Women's Networks in Medieval France: Gender and Community in Montpellier, 1300-1350 (The New Middle Ages)

This book illuminates the connections and interaction among women and between women and men during the medieval period. To do this, Kathryn L. Reyerson focuses specifically on the experiences of Agnes de Bossones, widow of a changer of the mercantile elite of Montpellier. Agnes was a real estate mogul and a patron of philanthropic institutions that permitted lower strata women to survive and thrive in a mature urban economy of the period before 1350. Notably, Montpellier was a large urban center in southern France. Linkages stretched horizontally and vertically in this robust urban environment, mitigating the restrictions of patriarchy and the constraints of gender. Using the story of Agnes de Bossones as a vehicle to larger discussions about gender, this book highlights the undeniable impact that networks had on women’s mobility and navigation within a restrictive medieval society. Dedication 6 Preface 8 Acknowledgments 10 Contents 12 List of Maps 14 List of Charts 16 Note on Money 18 Archival Citations 20 Introduction 22 Chapter 1: Agnes de Bossones’s Origins, Marriage, and Litigation 31 Chapter 2: Agnes’s Family Networks 49 Chapter 3: Agnes’s Networks of Property 58 Chapter 4: Marriage 70 Chapter 5: Apprenticeship 96 Chapter 6: Urban–Rural Connections 120 Chapter 7: Women of the Marketplace: Horizontal and Vertical 139 Chapter 8: A Community of Prostitutes in Campus Polverel 156 Chapter 9: Agnes’s Networks of Philanthropy 173 Conclusion 201 Appendix 1: Women Market Sellers 207 Appendix 2: Prostitutes 208 Women of Campus Polverel* 208 Appendix 3: Burial Requests to the Dominican House 213 Appendix 4: Burial Requests to the Franciscan House 215 Appendix 5: Transcription and Translation of the Will of Agnes de Bossones 217 A. M. Montpellier, BB 3, J. Laurentii, f. 13ff 217 Notes on the Will 217 Transcription 218 Translation 229 Bibliography 241 Primary Sources 241 Printed 241 Secondary Sources 242 Index 262 Front Matter....Pages i-xxix Agnes de Bossones’s Origins, Marriage, and Litigation....Pages 1-18 Agnes’s Family Networks....Pages 19-27 Agnes’s Networks of Property....Pages 29-40 Marriage....Pages 41-66 Apprenticeship....Pages 67-90 Urban–Rural Connections....Pages 91-109 Women of the Marketplace: Horizontal and Vertical Links....Pages 111-127 A Community of Prostitutes in Campus Polverel....Pages 129-145 Agnes’s Networks of Philanthropy....Pages 147-174 Back Matter....Pages 175-257