ingest cdrApp 2017-07-05T20:15:22.822Z b743dd6f-fb31-445f-b2b9-a0aa4f8b7562 modifyDatastreamByValue RELS-EXT fedoraAdmin 2017-07-05T20:33:56.384Z Setting exclusive relation modifyDatastreamByValue RELS-EXT fedoraAdmin 2017-07-05T20:33:56.985Z Setting exclusive relation addDatastream MD_TECHNICAL fedoraAdmin 2017-07-05T20:33:57.576Z Adding technical metadata derived by FITS modifyDatastreamByValue RELS-EXT fedoraAdmin 2017-07-05T20:33:58.378Z Setting exclusive relation addDatastream MD_FULL_TEXT fedoraAdmin 2017-07-05T20:33:59.763Z Adding full text metadata extracted by Apache Tika modifyDatastreamByValue RELS-EXT fedoraAdmin 2017-07-05T20:34:08.143Z Setting exclusive relation modifyDatastreamByValue RELS-EXT cdrApp 2017-07-06T11:38:53.000Z Setting exclusive relation modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2017-08-18T11:45:39.002Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2018-01-25T09:17:11.539Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2018-01-26T13:46:06.891Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2018-01-27T09:38:16.949Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2018-01-29T12:40:19.375Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2018-03-14T06:15:50.468Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2018-05-17T17:49:17.750Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2018-07-11T04:41:30.578Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2018-07-18T00:56:31.679Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2018-08-16T14:05:34.961Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2018-09-27T00:42:41.621Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2018-10-12T01:14:31.184Z modifyDatastreamByValue MD_DESCRIPTIVE cdrApp 2019-03-20T19:20:08.326Z Alexandra Locking Author Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. Spring 2017 2017 Medieval history church reform, medieval gender, medieval lordship, medieval narratives, medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text Alexandra Locking Author Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. Spring 2017 2017 Medieval history church reform medieval gender medieval lordship medieval narratives medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. Spring 2017 2017 Medieval history church reform medieval gender medieval lordship medieval narratives medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. Spring 2017 2017 Medieval history church reform medieval gender medieval lordship medieval narratives medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. Spring 2017 2017 Medieval history church reform medieval gender medieval lordship medieval narratives medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. Spring 2017 2017 Medieval history Church reform Medieval gender Medieval lordship Medieval narratives Medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. 2017-05 2017 Medieval history Church reform Medieval gender Medieval lordship Medieval narratives Medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. 2017 Medieval history Church reform Medieval gender Medieval lordship Medieval narratives Medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text 2017-05 Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. 2017 Medieval history Church reform Medieval gender Medieval lordship Medieval narratives Medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text 2017-05 Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. 2017 Medieval history Church reform Medieval gender Medieval lordship Medieval narratives Medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text 2017-05 Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. 2017 Medieval history Church reform Medieval gender Medieval lordship Medieval narratives Medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text 2017-05 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Degree granting institution Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. 2017 Medieval history Church reform Medieval gender Medieval lordship Medieval narratives Medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text 2017-05 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Degree granting institution Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences "A New Senate of Women": Ecclesiastical Reform and the Reimagining of Female Secular Lordship, c. 1050-1125 CE This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. 2017 Medieval history Church reform Medieval gender Medieval lordship Medieval narratives Medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution History Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text 2017-05 Alexandra Locking Creator Department of History College of Arts and Sciences This study examines the impact of the eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform movement on ideologies and representations of female secular authority. The well-known reform movement redrew the boundaries between secular and ecclesiastical spheres across Europe and initiated an intellectual debate over conceptions of lay and religious rulership. Traditionally, scholars have seen the reform program as an oppressive force which sought with varying degrees of success to limit women’s participation in ecclesiastical affairs and to marginalize their presence in broader society. However, scholars have underestimated the significant presence of lay noblewomen in reform activities. This study locates women as key participants in the reform program, a surprising discovery given the strong associations made by many clerical supporters of reform between women and pollution, above all due to their sexuality. The dissertation takes a wide geographical focus, examining the impacts of the reform movement on female lordship across Latin Christendom in order to explore both similarities and differences in experience rather than search for a single model of female lordship. By focusing on textual representations of female agency and authority in contemporary narrative histories, letters, and hagiographical texts, the pages below demonstrate that the reform movement witnessed a period of creativity in the construction and representation of gendered secular authority, particularly in relation to the performance of power by laywomen. This study contributes to the growing scholarship focusing on the role of gender and women in religious and cultural history. Its main goal is to create a synthesis between studies of medieval lordship, church reform, and gender and women’s history. 2017 Medieval history Church reform Medieval gender Medieval lordship Medieval narratives Medieval women eng Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School Degree granting institution Marcus Bull Thesis advisor Brett Whalen Thesis advisor Robert Babcock Thesis advisor Jessica Boon Thesis advisor Flora Cassen Thesis advisor text 2017-05 Locking_unc_0153D_16814.pdf uuid:6dfc01eb-039e-4d84-a4d0-131e7720fd4d 2019-07-05T00:00:00 2017-04-03T23:54:12Z proquest application/pdf 1453885 yes