Cynthia Jane Brown
University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA 93106-0001)
FT-54278-06
Summer Stipends
Research Programs
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Totals:
$5,000 (approved)
$5,000 (awarded)
Grant period:
7/1/2006 – 6/30/2007
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Ambiguous Images: Women of Power in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe
AMBIGUOUS IMAGES examines the cultural issues surrounding female modes of empowerment and book production in late medieval and early modern Europe. Centered on Anne of Brittany (1477-1514), twice queen of France, the study advances new ways of understanding famous women in politics by analyzing what they read, and by investigating the literary, artistic – and ultimately political -- means deployed by the makers of the books they owned. I argue that the complex verbal and visual imagery of women of influence in late medieval Europe -- complex because of its inherently conflicting portrayal of power and subordination -- can only be understood fully by drawing on the intersection of pertinent literary, historical, and art historical sources.
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