Motherhood in the Medieval World

Mothers in Literary and Textual Sources, c. 300-1400

Bolton, Kirsty (ed.)
Sisson, Lauren (ed.)

From Eve to Mary to Eleanor of Aquitaine, and many others, medieval depictions of mothers in literature and historical record reveal the significance of conceptions and performances of motherhood during the Middle Ages. Discourses surrounding mothers, maternity, and motherhood during the medieval period were complicated and had far-reaching implications in all areas of medieval life. Drawing upon medieval literature, politics, medicine, and religion, this book explores the importance of mothers and motherhood to every facet of medieval society. Throughout the volume, each chapter illuminates a particular mother or act of maternity, coming together to show how literature elucidates mothers and motherhood as integral to the construction of societies and cultures spanning across the length of the medieval period in the West. Together, the diversity of the topics addressed in each of the essays contributes a rich and intricate portrait of the theme which unites them: motherhood in the medieval world.