“…As she points out, before 1990 it was rarely acknowledged that 'it was common and accepted for aristocratic women to hold courts, resolve disputes, mete out punishments, make proclamations, have clients, be patrons, command men, or hold office'. 8 In contrast, more recent studies of politics in the central Middle Ages have repeatedly demonstrated aristocratic women wielding power in these ways. 9 Kimberley LoPrete talks of 'lordly women', women who acted in the same way as any male lord.…”