How women contributed to the medieval music scene
Could medieval women be musicians? Here are three examples of how they created music in the 13th and 14th centuries.
Medieval Women Who Built Things, with Rachel Delman
Rachel Delman researches medieval women who were involved in building projects. In this episode of Scotichronicast, she joins Kate Buchanan to talk about her work and her journey to studying medieval Scottish history.
Medieval Princesses, with Kelcey Wilson-Lee
Did medieval princesses live that typical fairy-tale role? This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle talks with Kelcey Wilson-Lee, author of Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Children of Edward I, to learn about how these English princesses actually lived during the Middle Ages.
How the nuns of San Zaccaria succeeded in 12th century Venice
“These women find their fulfillment not individually, in the prayer and silence expected from those who have retreated to within the walls of a cloister, but in the project shared and collectively pursued to increase the prestige and influence of their monastic community.”
A comparative study of Urraca of León-Castilla (d. 1126), Melisende of Jerusalem (d. 1161), and Empress Matilda of England (d. 1167) as royal heiresses
This thesis explores aspects of rulership over five chapters, aimed at understanding how a royal heiress might succeed or fail to gain the throne, keep the throne, and preserve it for future generations.
Tang Dynasty noblewoman buried with her donkeys, for the love of polo
A noblewoman from Imperial China enjoyed playing polo on donkeys so much she had her steeds buried with her so she could keep doing it in the afterlife, archaeologists found.
Beguines with Tanya Stabler Miller
Often, people think of the women of medieval Europe as either wives or nuns: women whose lives and property were under the control of someone else. But what tends to be forgotten is that for some women there was a third option: to become a beguine. This week, Danièle speaks with Dr. Tanya Stabler Miller about who the beguines were, and what medieval society thought of them.
Queens of Infamy with Anne Thériault
In this first episode of 2020, Danièle connects with Anne Thériault, author of Longreads’ Queens of Infamy series, to talk about some of her favourite queens, saints, and foxes, and what it’s like to write infamous history on the internet in 2020.
Warriors, Warlocks, Widows: Women and Weapons in the Viking World
The associations between women and weapons in the Viking Age are far more intricate than some people would have expected.
Women and public space: Social codes and female presence in the Byzantine urban society of the 6th to the 8th centuries
The aim of the study is to sketch a picture of female presence in public space in the urban milieu of the Byzantine Empire in the 6th to the 8th centuries.
Grave Bj 581: the Viking Warrior that was a woman
Is the standing interpretation of the grave as that of a high-status warrior still valid?
The Werewolf’s Wife: The She-Wolves in Medieval Literature
Whereas the werewolves grieve over their fate, the she-wolves use the power of metamorphosis to deal with those who get in their way, turning this whole wolf thing to their advantage.
Finding their Voices: Women in Byzantine and Latin Christian Philosophy
But the two voices of humility and transcendence, respectively lower and higher than the discourse routinely employed by male authors, were characteristic of female medieval authors.
The Lost Women of Prémontré: Finding and Following the Footsteps of Medieval Women
In the mid-12th century, the chronicler Herman of Tournai wrote that there were more than 10,000 Premonstratensian sisters spread across northern France.
Gender equality and the Vikings
Modern-day Scandinavia is regarded as a model of equality between the sexes. A new study indicates that this may go back to the early Middle Ages.
More than Mothers: Juries of Matrons and Pleas of the Belly in Medieval England
Common law was an all-male system, with one glaring exception: juries of matrons.
‘More of a Burden Rather Than a Benefit’: Perceptions of Crusading Women and How They Developed From the Eleventh to Fourteenth Centuries
Were women only a ‘burden’ to the crusades or did they challenge this perspective and benefit the movement?
Warriors and women: The Sex Ratio of Norse Migrants to Eastern England Up To 900 AD
It suggests that female migration may have been as significant as male, and that Norse women were in England from the earliest stages of the migration, including during the campaigning period from 865.
The Holy Spirit in Female Form: Medieval Tales of Faith and Heresy
The stories of Guglielma of Milan and Na Prous Boneta of Montpelier – how they became associated with the Holy Spirit – and how the Catholic Church responded to them.
In search of Lagertha, the Warrior Queen
As one of the most aspiring female characters on the show, Lagertha in the TV series Vikings is introduced as the wife of Ragnarr Loðbrók and a renowned shieldmaiden – women who fight fearlessly in the battlefront. But where does Lagertha’s story originate?
Gendered viewing, childbirth and female authority in the residence of Alice Chaucer, duchess of Suffolk, at Ewelme, Oxfordshire
This article examines the visual culture of the late medieval great residence from the perspective of the female gaze.
Mothers Who Weren’t: Wet Nurses in the Medieval Mediterranean
By Cait Stevenson The mother’s traditional role as first teacher of virtue and religion began with suckling. It’s no wonder, then, that later…
Laundry Ladies in Medieval Poland
Usually considered to be “women’s work”, this paper takes a close look at how laundry was done in medieval Poland, calling into question common historical stereotypes.
I Love You, Please Put Away the Bear: Valkyrjur-turned-Wife
Though they may marry and even support their husbands in the short term, they generally bring ruin upon their partners.