Introduction Carolingian cultures of dialogue, debate and disputation

Women at Canossa. The role of royal and aristocratic women in the reconciliation between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV of Germany

“…Some scholars argue for the existence of something approaching a medieval public sphere in relation to public opinion [Melve 2007;de Jong, Renswoude 2017], but the medieval politico-legal domain was quite different from the modern public sphere. Medieval politics continued to be centred on elite families and their households, which meant that medieval noblewomen «could intervene authoritatively and 'publicly' in politics even as their powers, like those of male lords, were generally construed as 'private' when contrasted with those of rulers in modern States» [LoPrete 2012, 145].…”