![]() Visionary, medical doctor, astute politician, religious icon, innovative musician–Hildegard did it all. The German Hildegard von Bingen was a medieval superstar. If you know someone possessed by evil spirits, tying a bat around the neck may not be the best solution. “Christine, daughter of William called the Carpenter of Shire” wishes to be granted permission to be “shut up in a narrow place in the churchyard adjoining the parish church of Shire” to “vow herself solemnly to continence and perpetual chastity.” Yet, within three and a half years, she requests to be reenclosed since she has “left her cell inconstantly and returned to the world.” Although she could be excommunicated for having transgressed her vow, a letter bids that she be allowed to return, “lest by wandering any longer about the world she would be exposed to the bites of the rapacious world.” This request is granted so that she may not be “torn to pieces by attacks of the Tempter.” Clearly church authorities were concerned with her sexual activities and moral disposition. Several documents attest to her enclosure in 1329. Christine Carpenter was the anchoress of Shere in southern England. While not all women were so politically successful, others leave tantalizing traces of their lives. In later years she was regent of Wessex until her son could rule. The 11 th century queen Emma of Normandy was consort, first to an Anglo-Saxon king and later to a Viking monarch on the English throne. Women did not have to cross-dress in order to gain and attain power. Beyond the famous example of Joan of Arc, female transvestites were known to exist, from those wishing to hear lectures at university to saints determined to lead holy lives in defiance of their parents’ wishes. One chapter on clothing shows how laws determined what individuals should wear. ![]() While most of the chapters focus on one woman in her social, historical, and political context, A Medieval Woman’s Companion also explores the woman’s body and medical understandings of human corporeal workings to explain attitudes that prevailed towards women and their biology. Using primary historical documents, material artefacts, literary texts, and images, A Medieval Woman’s Companion: Women’s Lives in the European Middle Ages paints a rich and complex picture of medieval women’s lives.Īre there other such fearless female figures from the Middle Ages? Rather than a book for “just” a few scholars, I wanted to create something a general public could enjoy and learn from with an audience of many ages, including young adults. Are there other such fearless female figures from the Middle Ages?Īlthough I’ve written scholarly tomes and historical fiction, I found my college undergraduates and Masters students wanted – and needed - a book that could provide material about medieval women’s lives and the cultures they lived in. This seductive figure continues to entice readers today. Married four times, Gudrun helped plan her true love’s murder, only to later become Iceland’s first nun and anchoress, a hermit who lived alone in a cell. “Though I treated him worst, I loved him best.” These are the last known words of an eleventh-century Icelandic woman, Gudrun Osvifsdottir. ![]() ![]() Would you like to discover the lives of inspirational women who lived centuries ago? In this blog, author Susan Signe Morrison talks us through some fearless female figures from the Middle Ages.īy Susan Signe Morrison, author of A Medieval Woman’s Companion| 5 min read
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