Publisher's description:
These volumes propose a renewed way of framing the debate around the history of medieval art and architecture to highlight the multiple roles played by women. Today's standard division of artist from patron is not seen in medieval inscriptions—on paintings, metalwork, embroideries, or buildings—where the most common verb is 'made' (fecit). At times this denotes the individual whose hands produced the work, but it can equally refer to the person whose donation made the undertaking possible. Here twenty-four scholars examine secular and religious art from across medieval Europe to demonstrate that a range of studies is of interest not just for a particular time and place but because, from this range, overall conclusions can be drawn for the question of medieval art history as a whole.

Table of contents:
IX List of Color Plates (Full Volume)
XII Color Plates (1–17) following
XIII List of Black and White Illustrations (Full Volume)
XXXI Acknowledgments
XXXIII Contributors' Biographies
XL Map
VOLUME ONE
1 1. Exceptions and Assumptions: Women in Medieval Art History, Therese Martin
Part One: DISPLAY AND CONCEALMENT
37 2. The Non-Gendered Appeal of Vierge Ouvrante Sculpture: Audience, Patronage, and Purpose in Medieval Iberia, Melissa R. Katz
93 3. Mere Embroiderers? Women and Art in Early Medieval Ireland, Jenifer Ní Ghrádaigh
129 4. Erasures and Recoveries of Women's Contributions to Gothic Architecture: The Case of Saint-Quentin, Local Nobility, and Eleanor of Vermandois, Ellen M. Shortell
175 5. The Roles of Women in Late Medieval Civic Pageantry in England, Nicola Coldstream
Part Two: OWNERSHIP AND COMMUNITY
197 6. The Patronage Question under Review: Queen Blanche of Castile (1188–1252) and the Architecture of the Cistercian Abbeys at Royaumont, Maubuisson, and Le Lys, Alexandra Gajewski
245 7. Female Piety and the Building and Decorating of Churches, ca. 500–1150, Jane Tibbetts Schulenburg
275 8. 'Planters of great civilitie': Female Patrons of the Arts in Late Medieval Ireland, Rachel Moss
309 9. Reception, Gender, and Memory: Elisenda de Montcada and Her Dual-Effigy Tomb at Santa Maria de Pedralbes, Eileen McKiernan González
Part Three: COLLABORATION AND AUTHORSHIP
355 10. Women as Makers of Church Decoration: Illustrated Textiles at the Monasteries of Altenberg/Lahn, Rupertsberg, and Heiningen (13th–14th c.), Stefanie Seeberg
393 11. Women in the Making: Early Medieval Signatures and Artists' Portraits (9th–12th c.), Pierre Alain Mariaux
429 12. Melisende of Jerusalem: Queen and Patron of Art and Architecture in the Crusader Kingdom, Jaroslav Folda
479 13. Women and the Architecture of al-Andalus (711–1492): A Historiographical Analysis, María Elena Díez Jorge
VOLUME TWO
Part Four: FAMILY AND AUDIENCE
525 14. Portrayals of Women with Books: Female (Il)literacy in Medieval Jewish Culture, Katrin Kogman-Appel
565 15. Patterns of Patronage: Female Initiatives and Artistic Enterprises in England in the 13th and 14th Centuries, Loveday Lewes Gee
633 16. Concubines, Eunuchs, and Patronage in Early Islamic Cordoba, Glaire D. Anderson
671 17 The First Queens of Portugal and the Building of the Realm, Miriam Shadis
Part Five: PIETY AND AUTHORITY
705 18. Subversive Obedience: Images of Spiritual Reform by and for Fifteenth-Century Nuns, Jane Carroll
739 19. Elite Women, Palaces, and Castles in Northern France (ca. 850–1100), Annie Renoux
783 20. Redressing Images: Conflict in Context at Abbess Humbrina's Scriptorium in Pontetetto (Lucca), Loretta Vandi
823 21. Emma of Blois as Arbiter of Peace and the Politics of Patronage, Mickey Abel
Part Six: MEMORY AND MOTHERHOOD
865 22. Nimble-fingered Maidens in Scandinavia: Women as Artists and Patrons, Nancy L. Wicker
903 23. The Treasures and Foundations of Isabel, Beatriz, Elisenda, and Leonor: The Art Patronage of Four Iberian Queens in the Fourteenth Century, Ana Maria S.A. Rodrigues
937 24. Liturgy as Women's Language: Two Noble Patrons Prepare for the End in Fifteenth-Century Spain, Felipe Pereda
989 Bibliography
1069 Index of People
1091 Index of Places
1100 Index of Subjects.