<i>Speculum Matris</i>: Duoda's Manual
Karen Cherewatuk
Dhuoda (c. 803-843), wife of the Carolingian noble Bernard Septimania and dedicated mother two sons, William Bernard, displays remarkable humility in her approach to writing is startlingly honest use personal voice. Her lengthy letter offers advice, worldly spiritual, elder child William. In this letter, which she titles “liber manualis,”1 writes about herself hopes for both sons. This paper will explore genres — handbook or manualis mirror speculum principis that inform Dhuoda’s as well success at overcoming anxiety these traditionally masculine modes through distinctly female, particularly maternal, authority.
Florilegium