| In 1995, 'community' was taken as the theme of the annual meeting of the Gender and Medieval Studies Group, which met at Gregynog, the conference centre of the University of Wales. The topic was chosen because it was generally felt to be one which needed opening out for discussion, and the meeting proved so stimulating that the decision was made to publish some of the research. Thanks are owed to all who took part, especially Ruth Evans, Jane Gilbert, E. Kay Harris, Kirsten Hill, Richard Ireland, Rhiannon Purdie and Catherine Williams. My own introduction is particularly indebted to the papers by Ruth Evans and Jane Gilbert, and to the discussions provoked by their sessions. I would like to thank Alison Yarnold (Flora Hadfield) for her invaluable assistance at the conference, and also Patricia Duncker, Andrew Hadfield and John Watts for their help. I am grateful to the administrators of the University of Wales Aberystwyth College Research Fund for generously supporting this project, to Ned Thomas of the University of Wales Press for his encouragement, and to the reader appointed by the publisher for such informed and constructive advice. I am indebted to Bill Watts for recovering data from a damaged disk, and to Jean Matthews from the Computer Unit, UWA, and to Joan Crawford and June Baxter from the English Department, who all helped with the typing. Patricia Watt read through the proofs with painstaking care. Finally, this book would never have come into being without the efforts of its contributors, whose cheerful co-operation made its editing a surprisingly painless process. |
|
Wohunge of Ure Lauerd