The Religious Life of Lay Women : Crossing Public and Private Boundaries in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Numen Book Series)

This volume invites you to rethink women’s religious lives in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Did laywomen truly belong to the private sphere? Drawing on texts, archaeology, and material culture, it shows how women shaped religious practice across homes, churches, and in-between spaces. You encounter patrons, pilgrims, healers, and everyday believers whose actions crossed boundaries and redefined authority. By focusing on lived religion and spatial experience, this book reveals women as active agents, not passive recipients. Bringing together new case studies and interdisciplinary methods, it offers a fresh, compelling perspective on early medieval Christianity and opens new paths for research.