History of Women in the Middle Ages
Code: 100368 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Archaeology | OT | 4 |
| History | OT | 4 |
Contact
- Name:
- Vicente Royo Perez
- Email:
- vicent.royo@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
Have taken the compulsory subjects of the Bachelor's Degree in History and the optative subjects of th Bachelor's Degree in Archaeology relating to the Middle Ages.
Read in Catalan, Spanish, Italian, French and English.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The aim of this subject is to study the role of women from the 5th to the 15th century in different geographical and political areas of the Western European world from different perspectives (family, marriage, inheritance, church, social class, work and thought). Even today, historical research and its explanation are carried out without a gender perspective. The vision transmitted by medieval intellectuals, mainly from the Church, often excludes women or is simply impregnated with misogynistic ideas about the female sex. The direct testimonies of women are even rarer, and those of peasants and workers even more so. However, there is a great deal of research to be done on the basis of written documents of various origins: from biblical exegesis texts to wills or property deeds. Even from an archaeological point of view, little attention is paid to these issues. In general, historical and archaeological research on gender and women has been segregated from the main subjects of research, and the gender perspective is hardly integrated into historical narratives. Therefore, the main objective of the course is to approach the study of medieval women from a broad and diversified perspective, in accordance with the basic precepts of gender studies.
The contents of the subject will be sensitive to gender perspective.
Competences
- Archaeology
- Contextualizing and analysing historical processes.
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Managing the main methods, techniques and analytic tools in archaeology.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethic relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- History
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Identifying the main historiographical tendencies and critically analysing their development.
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
Learning Outcomes
- Analysing the key issues that allow us to address the study of historical phenomena from a gender perspective.
- Applying both knowledge and analytical skills to the resolution of problems related to their area of study.
- Applying proper techniques and analytical tools in case studies.
- Assessing and critically solving the characteristic historiographical problems of gender history.
- Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
- Critically analysing informational speeches, especially in relation to ideology and ethnocentric and sexist bias.
- Describing the economic, social and political structures of the Middle Ages.
- Effectively expressing themselves and applying the argumentative and textual processes of formal and scientific texts.
- Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
- Identifying main and supporting ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
- Identifying the context of the historical processes.
- Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
- Interpreting and analysing documentary sources.
- Knowing the main historiographical debates concerning the Middle Ages.
- Organising and planning the search of historical information.
- Properly using the specific vocabulary of History.
- Reading and interpreting historiographical texts or original documents and transcribing, summarizing and cataloguing information produced in the Middle Ages.
- Recognising and implementing the following teamwork skills: commitment to teamwork, habit of cooperation, ability to participate in the problem solving processes.
- Recognising diversity and multiculturalism.
- Recognising the importance of controlling the quality of the work's results and its presentation.
- Relating elements and factors involved in the development of historical processes.
- Solve the methodological problems posed by the use of medieval historiographical sources.
- Solving problems autonomously.
- Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
- Using suitable terminology when drawing up an academic text.
- Using the specific interpretational and technical vocabulary of the discipline.
Content
1. History and historiography of women in the Middle Ages.
2. Gender debates in the Middle Ages: "La Querelle des Femmes" (Women's Quarrel).
3. Family, heritage and lineage.
4. Power, authority and influence.
5. Religion, spirituality and popular culture.
6. Daily life and work.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Seminars and other activities guided by lecturers | 13.5 | 0.54 | 6, 1, 3, 2, 4, 8, 11, 10, 13, 17, 15, 9, 24, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 16, 26 |
| Theorical Classes | 27 | 1.08 | 6, 1, 2, 4, 11, 10, 13, 17, 15, 9, 19, 20, 21, 22, 16, 26 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorial seasons for the preparation of assignments (oral and written) and for the preparation of theoretical and practical content. | 14 | 0.56 | 1, 3, 2, 4, 14, 7, 11, 13, 17, 15, 18, 20, 21, 22, 16, 26 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Elaboration of essays and commentaries. | 30 | 1.2 | 6, 1, 3, 2, 23, 4, 5, 8, 25, 11, 10, 13, 17, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 16, 26 |
| Individual Study | 49 | 1.96 | 6, 1, 3, 2, 23, 4, 5, 14, 7, 11, 13, 17, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26 |
1. Directed activities.
- Read and interpret historiographical texts or original documents and transcribe, summarise and catalogue information related to women during the Middle Ages.
- Describe the gender relations during the Middle Ages.
- Solve the methodological problems posed by the handling of medieval sources.
- Develop analytical and synthesis skills.
2. Supervised activities (tutorials).
- Manage information and coordinate interdisciplinary work with other groups.
- Guidance in the preparation of the work.
3. Autonomous activities.
- Read and interpret historiographical texts or original documents and transcribe, summarise and catalogue information related to women during the Middle Ages.
- Describe the gender relations during the Middle Ages.
- Solve the methodological problems posed by the handling of medieval sources.
- Develop analytical and synthesis skills.
- Communicate orally and in writing the results of the activities.
At the beginning of the course, the lecturers will inform students of the schedule of face-to-face tutorials that will take place during the quadrimester, with the aim of guiding students in the completion of their work and in the general preparation of the practical and theoretical content of the subject.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discussion | 10% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 6, 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 8, 25, 11, 10, 12, 9, 24, 19, 20, 21, 16, 26 |
| Essay | 30% | 12 | 0.48 | 6, 1, 3, 2, 23, 4, 5, 8, 25, 11, 12, 10, 13, 17, 15, 9, 24, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 16, 26 |
| Practical Exercise | 40% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 6, 1, 3, 2, 4, 8, 25, 11, 10, 13, 17, 24, 19, 20, 21, 22, 16, 26 |
| Reading control | 20% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 6, 1, 3, 2, 4, 14, 7, 8, 25, 11, 10, 12, 19, 20, 21, 16, 26 |
Continuous Assessment
The continuous assessment system will be governed by the completion of four activities. The types of test and the percentage that each one represents in the overall assessment are expressed below:
- Reading control: 20%.
- Discussion: 10%.
- Practical exercise: 40%
- Essay: 30%.
On carrying out each evaluation activity, professors will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
To pass the subject, an average mark of 5 or higher must be obtained in all the evaluation activities. In addition, to obtain an average, the reading control or the practical exercise must be passed with a minimum mark of 5. The student who has failed the two synthesis tests will have to sit the resit exam, whatever the final weighted average.
Any evaluation task not completed or not handed in will be graded as 0 when calculating the average.
It will be possible to obtain 0.5 additional points to the final average grade of the course if the student attends seminars, congresses, conferences or other activities previously indicated by the professors of the subject and as long as they are strictly related to the content of the subject. Attendance must be certified and a report of the activities carried out must also be submitted. The professors will provide the instructions on these activities at the beginning of the quadrimester. In any case, these additional 0.5 points can be used to reach 5 and pass the course without having to take the recovery exam if the final average mark does not reach the minimum required. In the same way, the student will not be able to exceed the maximum mark of 10 points in the overall mark of the course.
Students will be able to access the resit exam provided that the evaluation activities have been handed in or completed within the deadlines established by the subject's lecturers. It will not be possible to submit an exercise for the first time during the resit period.
To participate in the resit process, the student must have been assessed in 2/3 of the evaluable tests. In addition, students must have obtained a minimum average grade of 3.5 across all assessment activities. If the total score falls below 3.5, they will not be eligible to participate in the resit.
The resist of the entire subject will consist of a written exam on the entire course syllabus and will be carried out on the date established by the faculty. The maximum mark for the resit exam will be a 5. Under no circumstances will the resit exam be considered as an alternative to raise a mark.
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
The scheduling of the evaluation tests cannot be modified, except in duly justified exceptional cases. Erasmus students who wish to advance an exam, will have to present to the teaching staff a written document from their home university justifying their request.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. Inthe event of irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Those evaluation acts in which there are irregularities (copying, plagiarism, unauthorized use of digital watches, smartphones, headphones or other similar devices) will be graded with a 0 and will not be recoverable.
This subject entirely prohibits the use of AI technologies in all of its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
In all exercises, spelling, clarity of exposition and correctness of writing will be assessed. Serious faults in these aspects may result in the failure of the subject.
Throughout the quadrimester, there will be the possibility of visiting an archive, a museum, a monastery or some other place related to the theoretical and practical content of the subject. This departure will be voluntary and will have no effect on the final grade. The faculty will inform about the characteristics of this activity during the course. Students will have to assume the possible expenses generated during the confinement, such as travel and entry to the place visited.
Single assessment
The single assessment system will be governed by the performance of three activities. The types of test and the percentage that each one represents in the overall assessment are expressed below:
- Reading control: 30%.
- Practical exercise: 40%
- Essay: 30%.
Professors will announce in the first week of class, both in the classroom and through the Virtual Campus, the single date for the completion and delivery of the assessment tests.
On carrying outeach evaluation activity, professors will inform students (on Moodle) of the proceduresto be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
To pass the subject, an average mark of 5 or higher must be obtained in all the evaluation activities. In addition, to obtain an average, one of the two synthesis tests must be passed with a minimum mark of 5. The student who has failed the two synthesis tests will have to sit the resit exam, whatever the final weighted average.
Any evaluation tasknot completed or not handed in will be graded as 0 when calculating the average.
Students who take the single assessment will be exempt from participating in any face-to-face activity throughout the quadrimester related to the essay. In their case, this assessment test will consist solely of completing a written assignment that will follow the same guidelines that govern the assignment for students in the continuous assessment and that will be submitted on the day indicated by the professors in the first week of the quadrimester.
Students will be able to access the resit exam provided that the evaluation activities have been handed in or completed within the deadlines established by the subject's lecturers. The same assessment method as continuous assessment will be used.
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
The scheduling of the evaluation tests cannot be modified, except in duly justified exceptional cases. Erasmus students who wish to advance an exam, will have to present to the teaching staff a written document from their home university justifying their request.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the studentwill be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Those evaluation acts in which there are irregularities (copying, plagiarism, unauthorized use of digital watches, smartphones, headphones or other similar devices) will be graded with a 0 and will not be recoverable.
This subject entirely prohibits the use of AI technologiesin all of its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
In all exercises, spelling, clarity of exposition and correctness of writing will be assessed. Serious faults in these aspects may result in the failure of the subject.
Throughout the quadrimester, there will be the possibility of visiting an archive, a museum, a monastery or some other place related to the theoretical and practical content of the subject. This departure will be voluntary and will have no effect on the final grade. The faculty will inform about the characteristics of this activity during the course. Students will have to assume the possible expenses generated during the confinement, such as travel and entry to the place visited.
Bibliography
Recommended basic bibliography
Aurell, Martí: Les noces del comte. Matrimoni i poder a Catalunya (785-1213). Barcelona: Omega, 1998.
Bennett, Judith M. & Ruth Mazo Karras (ed.): The Oxford Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Canning, Kathleen: Gender History in Practice: Historical Perspectives on Bodies, Class and Citizenship. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006.
Corral Díaz, Esther (ed.): Voces de mujeres en la Edad Media: entre realidad y ficción. De Gruyter, 2018.
De Pisan, Cristina: La ciudad de las Damas. Madrid: Siruela, 1995.
Del Campo Gutiérrez, Ana & Blanca Garí de Aguilera: Vidas de mujeres del Renacimiento. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, 2007.
Del Val Valdivieso, María Isabel & Juan Francisco Jiménez Alcázar (coord.): Las mujeres en la Edad Media. Múrcia: Universidad de Murcia, 2013.
Duby, Georges & Michelle Perrot (dir.): Historia de las mujeres. La Edad Media. Madrid: Taurus, 1992.
Foquerne, Yves-René & Isabel Alfonso Antón: La condición de la mujer en la Edad Media.Madrid: Casa de Velázquez-Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1986.
Gallego Franco, Henar & María del Carmen García Herrero (ed.): Autoridad, poder e influencia. Mujeres que hacen Historia. Barcelona: Icaria, 2017.
García Herrero, María del Carmen: Del Nacer y el Vivir. Fragmentospara una historia de la vida en la Baja Edad Media. Saragossa: Institución “Fernando el Católico”, 2005. Online: https://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/25/10/_ebook.pdf.
García Herrero, María del Carmen: Artesanas de Vida. Mujeres de la Edad Media. Saragossa: Institución “Fernando el Católico”, 2009. Online: https://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/29/52/_ebook.pdf.
García Herrero, María del Carmen & Cristina Pérez Galán (coord.): Las mujeres de la Edad Media: actividades políticas, socioeconómicas y culturales. Saragossa: Institución “Fernando el Católico”, 2014. Online: https://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/34/06/_ebook.pdf.
Graña Cid, María del Mar (ed.): Las sabias mujeres: educación, saber y autoría (siglos III-XVIII). Madrid: Asociación Cultural Al-Mudayna, 1994.
Muñoz Fernández, Ángela & Cristina Segura Graíño (ed.): El trabajo de las mujeres en la Edad Media Hispana. Madrid: Almudayna, 1988.
Pelaz Flores, Diana: Poder y representación de la reina en la Corona de Castilla (1418-1496). Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León, 2017.
Saranyana, Josep Ignasi: La discusión medieval sobre la condición femenina (siglos VIII al XIII). Salamanca: Publicaciones de la Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, 1997.
Segura Graíño, Cristina: Las mujeres en las ciudades medievales: Actas de las III Jornadas de Investigación interdisciplinaria sobre la mujer. Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1988.
Solórzano Telechea, Jesús Ángel et alii (coord.): Ser mujer en la ciudad medieval europea. Logroño: Instituto de Estudios Riojanos, 2013.
Vinyoles Vidal, Teresa: Història de les dones a la Catalunya medieval. Barcelona: Eumo-Pagès Editors, 2005.
Woodacre, Elena: Mediterranean Queenship; Negotiating the Role of the Queen in the Medieval and Early Modern Era. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Complementary bibliography
Aguado, Ana María & GloriaNielfa Cristóbal (coord.): Textos para la historia de las mujeres en España. Madrid: Cátedra, 1994.
Amt, Emilie: Women’s lives in Medieval Europe: a sourcebook, 2010.
Bennett, Judith M.: Women in the Medieval English Countryside: Gender and Household in Brigstock before the Plague. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Bolufer Peruga, Mónica: Mujeres y hombres en la Historia. Una propuesta historiográfica y docente. Madrid: Comares, 2018.
Cardini, Franco: Magia, brujería y superstición en el occidente medieval. Barcelona: Península, 1982.
Castrillo Casado, Janire: Las mujeres vascas durante la Baja Edad Media: vida familiar, capacidades jurídicas, roles sociales y trabajo. Madrid: Sílex, 2020.
Colesanti, Gemma, Blanca Garí de Aguilera & Núria Jornet i Benito (coord.): Clarisas y dominicas: modelos de implantación, filiación, promoción y devosión en la Península Ibérica, Cerdeña, Nápoles y Sicilia. Florència: Firenze University Press, 2017.
Del Val Valdivieso, María Isabel & Cristina Segura Graíño: La participación de las mujeres en lo político: mediación, representación y toma de decisiones. Madrid: Asociación Cultural Almudayna, 2011.
Dronke, Peter: Las escritoras de la Edad Media. Barcelona: Crítica, 1994.
García Herrero, María del Carmen: Las mujeres de Zaragoza en el siglo XV. Saragossa: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza, 2 vol., 2006.
Garí de Aguilera, Blanca & Victoria Cirlot Valenzuela: La mirada interior: escritoras místicas y visionarias en la Edad Media. Madrid: Ediciones Siruela, 2008.
Gies, Frances % Joseph Gies: Women in the Middle Ages: the lives of real women in a vibrant age of transition. Nova York: Barnes and Nobles Books, 1978.
Hartnell, Jack: Medieval Bodies. Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages. Profile Books, 2018.
Lafuente Gómez, Mario & Ángela Muñoz Fernández (coord.): Campesinas, burguesas y señoras en la Baja Edad Media. Saragossa: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza, 2024.
Moral de Calatrava, Paloma: La mujer imaginada. La construcción cultural del cuerpo en la Edad Media. Múrcia: Nausicaä, 2008.
Pallarés Méndez, María del Carmen: Historia das mulleres en Galicia. Idade Media. Santiago de Compostela, 2011.
Pelaz Flores, Diana: La casa de la reina en la Corona de Castilla (1418-1496). Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, 2017.
Pelaz Flores, Diana: Reinas consortes: las reinas de Castilla entre los siglos XIV-XV. Madrid: Sílex, 2017.
Rivera Garretas, María Milagros: Textos y espacios de mujeres (Europa siglos IV-XV). Barcelona: Icaria, 1990.
Roca, Maria Carme: Abadesses i priores a la Catalunya medieval. Barcelona: Base, 2014.
Rodríguez Casillas, Carlos J. (ed.): Mujer y guerra en la Edad Media: liderazgo militar femenino en la Península Ibérica y el ámbito mediterráneo. Cáceres: Universidad de Extremadura, 2023.
Segura Graíño, Cristina (ed.): La voz del silencio I. Fuentes directas para la historia de las mujeres (siglos VIII-XVIII). Asociación Cultural Al-Mudayna, 1992.
Segura Graíño, Cristina (ed.): La voz del silencio II. Historia de las mujeres: compromiso y método. Asociación Cultural Al-Mudayna, 1993.
Varela Rodríguez, Maria Elisa (ed.): Duoda, mare, escriptora, teòloga i comtessa del segle IX: el manual pel seu fill. Biblioteca Virtual de Investigación Duoda, 2013. https://www.ub.edu/duoda/bvid/text.php?doc=Duoda:text:2013.07.0001.
How to cite and preparate the bibliography: https://www.uab.cat/web/estudia-iinvestiga/com-citar-i-elaborar-la-bibliografia-1345708785665.html
Software
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Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |