Conclusion

Summary

This study has considered fictional models of female social influence and patronage in late medieval romances; these characters, I argue, offer women readers thorough examples of the ways in which many different skills and forms of knowledge not limited to material wealth can be marshaled to influence the cultural and political realms they inhabit. By making a deeper inquiry into alternatives to the limited conceptions of social influence and patronage espoused by many scholars, this book re-evaluates a system based primarily on masculine power and property to consider the impact of women's particular knowledge and talents on that system. Yet all of the romances discussed in this study were written by men. Might not this fact of authorship undermine the influential feminine portrayals I have outlined in the previous chapters? Are these representations of culturally significant acts of female inspiration and sponsorship compromised if we consider that male poets might be creating the perfect patroness in the same way that Melior and Tryamour create the perfect knights through their acts of intellectual and financial support? Although we cannot read these fictional female agents and patrons completely divorced from their textual context, authorship alone does not explain the compelling characterizations of women's influence found in these romances. I suggest that there is an interdependence between the male authors of the romances I discuss and the women who read them. As many authors, such as Metham, relied in large measure upon the support provided by women sponsors, it was in their best interests to depict their female characters as influential figures or patrons whose various acts of generosity (both social and financial) enabled their knights' success.