This volume provides a comprehensive study of widowhood in Medieval Britain based on literary and historical sources from the seventh to the fifteenth centuries. The book is divided into two parts: the first deals with the Anglo-Saxon period, the second with the Medieval period. Because widows shared certain pre-occupations specific to their status, the two parts deal with similar topics: the fundamental role played by the Church in the doctrine of marriage, and the dominant male discourse about widows. Widows had a specific legal status: special laws affected their lives and their relationships with their children and other relatives. Much attention is consequently devoted to family structures and to the legal and social aspects of inheritance. The volume also explores the various options widowhood offered and the highly debated degree of independence widows had in their life choices.

Studies of the influence of the middle ages on aspects of European and American life and culture from 16c to the present day. The eleven essays in this volume are studies of specific instances of the influence and impact of the middle ages on Western life and culture from the sixteenth century to the present day. They cover a wide range of topics -literature, stylistics, lexicography, art, the cinema, philosophy, history and myth-making, oral traditions, feminist issues - and reflect the enduring influence of the middle ages on European art and life. Dr MARIE-FRANCOISE ALAMICHEL is lecturer in English at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne; the late DEREK BREWER was Emeritus Professor of English, University of Cambridge. Contributors: CLAIRE VIAL, DERICK S. THOMSON, KEES DEKKER, ERIC G. STANLEY, FLORENCE BOURGNE, RENATE HAAS, DEREK BREWER, LAURA KENDRICK, RENE GALLET, JAMES NOBLE, SANDRA GORGIEVSKI.