IN THIS CHAPTER we

Introduction

A common difficulty in a medieval history course is to find ways to make content relatable to students. For medieval history, in general, we have observed similar trends as the study by Leah Shopkow et al. that students have difficulty, first, in maintaining appropriate distance from topics, second, in understanding the limits of knowledge of people in the past, and, third, in identifying people from a much different time and place. Medieval history courses should address charged topics such as gender, race, and religion in their appropriate medieval settings, but it may be difficult for students to address such topics in the context of historical investigation. Take the following passage from a text on women's health and gynecological issues in Sloane MS 2463 from the first quarter of the fifteenth century:

There are some obvious talking points in this passage about how medieval people viewed gender, gender roles, and femininity that students would likely pick up on: women may not seek out needed health services from men because women were viewed as sexual objects of temptation, and it was therefore a moral quandary for men to assist with women's maladies; medieval men saw women's health concerns as a cause for shame due to the moral turpitude linked to a belief that Eve's original sin had tainted all women; a recognition of women's inherent weakness that results in them having more severe and greater varieties of illnesses compared to men; women keep their illnesses secret because they know men will view it as shameful;