| IntroductionIn this critique of Women In The | | | | affect women's lives: childbirth, survival, marriage, |
| Middle Ages, I will identify the Gies' purpose in | | | | property rights, legal rights, education, work, |
| writing this book and discuss how well they fulfilled | | | | political roles, and religious roles.Authors' Writing |
| their purpose. Also I will evaluate the merits and | | | | StyleDespite the difficulties in writing about |
| shortcomings of this book in relation to the | | | | medieval women, the Gies do an excellent job of |
| themes, sources used, and the authors' writing | | | | providing the reader with an extended, if not |
| style.Authors' PurposeThe Gies assert that | | | | complete, view of the lives of these women. |
| researching and writing about women in the Middle | | | | They must necessarily fill in some blanks that |
| Ages is difficult, due to the sources that are | | | | history has left us, but the majority of their |
| commonly used and which gives a misogynic view | | | | conclusions seem very logical and believable. For |
| of women, such as the writings of Church | | | | instance, the pervasive belief that women had |
| fathers, contemporary law books, and literary | | | | few legal rights is shown to be not strictly true in |
| works. The Gies attempt to describe the lives of | | | | the descriptions of the woman who disinherited |
| women in the thousand years known as the early | | | | her son in favor of a kinswoman (21) and other |
| Middle Ages, Dark Ages, and High Middle Ages.The | | | | examples of women maintaining control over their |
| first section of the book offers background | | | | own property.The manner in which the Gies trace |
| information on the lives of women in the early | | | | the fluctuating status of women in the Middle |
| Middle Ages, and the last section are individual | | | | Ages is seen to be directly connected to politics, |
| portraits of specific women in the High Middle | | | | economics, and changing social structure. |
| Ages. The Gies explore several elements that | | | | |