The conventional view of women in medieval Europe was one of submissiveness and obedience. But as this book shows, such a bland and generalised picture ignores great areas of female experience. Jennifer Ward compares and contrasts the lives and experiences of women across Europe, including examples from Spain, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe as well as the France, Germany, Italy and England. Looking at all the major themes in women's history for this period - female saints, marriage, the arts, the family, women and their relationship with popular religion, work, power - this synthesis of recent research explores the experiences of medieval women across Europe in all their diversity.