Medieval Narratives of Accused Queens

This study of medieval stories of accused queens--noble and hapless victims whose suffering becomes a metaphor of larger social injustice--identifies the types of this fictional narrative and explores their popularity from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Offering evidence of lively debate in the Middle Ages about the nature of women, the book considers such topics as the perpetual lustiness of men, the powerlessness of women, the nature of "good" women, slander as evidence of legal failure, the purifying value of affliction, and economic discrepancies between the rich and the poor.