Gender, Nation and Conquest in the High Middle Ages : Nest of Deheubarth

This book is an account of noblewomen in Wales in the high Middle Ages, focusing on one particular case-study, Nest of Deheubarth. A key figure in one of the most notorious and portentous abductions of the middle ages, this 'Helen of Wales' was both mistress of Henry I and ancestress of a dynasty which dominated the Anglo-Norman conquests of Ireland. The book fills a significant gap in the historiography. It develops understandings of the interactions of gender with conquest, imperialism, and with the social and cultural transformations of the Middle Ages from a new perspective. Many studies have recently appeared reconsidering these relationships, but few if any have women and gender as a core theme. Gender, nation and conquest will therefore be of interest to all researching, teaching and studying the high middle ages in Britain and Ireland, and to a wider audience for which medieval women's history is a growing fascination. Hitherto, Nest has been seen as the pawn of powerful men. A more general discussion of ideals concerning beauty, love, sex and marriage and an analysis of the interconnecting identities of Nest throw light on her role as wife, concubine and mistress. A unique feature of the book is its examination of the story of Nest in its many forms over succeeding centuries, during which it has formed part of significant narratives of gender and nation Nest of Deheubarth was one of the most notorious women of the Middle Ages, mistress of Henry I and many other men, famously beautiful and strong-willed, object of one of the most notorious abduction/elopements of the period and ancestress of one of the most famous dynasties in medieval Ireland, the Fitzgeralds. This volume sheds light on women, gender, imperialism and conquest in the Middle Ages. From it emerges a picture of a woman who, though remarkable, was not exceptional, representative not of a group of victims or pawns in the dramatic transformations of the high Middle Ages but powerful and decisive actors. The book examines beauty, love, sex and marriage and the interconnecting identities of Nest as wife/concubine/mistress, both at the time and in the centuries since her death, when for Welsh writers and other commentators she has proved a powerful symbol. This account of noblewomen in Wales in the high middle ages focuses on one particular case-study, Nest of Deheubarth. Object of one of the most notorious and portentous abductions of the middle ages, she was both mistress of Henry I and ancestress of a dynasty which dominated the Anglo-Norman conquests of Ireland. The book develops understandings of the interactions of gender with conquest, imperialism, and with the social and cultural transformations of the middle ages, from a new perspective Front matter Dedication Contents Preface List of abbreviations Introduction Abduction, conquest and gender Gerald of Wales, Nest, gender and power Charters and contexts: gender, women and power Rediscovering Nest in the early modern period Remaking Nest: eighteenth- and nineteenth-century views Constructing Nest in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries Constructing beauty, constructing gender Conclusion Bibliography Index