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Cavallo, Sandra, and Lyndan Warner, ed. Widowhood in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. London: Pearson Education, 1999. Pp. xiii, 272.
Researchers in the fields of anthropology, history, sociology, and literary history have recently turned their attention to die situation of die widow in medieval and early modern society. This topic appears in the volumes Upon My Husband's Death: Widows in the Literature and Histories of Medieval Europe, ed. Louise Mirrer (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1993); Wife and Widow- in Medieval England, ed. Sue Sheridan (Ami Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1993); Medieval London Widows, 13001500, eds. Caroline M. Barron and Amie F. Sutton (London and Rio Grande: The Hambledon Press, 1994), and Constructions of Widowhood and Virginity in tlu: Middle Ages, ed. Chidy L. Carlson and Angela Jane Weisl (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999). Tlie latest publication, here under review, concentrates on widowhood hi the late Middle Ages and early modern era; it also incorporates some male perspectives, as several contributors ponder the status of widowers.
Julia Crick examines the condition of widowhood hi pre-conquest England, utilizing a wide range of Anglo-Saxon records on...