Women and the Medieval Epic : Gender, Genre, and the Limits of Epic Masculinity

These essays explore the place, function and meaning of women as characters, authors, constructs and symbols in Medieval epics from Persia, Spain, France, England, Germany and Scandinavia. Usually believed to narrate the deeds of men at war, this book looks at the key roles often played by women and the impact of this on the history of gender. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-13 Winning Women in Two Middle English Alexander Poems....Pages 15-39 Surprisingly Historical Women in the Old French Crusade Cycle....Pages 41-66 Women in the Shahnameh: Exotics and Natives, Rebellious Legends, and Dutiful Histories....Pages 67-90 Women Characters and the Limits of Patriarchy in the Poema De Mio Cid and Mocedades De Rodrigo ....Pages 91-114 What Hrotsvit Did to Virgil: Expanding the Boundaries of the Classical Epic in Tenth-Century Ottonian Saxony....Pages 115-135 All About Eve: Memory and Re-Collection in Junius 11’s Epic Poems Genesis and Christ and Satan ....Pages 137-158 Ethical Acts and Annihilation: Feminine Heroics in Girart De Roussillon ....Pages 159-182 Caught Between Worlds: Gendering the Maiden Warrior in Old Norse....Pages 183-208 “A Guest is in the Hall”: Women, Feasts, and Violence in Icelandic Epic....Pages 209-233 Monstrous Mates: The Leading Ladies of the Nibelungenlied and Völsunga Saga ....Pages 235-252 Performative Emotion and the Politics of Gender in the Nibelungenlied ....Pages 253-271 Back Matter....Pages 273-299 Cover 1 Title 6 Copyright 7 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Notes on Contributors 12 Introduction 14 1 Winning Women in Two Middle English Alexander Poems 27 2 Surprisingly Historical Women in the Old French Cmsade Cycle 52 3 Women in the Shahnameh: Exotics and Natives, Rebellious Legends, and Dutiful Histories 78 4 Women Characters and the Limits of Patriarchy in the Poema De Mio Cid and Mocedades de Rodrigo 102 5 What Hrotsvit Did to Virgil: Expanding the Boundaries of the Classical Epic in Tenth-Century Ottonian Saxony 126 6 All About Eve: Memory and Re-Collection in Junius 11 's Epic Poems Genesis and Christ and Satan 147 7 Ethical Acts and Annihilation: Feminine Heroics in Girart de Roussillon 169 8 Caught between Worlds: Gendering the Maiden Warrior in Old Norse 193 9 "A Guest is in the Hall": Women, Feasts, and Violence in Icelandic Epic 219 10 Monstrous Mates: The Leading Ladies of the Nibelungcnlied and Viilsunga Saga 244 11 Perfonnative Emotion and the Politics of Gender in the Nibelungenlied 262 Bibliography 281 Index 301