The English huswife. Containing the inward and outward vertues which ought to be in a compleate woman. As her skill in physicke, surgerie, (1623) [Internet Archive]
- J. S. (John Shirley), fl. 1680-1702. The accomplished ladies rich closet of rarities: or, The ingenious gentlewoman and servant-maids delightfull companion: Containing many excellent things for the accomplishment of the female sex... To which is added a second part, containing directions for the guidance of a young gentle-woman as to her behaviour & seemly deportment, &c. [At Michigan]
- The School of Manners - Rules for Children 4th Ed 1701 [Internet Archive version here]
- The Duchess of Orleans: Versailles Etiquette 1704 [At this Site]
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
- Baldesar Castiglione (1478-1529): The Book of the Courtier
translated by Sir Thomas Hoby (1561), full text [Was At Oregon, now Internet Acrhive]
[The English is too archaic for classroom use.]
- Baldesar Castiglione (1478-1529): The Book of the Courtier
translated by Leonard Eckstein Opdike (1901), full text PDF [Internet Archive]
Back to Index
Modern
Europe
General
Great Women
Queens, Noblewomen, Political Leaders
- Margaret Thatcher: Christianity
and Wealth Speech made to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, May 21,
1988 [At this Site]
Women Writers
-
WEB Victorian Women Writers Project Library [Internet Archive back up here]
The Victorian Women Writers Project (VWWP) began in 1995 at Indiana University and is primarily concerned with the exposure of lesser-known British women writers of the 19th century. The collection represents an array of genres - poetry, novels, children's books, political pamphlets, religious tracts, histories, and more. VWWP contains scores of authors, both prolific and rare.
- Madame de Staël (Anne Louise Germaine Necker) (1766-1817): On Romanticism from Germany [At this Site]
-
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797): Maria 1795-97 [At Project Gutenberg]
[Full Text]
[The attribution in the text to Mary Shelley must be wrong, since Mary W. died giving
birth to Mary Godwin (later Shelley) in 1797.]
- Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797): Maria 1795-97 [At Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
- Mary Shelley (1797-1851): Frankenstein 1818 [At Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
- WEB The Gaskell Page[At Victorian Studies][Internet Archive version here]
A Comprehensive web page dedicated to the works of Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-65). It includes ALL of Mrs. Gaskell's writings as etexts, as well as a lot of ancillary material about 19th-century England.
- Elizabeth Gaskell: North and South 1855, excerpts [Was At Clinch Valley College, now Internet Archive]
- Elizabeth Gaskell: Mary Barton - A tale of Manchester life [At Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
- Elizabeth Gaskell: North and South [At Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
- Elizabeth Gaskell: Cranford [At Project Gutenberg][Full Text]
- Rosa Luxemburg: Martinique Written after the May 1902 volcanic eruption at the port of St. Pierre. [At Marxists.org]
-
Vera Brittain: Testament of Youth excerpts [Was At Virginia, now Internet Archive]
Women Leaders in Professions
- Florence Nightingale (1820-1910): Rural Hygiene [At this Site]
Life on the farm was not that much of an improvement over a factory. But, eventually, the social activists turned their eyes on the countryside as well.
-
WEB Florence Nightingale: Selected Correspondence [Was at KUMC, now Internet Archive version]
- Marie Curie (1867-1934): On
the Discovery of Radium [At this Site]
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
- General
- France
- Britain
- Russia
Women's Agency
Religious Women
Feminism
Gender Construction
Back to Index
North
America
General
Great Women
Political Leaders/ Social Activists
Women Writers
Women Leaders in Professions
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
- General
- Work
- Marriage Law
- Fashion
-
Bruce Bliven: "Flapper Jane" The New Republic, September 9, 1925 [Was At Pitt State, now Internet Archive]
Women's Agency
Feminism
- See Library of Congress: National
Women's Suffrage Association Collection 1848-1921 [At Library of Congress]
Full texts of 167 books and other documents.
- First Wave Feminism
- Seneca Falls Declaration 1848 [At this Site]
- Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): 'An't I a Woman? 1851 [At this Site]
A common version, but which presents some problems - see notes.
- Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): 'Ain't I a Woman?' 1851 [At this Site]
Another version in standard English.
- Oliver Gilbert: Narrative of Sojourner Truth based on information provided by Sojourner Truth, 1850 [At Project Gutenberg]
- Woman's Rights Petition to the New York Legislature 1854 [Was At Furman, now Internet Archive]
- Report of the Select Committee [On the Women's Rights Petition] In Assembly, March 27, 1854 [Was At Furman, now Internet Archive]
- Catherine Booth (1829-1890): Female Ministry: or, Woman's Right to Preach the Gospel 1859 [Was At Indiana, now Internet Archive]
- Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906): On Women's Right to Vote 1873 [At this Site]
- Hearing of the Women Suffrage Association before the House Committee on the Judiciary, January 18, 1892 [At Hanover]
- Frances E. Willard (1839-1898): Address to Women's National Council February 22-25, 1891 [At this Site]
- Margaret Sanger (1883-1966): Autobiography excerpts [At this Site]
On why she became a crusader for birth control.
- Margaret Sanger (1883-1966): Woman and the New Race 1920 [Full Text][At Project Gutenberg]
Note: this link is to an edition published as an "Eugenics classic" by the "American Life League". The text is intact (Chapter was 8 checked).
- Margaret Sanger (1883-1966): The Pivot of Civilization full text [At Project Gutenberg]
- WEB Suffragists Oral History Project [At Berkeley]
- Jane Addams: Why Women Should Vote 1915 [At this Site]
- The Passage of the 19th Amendment articles from the New York Times, 1919-1920 [At this Site]
- Prohibitionism
- WEB Temperance
and Prohibition [At Ohio State] [Internet Archive version here]
- Wikipedia: Temperance movement
- Wikipedia: Carrie Nation (1846-1911)
- Wikipedia: Woman's Christian Temperance Union founded 1873
The Temperance movement, as a moral "crusade" was by far the largest women-led political movement in the 19th century.
- Abraham Lincoln: Temperance Address: Delivered before the Springfield (Illinois) Washington Temperance Society,22d February, 1842 [At Drug Library] [Internet Archive version here]
- H. H. Kane: A Hashish-House in New York Harper's Monthly, Vol. 67 (November, 1883), 944-49. [At Drug Library] [Internet Archive version here]
- F. E. Oliver, M.D. : The Use and Abuse of Opium Massachusetts State Board of Health, Third Annual Report (Boston: Wright and Potter, State Printers, 1872), 162-77. [At Drug Library] [Internet Archive version here]
- Anonymous: Confessions of a Young Lady Laudanum-Drinker The Journal of Mental Sciences January 1889 [At Drug Library] [Internet Archive version here]
- The Woman's Crusade of 1873-74 [At Drug Library] [Internet Archive version here]
A high point of anti-liquor/drugs activity.
- Woman's Christian Temperance Union: Growth of Membership and of Local, Auxiliary Unions 1879-1921 [At this Site]
- Carry Amelia Nation: The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation full text 1905 [Project Guteberg]
- WEB Photos, letters, and other primary sources related to Carry Nation – Kansas Memory, the digital portal of the Kansas Historical Society [Internet Archive version here]
- 2ND Richard Hamm: American Prohibitionists and Violence, 1865-1920 [At Schaffer Drug Library] [Internet Archive version here]
- Second Wave Feminism
- Culutual Feminism
Gender Construction
Back to Index
Latin
America
General
Great Women
Women Political Leaders/Social Activists
Women Writers
- Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695): Poems [Was At Sappho, now Internet Archive]
- Silvia Fernández: The Needle and the Pen 1913 [Was At WSU, now Internet Archive]
- Gabriela Mistral: Poems 1922 [Was At WSU, now Internet Archive]
- Juana de Ibarbarou: The Hour 1918 [Was At WSU, now Internet Archive]
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
- Antonio Valerian: Nican Mopohua, (or Huei Tlamahuitzoltica) [At Sancta.org]. [Internet Archive version here]
The story of Our Lady of Guadaloupe, who is said to have appeared in 1531. Written in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, around the middle of the sixteenth century. This copy published in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649.
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
Back to Index
China
General
Great Women
Women's Oppression
- Selections from the Analects [Lun Yu], complete, topically arranged selections from the Confucian classic. [Was At BC, now Internet Archive]
- Confucius (5th Century BCE?): Analects [Lun Yu] [Was At WSU, now Internet Archive]
- Confucius: The Analects [Lun Yu], selections [Was At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
- Ban Zhao Pan Chao: Lessons for A Woman: The Views of A Female Confucian c. 80 CE [Was At BC, now Internet Archive]
- Ben Zhao Pan Chao (45-115? CE) : The Problem of Woman [Was At CCNY, now Internet Archive]
- Fu Xuan: Poem on Woman c. 3rd, Century CE [Was At BC, now Internet Archive]
- Marco Polo: On Chinese Women 13th century [Was At CCNY, now Internet Archive]
- Mendez Pinto: The Woman with
the Cross c. 1630 [At this Site]
A Chinese Christian woman.
- Women in China: History and the Present [Was At BC, now Internet Archive]
- Tom Hilditch: A Holocaust of Girls from the South China Morning Post Sept 1995 [Was At BC, now Internet Archive]
- Women in Asia: Press Reports [Was At BC, now Internet Archive]
- NY Times Report on Recent UN Women's Conference [Was At BC, now Internet Archive]
- Modern Marriage in China - Two Texts [Was At BC, now Internet Archive]
- 2ND Marie Vento: One Thousand Years of Chinese Footbinding: Its Origins, Popularity and Demise [Was At BC, now Internet Archive]
- Image: Custom: Picture of Woman With Feet Unbound
- Image: Custom: Picture of Unbound Feet Close Up
Image: Custom: A bound foot - closeup
- Image: Custom: Woman with bound feet
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
Back to Index
Japan
General
- See WEB Internet East
Asia History Sourcebook
- Ruth Benedict: The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (1946), full text] [At Faded Page] [Internet Archive backup here]
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture is a 1946 study of Japan by American anthropologist Ruth Benedict. It was written at the invitation of the U.S. Office of War Information in order to understand and predict the behavior of the Japanese in World War II. . . The book was influential in shaping American ideas about Japanese culture during the occupation of Japan, and popularized the distinction between guilt cultures and shame cultures.
Great Women
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
Back to Index
India
General
Great Women
Women's Oppression
It is important to note that, while I in no way, wish to minimize the
implications of the sati/suttee, a number of the readings here must be understood as
western colonialist texts, and be addressed from that perspective.
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
- 2ND Richard Burton: Terminal Essay from his edition of the Arabian Nights. [At this Site]
Burton' compilation of data on variety of societies was meant to explain some of the stories in The Nights. In doing so, he provided first overview of Islamic homosexuality.
South
East Asia
General
Great Women
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
Australasia
General
Great Women
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
Africa
General
Great Women
Women's Oppression
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Feminism
Gender Construction
Gender and Sexualities in Modern Africa
Back to Index
The
Islamic World
General
- See Internet Islamic History
Sourcebook
- WEB Women in Islam [At Answering Islam]
The website is a site devoted to arguments with Muslims. This web page contains links to explanations, defences, and attacks on the subject of women in Islam.
-
The Qur'an: The Women [Was At CCNY, now Internet Archive]
From Surah's 2 and 4.
- Ibn Battuta (1307-1377 CE): Malian Women [Was At CCNY, now Internet Archive]
Great Women
Women's Oppression
- 2ND Anne Hardwick: From Muhammad to Present: Islamic Law and Women [At Internet Archive, from Rhodes]
Critical.
- 2ND Barbara Crossette: "A Manual on Rights of Women Under Islam," New York Times, December 29, 1996 [At Internet Archive, from Mt Holyoke]
- 2ND Ghada Barsoum: Polemics on the Veil in Egypt
Student paper on modern Egyptian debates. [At Internet Archive]
- 2ND Douglas Jehl: "Egyptian Court Voids Ban on Cutting of Girls' Genitals," New York Times, June 26, 1997 [At NY Times]
- 2ND John F. Burns: "Journal: Islamic Police Create a Minefield for Women," New York Times, August 29, 1997 [At Internet Archive, from Mt Holyoke]
- 2ND Marelise Simons: "Cry of Muslim Women for Equal Rights Is Rising," New York Times, March 9, 1998 [At Internet Archive, from Mt Holyoke]
- Female Circumcision/Female Genital Mutilation
The Structure of Women's Lives
Women's Agency
Apologetics
Feminism
Gender Construction
-
The Qur'an on
Homosexuality [At this Site]
-
Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of
Friendship [chapter on Arabia and Persia], with extracts from Rumi, Hafiz and
Saadi. [At this Site]
-
The Tale of Nur Al-Din Ali
and his Son Badr Al-Din Hasan [At this Site]
from The Arabian Nights, translated Sir. Richard Francis Burton.
- Abu Nawas (c.756-810): Poetry
-
Sadi: Gulistan 13th Century CE, Full text
of Persian prose/poetry text with significant homoerotic content. [At this Site]
- Rumi: Poetry
-
Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1522 - 1592): Lesbian Love in A
Turkish Bath 1560 [Was At Letters Magazine, now Internet Archive]
-
2ND Richard Burton: Terminal Essay from his edition of the Arabian
Nights.
Burton' compilation of data on variety of societies was meant to explain some of the
stories in The Nights. In doing so, he provided first overview of Islamic
homosexuality.
Back to Index
Further Resources in Women's History
- Web Guides
- Academic Sites
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NOTES:
The Internet Women's History Sourcebook is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project. The date of inception was
4/8/1998. Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site
name or location]. WEB indicates a link to one of small
number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable
overview.
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet
Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at
the Fordham University Center
for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the
Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in
providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not
the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 24 October 2024 [CV]
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