ENGLISH

Queens, Consorts, Concubines: Gregory of Tours and Women of the Merovingian Elite

By E. T. Dailey

Book information

Publisher
BRILL
Year
2015
ISBN
9004290893, 9789004290891
ISSN
2214-5621
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
2 MB (1846951 bytes)
Series
Mnemosyne Supplements 381
Pages
xiv+202\217
Topic
Literature\\Literary
Orientation
yes
Paginated
yes
Scanned
portrait
Time added
2016-02-20 14:40:08
Medieval Movements Periods History Criticism Liter

Description

Gregory of Tours hoped to inspire the believers in sixth-century Gaul with examples of righteous and wicked deeds and their consequences. Critiquing his own society, Gregory contrasted vengeful queens, rebellious nuns, and conniving witches with pious widows, humble abbesses, and tearful saints. By examining his thematic treatment of topics including widowhood, marriage, sanctity, authority, and political agency, Queens, Consorts, Concubines reassesses the material shaped by such concerns, including e.g. Gregory’s accounts of Brunhild, Fredegund, Radegund, and other important elite women, Merovingian political policies (marital alliances, ecclesiastical intrigue, even assassinations), and seemingly unrelated topics such as Hermenegild’s rebellion and the career of Empress Sophia. The result: a new interpretation of an important witness to the transformations of Late Antiquity.

Similar books