Legend of Good Women: Medieval Women in Towns and Cities. by Uitz, Erika; translated from the German by Sheila Marnie - 1990.

Mt. Kisco, NY: Moyer Bell Ltd, 1990. First U.S. Edition Cloth AS NEW in NEAR FINE DJ Square 8vo (8 x 8), 200 pp including Notes, Index, Bibliography. Hardbound book is FINE -- Unmarked, Unread, and AS NEW in NEAR FINE pictorial DJ (2 tiny chips on back/bottom of DJ -- otherwise also AS NEW. Cloth cover is AS NEW tan cloth, a medieval woodcut incised in black on the cover and spine, withauthor's name on spine in red. (h) The author's focus is the changing role of urban European women that began in the 12th century when a window of freedom opened for them, allowing the beginning of a true middle class, which freedom lasted until the 15th century when their roles were once again defined for them. This opening of possibilities allowed women to act on independence. They became merchants and traders, some travelling, others becoming shopkeepers. Still others worked in crafts with textiles or groceries, creating women's guilds, becoming innkeepers, doing medical and social work, also becoming artists as well as prostitutes. An extraordinarily well researched study of a little-known social period.