Gender, Family and the Legitimation of Power

This collection of studies by Pauline Stafford brings together a series of essays on Anglo-Saxon and early Norman England. Virtually all focus on political life, and with the highest levels of English society: with the king, the royal family and the elites, though one hitherto unpublished essay treats the interactions of king, lord and community across a broad social spectrum. All are concerned with issues of family, succession, inheritance and land holding. The perspectives of these essays range from that of a women's history chiefly interested in restoring women to a place in these politics, to one which focuses attention on the textual uses of women and family. Re-readings of charters and narrative histories, especially from these gendered perspectives, offer new insight into English political history, raise questions about central sources, such as Domesday Book, and question some received historiographies.