The Power of Women

From the "patristic" period through the 16th century, examples of disorderly women from the Bible, antiquity, and romance were cited to prove that women exercise a power that no man, however superior his moral and physical qualities, can resist. Smith's study of this "Power of Women" topos in written texts and in art emphasizes the critical phase of its development from the late 12th to the end of the 14th century when, she argues, the topos was somewhat subverted. Bandw illustrations. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR