Elizabeth Atkinson Rash Brown (born February 16, 1932) is a professor emerita of history at Brooklyn College, of the City University of New York, a scholar and published author, known for her writings on

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

. She received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and A.M. and PhD. from Radcliffe College and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. In 2009 Elizabeth A. R. Brown was elected the Second Vice-President of the

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until c. 1980) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes ...

and in 2010-2011 served as its president. With her groundbreaking article''The Tyranny of a Construct: Feudalism and Historians of Medieval Europe'' (1974) Brown initiated an ongoing inconclusive discussion as to whether use of the term

is a useful construct for understanding medieval society. In her critique, Brown highlights the potential for constructs to influence research agendas and warns constructs that we use to analyze the past can be exclusive.

Works

Monographs

*''Customary Aids And Royal Finance in Capetian France: The Marriage Aid of Philip the Fair''; (Hardcover, Medieval Academy of Amer) : (0-915651-00-9) *''"Franks, Burgundians, and Aquitanians" and the Royal Coronation Ceremony in France''; (Diane Pub Co.) : (0-87169-827-7) *Jean Du Tillet and the French Wars of Religion: Five Tracts, 1562-1569''; (Hardcover, Mrts) : (0-86698-155-1) *''The Monarchy of Capetian France and Royal Ceremonial''; (Hardcover, Variorum) : (0-86078-279-4) *''Oxford Collection of the Drawings of Roger De Gaigni'Eres and the Royal Tombs of Saint-Denis''; (Diane Pub. Co. : (0-87169-785-8) *''Politics & Institutions in Capetian France''; (Ashgate Pub. Co.) : (0-86078-298-0)

Articles

*"Taxation and Morality in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: Conscience and Political Power and the Kings of France," ''French Historical Studies'', Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring, 1973), pp. 1-28. *"The Tyranny of a Construct: Feudalism and Historians of Medieval Europe," ''The American Historical Review'', Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct., 1974), pp. 1063-1088, at 1075-1076. *"The Ceremonial of Royal Succession in Capetian France: The Funeral of Philip V," ''Speculum'', Vol. 55, No. 2 (Apr., 1980), pp. 266-293. *"The Political Repercussions of Family Ties in the Early Fourteenth Century: The Marriage of Edward II of England and Isabelle of France," ''Speculum'', Vol. 63, No. 3 (Jul., 1988), pp. 573-595. *"Authority, the Family, and the Dead in Late Medieval France," ''French Historical Studies'', Vol. 16, No. 4 (Autumn, 1990), pp. 803-832. *"Philip V, Charles IV, and the Jews of France: The Alleged Expulsion of 1322," ''Speculum'', Vol. 66, No. 2 (Apr., 1991), pp. 294–329.

References

1932 births Living people American medievalists Women medievalists Radcliffe College alumni 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Swarthmore College alumni Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America American women historians Brooklyn College faculty 21st-century American women {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub