Women and Violence in the Late Medieval Mediterranean, ca. 1100-1500, Maison française d’Oxford, September 27–29, 2019

The last decades have witnessed an increased interest in research on the relationship between women and violence in the Middle Ages, with new works both on female criminality and on women as victims of violence. The contributions of gender theory and feminist criminology have renewed the approached used in this type of research. Nevertheless, many facets of the complex relationship between women and violence in medieval times still await to be explored in depth. This conference aims to understand how far the roots of modern assumptions concerning women and violence may be found in the late medieval Mediterranean, a context of intense cultural elaboration and exchange which many scholars have indicated as the cradle of modern judicial culture. While dialogue across the Mediterranean was constant in the late Middle Ages, occasions for comparative discussion remain rare for modern-day scholars, to the detriment of a deeper understanding of the complexity of many issues. Thus, we encourage specialists of different areas across the Mediterranean (Western Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic world) to contribute to the discussion. What were the main differences and similarities? How did these change through time? What were the causes for change? Were coexisting assumptions linking femininity and violence conflicting or collaborating?

The conference will take place over two days thanks to the generous contributions of The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, the Maison Française d’Oxford, and the Centre de recherche d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance.

Potential topics for discussion may include, but are not limited to:
Female criminality

• Gendered assumptions about violent crimes
• Crimes associated with women
• Description and presentation of female crimes - Male prescriptions of female violence

Women and legislation on violence

• Female violence in statutes and jurisprudence in different traditions (Roman, Canon, Islamic law etc.)
• Philosophical, theological, and medical elaborations on the relationship between female nature and violence - Gendered emotions in violent conflict
• Conceptions of female honour or purity at the origins of violence

Women and war

• Literary and artistic representations of warrior women - The condition of women during wartime
• The role of women in conflict

Violence on women

• Domestic violence and its regulation - Rape and sexual violence
• Women as victims of conflict

Women and peace-making

• The role of women in the settlement of disputes - Women and the ‘civilising process’
• Peace and war as female allegories
• Women and counsel in wartime and conflict
• Religious patronage and peace-keeping