Over the past eighteen years, gender has become a major analytical tool
in medieval studies. The purpose of this volume is to evaluate its use
and to search for ways in which to improve and enhance its value. The
authors address the question of how gender relates to other tools of
medieval research. Several articles criticize the way in which an
exclusive focus on gender tends to obscure the impact of other factors,
for instance class, politics, economy, or the genre in which a source is
written. Other articles address 'wrong' ways of using gender, for
instance monolithic or anachronistic views of what constitutes
differences between men and women.