Between Freedom and Submission

The essays presented in this volume address the question posed about the role of women throughout the history of the Church: which female figures had the opportunity, and under what circumstances, to express themselves and act freely, thereby exerting their influence in the family, social, spiritual, political, or cultural spheres, but above all, in the ecclesiastical realm. It explores the resources available for their education and training aimed at developing the functions to which they had access. The result is a broad historiographical panorama, characterized by a unique profile, due both to its extensive range - covering almost two thousand years of Church history - and to its openness to less-explored geopolitical contexts. Stimulating reflections on lesser-known figures and events that challenge established historiographical paradigms are not lacking. One of the most important aspects of the volume is its interdisciplinary nature; within the book, we find research conducted by specialists from various fields: history, biography, archaeology, patristics, and archival studies. A strong aspect of the book lies in the authors’ efforts to measure the gap between an often negative and limiting paradigm of women’s roles and their actual condition in a world that, in any case, was imbued with Christian values.


The Editors

Filippo Forlani is Assistant Professor of Medieval History at the Pontificia Università della Santa Croce (Rome). His research focuses on the history of councils in the Middle Ages, medieval slavery (6th-13th cent.), and hagiography.
Silvia Mas is Associate Professor of Patrology at Pontificia Università della Santa Croce (Rome), devoting her research activity to post-Nicene patristic theology. She graduated in Classical Philology (Universitat de Barcelona) and she received a PhD in Church History from the Pontificia Università della Santa Croce (Rome).
Lukasz Zak is a Research Professor in the Department of Church History at the Pontificia Università della Santa Croce (Rome); he specializes in history of Eucharistic and Marian devotion in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.


Contents

Preface
S. 7–8

Alessandra Bartolomei Romagnoli
Introduction. Donne, Chiesa, e le contraddizioni della storia
S. 9–30

Jerónimo Leal
El carisma de revelaciones en la mujer africana del siglo III: Perpetua de Cartago y la vidente tertulianista (De anima 9,4)
S. 31–44

Silvia Braito
Donne, fede e memoria funeraria nell'Aquileia cristiana tra IV e V secolo d.C.
S. 45–74

Silvia Mas
Ruricio e Iberia, un ejemplo de conuersi en el epistolario de Fausto de Riez
S. 75–88

Lukasz Żak
Feminarum senatus? Donne protagoniste della riforma gregoriana. Il caso di Cremona
S. 89–108

Karolina Bialas
Nunc mala foemina fit mihi pagina, fit mihi sermo. Women and Femininity in Bernard of Cluny's De contemptu mundi in Comparative Perspective
S. 109–134

Annalena Müller
The Ruling Women of Notre-Dame de Soissons, Fraumünster of Zurich, and Fontevraud. Or: The Forgotten Power of Nuns in Medieval Europe
S. 135–152

Agnes Schormann
The Ladies of Las Huelgas: Their Political and Spiritual Role
S. 153–170

Filippo Forlani
”Governo non era da donne“. Il governo al femminile dell'episcopessa di Fucecchio
S. 171–194

Karolina Morawska
From Vita et miracula sanctae Kyngae to Vita beatae Kunegundis: The Image of the Virgin Duchess in Hagiography
S. 195–222

Albert Cassanyes Roig
Beguinas, cultura y enseñanza en el Reino de Mallorca (siglos XIV–XVIII)
S. 223–246

Federica Boldrini
Il caso Giovanna d'Arco. La virilitas di una santa a processo nella Francia del Quattrocento
S. 247–270

Diane Ghirardo
Lucretia Borgia and Christianity
S. 271–288

Luis Martínez Ferrer
El devoto linaje. Las mujeres en los decretos del III Concilio de Lima (1582–1583)
S. 289–318

Blair Apgar
Her Land is Our Land: Examining the Terra Mathildis and Urban VIII's Historiographic Impact on the Story of Matilda of Canossa
S. 319–346

Pere Fullana Puigserver / Ana M. Barandiarán / Immaculada Ruiz de Balugera
Diálogo de fundadoras: la relación epistolar entre Antonia de Oviedo, Micaela Desmaisières y María Vicenta López y Vicuña
S. 347–370

Rosa Carrasco Ligarda
Vida de Teresa Candamo (1875–1953) y los orígenes de la Congregación de las Canonesas de la Cruz
S. 371–388

Alberto Belletti
La Ladies' Land League (1881–1882). L'adesione di donne cattoliche e protestanti al movimento nazionalista irlandese nel giudizio dell'episcopato gaelico e della Santa Sede
S. 389–406

Carlo Pioppi
Nuove esperienze nell'impegno del laicato femminile ai tempi di Pio XII: gli istituti secolari nel contesto storico dell'apostolato laicale
S. 407–436

Mónica Fuster Cancio
Missionarie e ”missionate“. Il ruolo delle donne nelle missioni
S. 437–462

Index of Names
S. 463–472