A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life [Paperback]

Margaret Wade Labarge (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This excellent synthesis of contemporary literature explores the activities of women at all social levels in France, England, the Low Countries, and Germany between 1100 and 1500: queens and noble ladies; nuns, recluses, and mystics; businesswomen and women on the land; nurses; prostitutes and women involved in various kinds of crime, including witchcraft. Emphasis is on the actual texture of their lives. While medieval theologians and lawyers stressed women's legal and intellectual inferiority and necessary subjection, the reality was quite different. Among the hundreds of women discussed, Labarge gives special and deserved attention to the mystic/writer Hildegard of Bingen and the influential writer Christine de Pizan. The general reader and advanced student will value this graciously written, thoughtful, and imaginatively illustrated work. Bennett D. Hill, St. Anselm's Abbey, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Beacon Press (September 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807056278
• ISBN-13: 978-0807056271
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,472,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on women's history., August 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life (Paperback)

I read this book way back in 1989, not long after it was first released. That was over a decade ago and I _still_ remember how vivid and brilliant the writing was. The value of the information for those of us looking for history about the women who lived in the 'Dark Ages' is unequaled. An amazing book. Brava to the author.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thorough, somewhat tedious survey, June 23, 2011

By 

la moustache - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life (Paperback)

I read this book for a course on medieval women, for which it was a suitable selection, but I would not recommend it someone without an avid interest in the subject matter. Of greatest interest to the more casual reader are the first two chapters, which give an overview of women's lives before and during the Middle Ages. In the subsequent chapters, Labarge examines the lives of queens, noble ladies, the women religious, mystics, lower-class women, women healers, and women criminals, before closing with a discussion of women's contributions to medieval culture. As the greater part of each of these later chapters consists of a catalogue of particular cases relevant to each category, they are useful to the scholar interested in seeking information to fuel his or her research but can grow rather tedious for the non-scholar (or even the non-medieval scholar). The synthesis with which she closes each chapter is consistently brief and, in my view, somewhat wanting in depth. Further, Labarge's style struck me as occasionally clumsy, almost to the point of rendering her sentences ambiguous. (A stylistic nit-pick: I found her habit of beginning sentences with the phrase "As well" [i.e. as a substitute for "In addition"] irksome.) One positive point: Labarge's sympathetic commentary lends some color to her otherwise dry history without adding too great a bias. In short, the range of Labarge's research is impressive, her writing somewhat less so. A thorough, if not particularly inspiring, survey.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars pretty good book: medieval women, October 8, 2010

By 

Mary McClintock "amateur watercolorist" (Ft. Collins, CO) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life (Paperback)

Good history of important medieval women. A little difficult to read--you need to focus.