Peter of Blois' Treatment of Women
Proposal Example #2
by Michael Markowski
The topic of Medieval Women catches peoples’ attention across the spectrum. The Dark-Age negativity of “medievalism” looms over modern readers. Yet the last century or so of scholarship has discovered much that is powerfully positive in the Middle Ages. From the Lord of the Rings to Magna Carta, sources have begun to change "Dark Age" perceptions of the Medieval Era. But medieval women? Women, shut in mud-floor huts? Women tending pigs and chickens, sweeping primitive dirt floors to add to her peasant-husband’s stew? Even if such stereotypes have a basis in fact, that does not negate positive trends: The status of women in the Middle Ages took huge steps toward gender equality in theory as well as in practice, and that influence would improve the status of women in the western world.
Scholars have taken many approaches to investigate this large topic and time frame. To help focus this inquiry, this paper will take a case-history approach by examining the writings of a single medieval author, one who was both prolific as well as influential. Peter of Blois (fl. 1170s-1200) was a writer and government advisor in King Henry II’s court. Peter of Blois did not directly address the topic of women, but in a few places he did address particular women and related issues. Some of his ideas appear progressive in terms of protection of women's status and rights, yet at other times, he contradicted himself so completely that if he were writing today, medication might have been prescribed to unite his personalities! This paper attempts to sort out his various views and explain the variety.
Peter of Blois’ fame came from his letter collection, which was very popular and influential from the 12th to the 16th centuries. In terms of manuscript numbers -- a main indicator of popularity and influence, his writings were among the twenty or so most popular. Collecting and publishing letters was once a common activity, resulting in the genre called belles letters. In his letter collection, Peter of Blois addressed two letters directly to women, and he wrote a few letters dealing with pressing issues about women, notably about Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and her revolt against her husband and the King of England, Henry II. The evidence in these letters could support a number of inquiries into topics like medieval marriage, views about forced marriages, women and individualism, misogyny, gender bias and politics, royal patronage, intellectual theories about women’s status. This project will inquire into his views on, and treatment of, the female gender. Being so influential, his letter collection reflects some normative and generally-held views held in 12th-century western Europe about women.
Secondary sources have become plentiful over the past generation on many topics dealing with medieval women, particularly beginning with Eileen Power’s work. But few sources examine Peter of Blois’ letters because of the lack of a critical edition of the letter collection, pointed out by Richard Southern among others. Having a good foundation in the manuscripts should solve this problem, given the small number of letters at issue.
