By examining a significant corpus of secular and monastic charters, this study provides a more complex understanding of the role of religious patronage in medieval society, specifically offering a glimpse of the experience of female rulers in a period when actions were often constrained and obscured by gender bias.

ERIN L. JORDAN is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Northern Colorado, USA.

Introduction: The Countesses of Flanders and Hainaut Power and Authority in the Thirteenth Century: Noblewomen as Political Actors The Paradox of Gender: Exercising Power in a Patriarchal World The Conjunction of Piety and Politics Securing Salvation: Religious Patronage and Women Conclusion