Women's Genealogies in the Medieval Literary Imagination

Uncovering the many striking female alternatives to patrilineal narratives in medieval texts Emma O. Brat explores strategies of writing and illustration that creatively and purposefully depict women''s legacies. Genealogy used to justify a character''s present power and project it onto the future was crucial to medieval political literary and historical thought. While patrilineage often limited women to exceptional or passive roles other genealogical forms that represent and promote women''s claims are widespread in medieval texts. Female characters transmit power through book patronage and reading enduring landmarks and international travel as well as childbearing and succession. These flexible if messy genealogies reflect the web of political biological and spiritual relations that frequently characterized elite women''s lives. Examining hagiography chronicles genealogical rolls and French English and Latin romances as well as associated codices and images Brat highlights the centrality of female characters and historical women to this fundamental aspect of medieval consciousness.