Women in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia comprises 300 alphabetically listed entries on individual women and broad topics relating to women from the second to the 15th centuries. Unlike similar volumes it looks beyond the boundaries of Europe to women in China, Japan, India and the Middle East. This is one of the most exciting things about this work, that it is possible to compare the experience of women of different cultures in the same period of time. It also brings together biographies of less well‐known individuals with the well‐known European women of the middle ages such as Joan of Arc and Margery Kemp. Of course many parts of the world were not in their “middle ages” at this time, but at cultural and economic highpoints in their history, so the terminology of the title can seem misleading. For example, Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973‐c. 1015) is arguably the world's first novelist, and whose writing is “Remarkably sophisticated when compared to European works of the same century” (Cynthia Ho, p. 684).
The editors have endeavoured to include the whole spectrum of women and their lives including lesser‐known areas to precipitate interest and understanding and promote further research about women during this time. All social classes of women are drawn from as well as legendary and mythical women. Subjects often not well‐represented elsewhere include “deviant” women such as lesbians, transvestites, witches and those on the margins of medieval life.
The entries themselves have been written by over 130 contributors, drawn mainly from the United States, many leading researchers in their respective fields. The articles all appear to be well written and very readable. Most entries have See and See Also references to other entries. Each volume has a list of the alphabetical entries it contains and a Guide to Related Topics, a thematic list of subjects including the relevant entries. Examples of these are Wives and Widows, Martyrs, Sufferers, Prisoners and Victims, Manuals of Conduct, Morals and Penance. There is a comprehensive index at the end of the second volume.
Many entries do not assume prior knowledge of a subject and so are useful for the new student or general reader. Each also has an extensive bibliography listing primary and secondary sources that will satisfy the specialist researcher. The editors have aimed the encyclopedia at all these classes of reader “… the Encyclopedia is a valuable information resource for students and interested nonspecialist readers as well as for more advanced scholars of medieval culture” (Preface). It broadly succeeds in being this and so is suitable not only for college and university libraries but also public libraries. No doubt it will be a “must” for libraries serving medieval studies and women's studies departments. The encyclopedia claims to be extensively illustrated with images of the time but this claim was felt to be slightly unfounded. Many of the images are not contemporary and the absence of colour illustrations is a loss to the overall presentation. Nevertheless, the two volumes are beautifully presented and solidly bound and would a make a smart addition to any reference shelf. At £103.050 they are also well priced.
This encyclopedia covers a subject that has grown tremendously over recent years and is continually expanding. These volumes will surely promote access to this field of study. The contribution of women, long neglected by scholars in the past, in all aspects of medieval life, (indeed history in general), is now being discovered, re‐evaluated and recognized making this an exciting area to research. With its broader geographical outlook, this encyclopedia helps put women and their contribution into a wider context and sets it apart from competing works.
