Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-1993

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

English

Major Professor

Thomas J. A. Heffernan

Committee Members

James E. Shelton, Joseph B. Trahern

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discover why the abbesses of the Anglo-Saxon church were held in such esteem, and to detect any significant changes in attitude towards them over the course of six centuries. After establishing the status of women in the 5th to the 10th centuries, an attempt was made to define the high status of women in the light of the contemporary social situation and the conditions of life in early medieval England. This period saw the coming of the Anglo-Saxons to England, and their subsequent displacement by the Normans. Between AD400 and 500, the Romano-British society in lowland Britain was partially conquered by Anglo-Saxon immigrants who came from Denmark and Saxony. In the ninth and tenth centuries Britain was swept by new waves of invaders from Scandinavia - the Vikings. The course of Viking invasions destroyed many monasteries and left Wessex the chief power in Britain, and by 939 "England" existed in roughly the same geographic terms as it does today. In 1066 Duke William of Normandy conquered England, and this signified the end of Anglo-Saxon England. However, even before the Norman Conquest, the status of religious women had declined. This fact is clearly seen in the absence of women as heads of monasteries, and in the decline of the double monastery. Several important religious developments occurred during this period, greatly affecting the prevailing attitudes towards women.

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