A major new reference work is aiming to reshape how medieval literature is taught and studied, by putting women’s writing—across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia—at the centre of the story.
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages was published last month and presents itself as the first encyclopedia devoted exclusively to women’s writing across continents between 500 and 1500 CE. It has over 340 entries, detailing writers as well as women who were translators, scribes, patrons, compilers, and commissioners.
“For too long, medieval women’s voices have been dismissed as rare exceptions or erased entirely from literary history,” says Diane Watt, a professor at the University of Surrey and on the editors of the book. “Our encyclopedia shows that women across the globe were poets, storytellers, translators and scribes who shaped the cultural landscape of their time. Their words speak to us today about love, loss, power, faith and resistance in ways that feel strikingly contemporary.”
As one might expect, you can find entries on Marie de France and Joan of Arc. However, the range of topics is intentionally wide, moving far beyond the usual western-European canon. Examples include Arabic Women’s Medicine, Women’s Letters in the Cairo Geniza, and Korea’s Kisaeng Sijo poetry, alongside figures such as the Persian poet Rabe’ah Balkhi, the Sufi writer Rabi’a al-’Adawiyya, and the Ethiopian saint Krəstos Śämra.
You can access the online version of The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages through Springer Nature.
A major new reference work is aiming to reshape how medieval literature is taught and studied, by putting women’s writing—across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia—at the centre of the story.
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages was published last month and presents itself as the first encyclopedia devoted exclusively to women’s writing across continents between 500 and 1500 CE. It has over 340 entries, detailing writers as well as women who were translators, scribes, patrons, compilers, and commissioners.
“For too long, medieval women’s voices have been dismissed as rare exceptions or erased entirely from literary history,” says Diane Watt, a professor at the University of Surrey and on the editors of the book. “Our encyclopedia shows that women across the globe were poets, storytellers, translators and scribes who shaped the cultural landscape of their time. Their words speak to us today about love, loss, power, faith and resistance in ways that feel strikingly contemporary.”
As one might expect, you can find entries on Marie de France and Joan of Arc. However, the range of topics is intentionally wide, moving far beyond the usual western-European canon. Examples include Arabic Women’s Medicine, Women’s Letters in the Cairo Geniza, and Korea’s Kisaeng Sijo poetry, alongside figures such as the Persian poet Rabe’ah Balkhi, the Sufi writer Rabi’a al-’Adawiyya, and the Ethiopian saint Krəstos Śämra.
You can access the online version of The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages through Springer Nature.
You can also buy the encyclopedia from Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
Top Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Français 599 fol. 18v
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