These dramatic new readings of Old and Middle English texts explore the rich theoretical territory at the intersection of class and gender, and highlight the interplay of the critic, methodology, and the medieval text. Together these essays ask how medieval English writings might pose in a distinctive way the question of a link between class and gender. Among the texts discussed are the "Old English Judith", riddles in the "Exeter Book", "Old English Elegies", Piers Plowman, Middle English popular romances, and Chaucer's "Hous of Fame" and "The Pardoner's Tale". The contributors are Karma Lochrie, John W. Tanke, Helen T. Bennett, David Aers, Harriet E. Hudson, Britton J. Harwood, Clare E. Lees, and Allen J. Frantzen.