Thinking Through Gender in Late Medieval German Literature

Abstract

The absence of modern scholarship on gender debates in late medieval German literature is due not to a lack of primary sources but rather to reliance on assumptions derived from the Old French querelle, which are unproductive in the German context. Instead, a model combining codicology with gender analysis can more usefully explore the German debate. Key examples are drawn from the Liederbuch der Clara Hatzlerin [Songbook of Clara Hatzerlin] and from Die Beichte einer Frau [A Woman’s Confession].