Power and Status of Women

Never perhaps had there been an age in which religious women exercised such great power

Talbot

The momentum of the conversion was carried by women

Leyser

The notion of a queen or a queen ship distinct from a King’s wife was elusive

Stafford

What is the key nuance in this question?

If women had power or influence

Why were women essential to the conversion?

Stereotypical female qualities better applied to Christianity

Name a King who struggled to balance kingly and Christian values

King Sigeberht of East Anglia

Name a woman essential to St Augustine’s mission

Queen Bertha

Why did pagan King Edwin of Mercia convert to Christianity?

Christian wife

Thwarted attempt on his life

Death of his daughter

Why did St Hilda originally join a religious order?

To escape the men who assassinated her father

Why did Bishop Aidan need Hilda on side?

Her royal status meant she could command otherwise unwilling men to join the order

Give two places where scriptoria have been found

Flixborough

Whitby

Name a woman essential to St Bonifaces mission

Leoba

What request of St Boniface’s was denied?

Leoba be buried with him

Give an example of a queen denying her power

Edith of Wessex never used the thrones prepared for her

Why was Queen Emma’s status in her second marriage more important?

her Danish and English heritage made her popular, legitimising Cnut’s rule

How is Emma portrayed in Liber Vitae?

Bursting from the visual obscurity of previous queens being presented with a wedding veil

How did the Virgin Mary start to be depicted?

As a mother and queen of heaven

Why is Emma’s control of the succession important?

Cnut was dead proving her power wasn’t tied to him

What did Edward do to Emma?

Took control of the treasury and sent her to a convent

Name two monastic reformers supported by Edvinga

Dunstan

Ethelwold

Any wealthy woman could advance the cause of the monastic reform if she had the desire

Meyer

Give a piece of evidence for widows being powerless

They are classified alongside thieves and beggars in stories of Kings helping the poor

Give a piece of evidence to suggest widows weren’t powerless

Had control over lands and could bequeath lands to monasteries

Why was Queen Ethelthryth able to exert such power?

Her son was 10 when he came to the throne

Where did Queen Ethelthryth establish nunneries?

Ramsbury and Winchester