With the exception of such characters as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Heloise and Joan of Arc, medieval women have tended to be categorized in terms set by male contemporaries, who considered them weak and foolish, either dangerously seductive or remote and untouchable. The author forces a reassment of the part played by women in north-western Europe between the 12th and 15th centuries. Her study encompasses every level of society and many interesting personalities emerge, such as Mahaut d'Artois, autocratic noble lady; Hildegard of Bingen, the mystic and scholar and the prolific writer, Christine de Pizan. Labarge also wrote A Baronial Household of the Thirteenth Century and Medieval Travellers.