Peace-Weavers and Shield-Maidens: Women in Early English Society

Abstract

Abraham reviews "Peace-Weavers and Shield-Maidens: Women in Early English Society" by Kathleen Herbert.

Kathleen Herbert. Peace-Weavers and Shield-Maidens: Women in Early English Society. Hockwold-cum-Wilton, England: Anglo-Saxon Books, 1997. 59 pp. ISBN 1-898281-11-4 (pb).

Herbert, a scholar of early English culture and a historical novelist, argues that modem readers ignore the early history of English women when they assume that written English history begins with the Battle of Hastings. Herbert contends that by scrutinizing the position of women not only historically, but also in literature and even jokes, one can fully assess women's position in a society. In this slim volume, Herbert analyzes the position of women in early English history and society through an examination of the well-known accounts of Tacitus, Bede, and Procopius as well as such documents as the Exeter Chronicles and Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. The title refers to the two archetypes of women in early English culture: woman as an instrument of diplomacy and peace, as a mediator between her own people and those of her husband; and woman as an instrument of war, equal in strength and power to English men in battle. Herbert finds that women were portrayed as strong and purposeful, yet frivolous and possessed of strong senses of humor.-Lorraine Netrick Abraham