The Story of Hwang Jini
Modern Koreans remain captivated by the elusive, but compelling, Hwang Jini because of her individuality and the romantic intricacy of her poetry.
Biography of Medieval Egyptian Queen shows her influence on Cairo’s architecture
A woman born into slavery in 13th-century Egypt broke the glass ceiling of the time to become a sultan and changed the look of Cairo with her innovative architectural projects.
Lady Dervorgilla and her Collection of Books
Heiress, patron, founder, potential bookworm. Lady Dervorgilla’s achievements as a woman in thirteenth-century Scotland and England are fascinating, and often overlooked.
Medieval Working Women: Their role in the trades of Southern France in the 14th century
This article provides an overview of the roles and place of women in artisanal guilds in late medieval southern France
Medieval Women’s Rights: Setting the Stage for Today
Sara Butler speaks about women in the Middle Ages and learn how they faced many of the same challenges that we do today.
Charters and Female Agency and Power in Medieval Scotland, with Rachel Meredith Davis
Dr. Rachel Meredith Davis joins the podcast to discuss her journey to studying medieval Scottish history, finishing a PhD during a pandemic, and female agency and power in Medieval Scotland.
‘Remarkable women’: Female patronage of religious institutions, 1300-1550
This conference seeks to explore the ways in which women patronised and interacted with monasteries and religious houses during the late Middle Ages, how they commissioned devotional and commemorative art for monastic settings, and the ways in which these donations were received and understood by their intended audiences.
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?