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
feudalism is a useful construct for understanding medieval society.[3] 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.[4]
Works
Monographs
Customary Aids And Royal Finance in Capetian France: The Marriage Aid of Philip the Fair; (Hardcover, Medieval Academy of Amer)
"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.