Priests' Wives and Concubines In the Medieval West (800 - 1200)

Date
-
Event Sponsor
Organized by the Department of History with generous funding from France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies. Cosponsored by Department of Religious Studies, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Language, and the Europe Center.
Location
Cecil H. Green Library, Hohbach Hall
557 Escondido Mall Stanford, CA

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Priests' Wives and Concubines In the Medieval West (800 - 1200)
Femmes et concubines de prêtres en Occident (800-1200)


This conference focuses on medieval women married to or living with priests, with the goal of restoring priests’ wives to scholarship on gender, spirituality, family life, and the church, particularly in western Europe.   Speakers will explore the lives and circumstances of priests’ women, the sources that can reveal or shed light on their status or experiences, and the various roles—social as well as cultural—that they played within the family, their local communities, and the church more broadly.  More information about the project can be found here


Conference Program

Thursday, October 27, 2022

  • 8:30 - 9:15 am: Coffee
  • 9:20 - 9:30am: Greeting and Introduction
  • 9:30 - 11:00 am - Chair: Kathryn Starkey
    • Steffen Patzold (Universität Tübingen) and Bastiaan Waagmeester (Universität Tübingen): Contexts for the Defense of Clerical Marriage in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
  • 11:00 - 11:30 am: Coffee
  • 11:30 am - 1:00 pm - Chair: Rowan Dorin
    • Anne Massoni (Université de Limoges): L’entourage féminin des chanoines de la collégiale Saint-Seurin de Bordeaux au XIIe siècle: épouses et veuves dans la vie communautaire séculière
    • Sara McDougall (John Jay College of Criminal Justice): The Bishop's Wife
  • 1:00 - 2:30 pm: Lunch
  • 2:30 - 4:00 pm - Chair: Lauren Urbont
    • Maureen Miller (University of California, Berkeley): Priests' Wives, their Children, and the Bishop’s Notaries: The Thirteenth-century Visitation Records of Città di Castello
    • Emilie Kurdziel (Université de Poitiers): Priests’ and Bishops’ Wives in Tuscany (10-12th century): An Ambiguous Recognition
  • 4:00 - 4:30 pm: Coffee
  • 4:30-6:00 pm - Chair: Jenna Phillips         
    • Charles Mériaux (Université de Lille): Ecclesia, quae sponsa vel uxor eius dicitur: Priests, Women and Churches in the Early Medieval West
    • Charles West (University of Sheffield): “Since a priest or deacon cannot have a lawful wife”: Rather of Verona’s Struggle against Clerical Families in Late Tenth-century Northern Italy.


Friday, October 28, 2022

  • 8:30 - 9:15 am: Coffee
  • 9:15 - 10:45 am - Chair: Ana Núñez
    • Tovi Bibring (Bar-Ilan University): Riding the Black Mare, Casting Away a Hungry Rat: The Priests' Concubine in Medieval Folklore
    • Abel Lorenzo-Rodriguez (University of Santiago de Compostela): Put the Blame on Her? Wives, Lovers, Daughters, and Sisters Facing Priest's Celibacy (NW Iberia, 800-1200)
  • 10:45 - 11:15 am: Coffee
  • 11:15 am - 12:45 pm - Chair: Rebekka Gruendel
    • Samuel Sutherland (Stephen F. Austin State University): Priests, Concubines, and Slaves in Central-Medieval Bavaria
    • Fiona Griffiths (Stanford University): Making Men “Worthy of the Priesthood”: Clerical Wives and Ordained Husbands
  • 12:45 - 2:15 pm: Lunch
  • 2:15 - 4:30 pm - Chair: Elaine Treharne
    • Margot Laprade (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne): Cleric's Wives in Britanny: Exceptions or Models for Clerical Couples in France ? (late 10th-early 11th century)
    • Hazel Freestone (Independent Scholar): Describing Priests' Wives in Normandy and England, 1050-1150
  • 4:30 pm: Concluding Remarks