Friday, December 09, 2005

Heath Dillard: Daughters of the Reconquest:
Women in Castilian town society, 1100-1300.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

One of the author's concluding statements says it all:

"The long persistance of [Spanish] frontier society, ... afforded even ordinary women challenging opportunities to better their lot in life and to stake claims to substantial wealth and privilege. New prospects promised a fresh start, held out hopes perhaps for unaccustomed respectability, or nurtured a woman's desires for recognition as a person of no small importance. Expansion, the continuing need for colonizers, the scarcity of women at new settlements and a fluid class structure sustained diverse aspirations among many medieval women." (220)

This book is a fascinating read!

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