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Chapter 15 - Women and Romance

from IV - Genre and Gender

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2023

By
Corinne Saunders
Edited by
Corinne Saunders  and
Diane Watt
Corinne Saunders
Affiliation:
Durham University
Diane Watt
Affiliation:
University of Surrey
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Summary

In this essay Corinne Saunders explores the secular genre most often associated with women, that of medieval romance, but also challenges the notion of romance as a womenߣs genre. While women were patrons, owners, readers, and even writers of courtly romances, the picture is complex: romances were often addressed to mixed audiences and read publicly rather than privately, and it is impossible to know for certain how women responded to the romance narratives that they encountered. Focusing on three central romance themes-- love and consent, virtuous suffering, and magic and enchantment ߝ this essay explores the imaginative spaces that female protagonists inhabit and the agency they demonstrate, and suggests how these might connect to ideals of Christian virtue, the constraints imposed on women by chivalry, and perhaps to the lived experiences of medieval women. Examples drawn from a range of Middle English romances, from Sir Orfeo, King Horn and Havelok the Dane to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to Thomas Maloryߣs Morte Darthur at the very end of the period, show medieval romance as the locus of dialogue and debate about women and their place in medieval society and culture.

Keywords

Middle English RomanceMarie de ChampagneMarie de Francelove and consentvirtuous sufferingmagic and enchantment Sir Gawain and the Green KnightThomas Malory
Type
Chapter
Information
Women and Medieval Literary Culture
From the Early Middle Ages to the Fifteenth Century
 , pp. 299 - 323
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

Further Reading

Cooper, Helen (2004). The English Romance in Time: Transforming Motifs from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the Death of Shakespeare, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dinshaw, Carolyn, and Wallace, David, eds. (2003). The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women’s Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furrow, Melissa (2009). Expectations of Romance: The Reception of a Genre in Medieval England, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.Google Scholar
Meale, Carol M., ed. (1994). Readings in Medieval English Romance, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.Google Scholar
Meale, Carol M., ed. (1993). Women and Literature in Britain, 1150–1500, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putter, Ad, and Gilbert, Jane, eds. (2000). The Spirit of Medieval English Popular Romance, Harlow: Pearson.Google Scholar
Radulescu, Raluca L., and Rushton, Cory James (2009). A Companion to Medieval Popular Romance, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.Google Scholar
Saunders, Corinne (2010). Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.Google Scholar
Saunders, Corinne, ed. (2004). A Companion to Romance: From Classical to Contemporary, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Vines, Amy N. (2011). Women’s Power in Late Medieval Romance, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.Google Scholar

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