Dhuoda lived in the age after Charlemagne, when his son Louis the Pious’s three successors split up his kingdom into three pieces. It was an age of civil war and military strife. Dhuoda was the wife of a Carolingian Duke named Bernard, and the mother of two boys: William, the oldest, for whom she writes her "Liber Manualis," or "Manual," and Bernard II.
She began her manual in November of 841, and completed it in February of 843, while living in separation of her husband and sons. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, her son William was effectively being held hostage at the Court of Charles the Bald, while her son, Bernard, was away with her husband in Aquitaine. Due to the tone of her book near its ending, it has been conjectured that she did not live very long after writing it (Catholic Encyclopedia).
The Liber Manualis
The handbook Dhuoda compiled for her son William is mostly religious in nature, drawing on Biblical texts and teachings to both argue and create points of interest. Seventy-three chapters long, with an introduction, invocation, and prologue, its aim is to educate her son in life's lessons and in moral behavior.
However, as interesting as the actual lessons of the text are, it is the parts in-between them that are truly the window into Dhuoda and her life.
Dhuoda's Writing
Dhuoda exhibits personality in her writing, sometimes speaking lightly with an air of humor, sometimes speaking gravely. And throughout she exhibits how learned she is, especially with regards to the scriptures and the writings of Church fathers.
It cannot be said with certainty whether Dhuoda scribed the text herself, or had it written for her, but her voice is confident throughout, and she is a woman confident in what she is talking about. She was clearly well-educated, and exhibits a sureness and authority not expected of a medieval woman.
Conclusion
Carol Neel sums up Dhuoda's importance to the Middle Ages thusly, "There is no question that the world of Dhuoda was one in which women's direct political and economic power was less than it had been before Charlemagne's time, under the Merovingian dynasty. The significance of Dhuoda's commentary on family structures concerns the way in which contemporary women perceived their status among their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons. Handbook for William is evidence that ninth-century Frankish women retained powerful influence within their families."
Though in the time of turmoil that came after the fall of Charlemagne's empire women lost some of their former power, there were still women like Dhuoda, well-educated, confident, and thoughtful.
Sources:
Catholic Encyclopedia. Entry on Dhuoda.
Dhuoda, Handbook for William: A Carolingian Woman's Counsel for Her Son, ed. Carol Neel. (University of Nebraska Press 1991): xxv.
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