Woman’s letters: private and public life in the twelfth century letter collections

Abstract

In the Middle Ages, the writing of letters was very much practiced by women. This contribution, after briefly presenting methodological problems relating to epistolary materials, focuses on the 12th century, the period in which the ars dictandi was established: the Collections of letters elaborated by the masters show ordinary women who write letters as a daily and constant exercise. We have epistles of laymen and women who have chosen the monastic life; the topics covered are love, marriage, home and family; the monastery, the exercise of power. This papaer analyzes the epistolary models, some unpublished, to show the contents and variety of women’s daily letters in the twelfth century.