AcknowledgementsIntroduction. A different history of the medieval cityChapter 1. From girlhood to widowhood: On the rights of women and childrenAndrea Bardyn & Jelle HaemersChapter 2. Women and marriage: Choice of partner, matrimonial conflicts, and relationsChanelle DelameillieureChapter 3. Industrious women and their life in businessAndrea BardynChapter 4. Pious women: Beguines and their virtuous lives togetherKim OverlaetChapter 5. Working women: women’s professional activities in and outside craft guildsNena Vandeweerdt & Jelle HaemersChapter 6. “Bad women”: Violence, crime, and rebellionJelle HaemersChapter 7. Eros and women: Sexuality, consent, and prostitutionChanelle Delameillieure & Jelle HaemersConclusions. Of “wise women” and “witless men”Primary sourcesLiteratureAbout the authorsExploring women’s stories of work, protest, and power in the medieval Low CountriesThe Middle Ages-a time often cast as a dark period when violence reigned and men dominated society. Women, as the deeply rooted cliché would have it, played scarcely any part. But this book tells a different story, one in which women step forward as the main characters. In the southern Low Countries, townswomen held substantial rights, which they used to conduct business, voice their opinions, and assert their will.Urban Women presents a different and lesser-known image of the late Middle Ages, from 1250 to 1550. The authors trace the lives of women protesting, marrying, making love, working, and engaging in the daily life of Low Countries towns. In doing so, this book gives voice to wealthy businesswomen, laborers, religious women, criminals, and sex workers, spotlighting the remarkable figures who shaped a "women's town" within a man's world.The Middle Ages—a time often cast as a dark period when violence reigned and men dominated society. Women, as the deeply rooted cliché would have it, played scarcely any part. But this book tells a different story, one in which women step forward as the main characters. In the southern Low Countries, townswomen held substantial rights, which they used to conduct business, voice their opinions, and assert their will.Urban Women presents a different and lesser-known image of the late Middle Ages, from 1250 to 1550. The authors trace the lives of women protesting, marrying, making love, working, and engaging in the daily life of Low Countries towns. In doing so, this book gives voice to wealthy businesswomen, laborers, religious women, criminals, and sex workers, spotlighting the remarkable figures who shaped a “women’s town” within a man’s world.