Re: The Virtues of Women.

["S. M. Thorson" <smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk>]

Poster: "S. M. Thorson" <smt2@st-andrews.ac.uk>

On Tue, 30 Jun 1998, Phillip Jones wrote:

> I am looking for period discussion on what constitutes a virtuous woman. 
> Everthing I know of seems directed towards the development of character
> in men, and I have seen nothing on women. 

The works of Christine de Pisan may be useful to you in that regard; 
Christine studies have become VERY popular in academic circles and most of
her works are available in translation.  The first couple chapters of the
Menagier de Paris may be of interest as well (and are the sections usually
translated, unlike the cookery treatise, which never seems to be).  The
Book of the Knight of La Tour Landry, which was written as instructions to
his daughters, would also be relevant. 

The following is an entry from the MLA bibliographies database; it turned
up in a list of hits for a search I was doing which was totally unrelated
to the topic at hand (gotta love computers).

     AUTHOR:  Ashley, Kathleen M.
      TITLE:  Medieval Courtesy Literature and Dramatic Mirrors of 
              Female Conduct
       YEAR:  1987
     SOURCE:  Armstrong, Nancy (ed.); Tennenhouse, Leonard (ed.). The 
              Ideology of Conduct: Essays on Literature and the History 
              of Sexuality. New York: Methuen, 1987. 243 pp.
      PAGES:  25-38
     SERIES:  Essays in Lit. & Soc..  
   LANGUAGE:  English
   PUB TYPE:  book article
DESCRIPTORS:  English literature; 1100-1499 Middle English period; 
              drama; mystery play; (date) 1300-1499; and French drama; 
              treatment of behavior; of women
              French literature; 400-1499 Medieval period; and English 
              drama

> On another topic, I am looking for a list to complement the Seven Deadly
> Sins.

In what sense?  Each of the sins is matched by a virtue, traditionally.

Alianora
*****************************************************************************
Stephanie M. Thorson			|  SCA: Lady Alianora Munro
Dept. of Scottish History		|  Clan White Wing
University of St Andrews		|  Tarkhan, Khanate Red Lion

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