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What have medieval nuns, parrot shooting, Freemasonry, and Shetland revelry got in common? This study of monastic orders, guilds, Freemasonry and friendly societies over centuries and across frontiers provides new insights into their contribution to the gendering of public space and the evolution of ´separate spheres´ in Europe.

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List of Illustrations Preface Seven Hundred Years of Fraternal Orders; D.Weinbren Men and Women in the Guild Returns; A.Prescott Women in Monastic Orders; A.Winston-Allen The Archduchess and the Parrot; M.Twycross Masonic Apologetic Writings; R.Beachy Protectresses in Jacobite Fraternities; R.Collis ´The Fair Sex´ in ´Male Sects´; R.Péter ´Sisters of Virtue´ in Swedish Pomerania; A.Önnerfors French Masonic Culture on the Eve of the Revolution; J.Smith Allen The Fraternity of Female Friendly Societies; D.Weinbren Flora Tristan´s Appeal for Fraternity; M.F.Cross Squads and Ha´s; P.M.King Notes Index

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ROBERT BEACHY Associate Professor of European History, Goucher College, USA ROBERT COLLIS Honorary Research Fellow, University of Sheffield, UK MµIRE CROSS Professor of French, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University UK PAMELA KING Professor of Medieval Studies, University of Bristol, UK ANDREAS ÖNNERFORS Director of the Centre for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, University of Sheffield, UK RàBERT PÉTER Senior Assistant Professor in the Institute of English and American Studies, University of Szeged, Hungary ANDREW PRESCOTT Director of Research, the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII), University of Glasgow, UK JAMES SMITH ALLEN Professor of History, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA MEG TWYCROSS Emeritus Professor of English Medieval Studies, Lancaster University, UK DAN WEINBREN Chair of the Friendly Societies Research Group, The Open University, UK ANNE WINSTON-ALLEN Professor of German Studies, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA

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