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Jan 15, 2024 · From queens to peasants to religious figures, women found new opportunities to fight for themselves, for what they cared about, and for what they believed in. Exploring this period through these notable women can give a new and unique understanding of the Middle Ages.
- Intern
- Famous Women of The Middle Ages
- Theodora of Byzantium
- Hilda of Whitby
- Ende The Illuminator
- Aethelflaed, Lady of The Mercians
- Matilda of Tuscany
- Hildegard of Bingen
- Eleanor of Aquitaine
- Marie de France
- Julian of Norwich
Scholars divide the Middle Ages into three periods: 1. Early Middle Ages – 476-1000 2. High Middle Ages – 1000-1300 3. Late Middle Ages – 1300-1500 There were many famous women throughout these three eras but the following twelve are among the best-known: 1. Empress Theodora of Byzantium 2. Hilda of Whitby 3. Ende the Illuminator 4. Aethelflaed, La...
Theodora (l. 500-548) was an actress in Constantinople (and possibly a prostitute) who converted to Christianityand took up wool-spinning and weaving as a profession. How she met the future emperor Justinian (r. 527-565) is unclear, but he was so in love with her that he changed the law which forbade royalty from marrying actresses and made her his...
Hilda (l. 614-680) was a noblewoman in the early days of the Kingdom of Northumbria who chose a life of piety and devotion to one at court. She rose from a novice to abbess of her order and founded Whitby Abbey, which became a center for learning and culture. Hilda was an able administrator who took care of the many facets of running the sizeable e...
It is well-established that, by the 13th century, women were involved in book production as scribes, illustrators, and illuminators of manuscripts, but Ende's work makes clear that women were involved in this process as early as the 10th century. Ende was a nun at a monastery in Spain when she worked on the manuscript now known as the Gerona Beatus...
Aethelflaed (r. 911-918) was the daughter of Alfred the Great (r. 871-899) and became Queen of Mercia following the death of her husband Aethelred II. As a daughter of Alfred, who believed literacy encouraged piety, she was highly educated and cultured. Her court was a well-known center of culture at which her nephew Athelstan, future King of the A...
Matilda (1046-1115, also known as Matilda of Canossa) was one of the most powerful women in the Middle Ages and the preeminent political force in medieval Italy. She is best known for her military prowess in defending her lands and the authority of Pope Gregory VII (c. 1073-1085) from the aggression of Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire(r. 1056-1105...
Hildegard (1098-1179) was a German polymath; a mystic, healer, scientist, visionary, author, composer, and abbess who claimed to receive visions from God from the time she was three years old and never doubted their truth. In 1150, she is said to have received a vision to move her order to Rupertsburg and, when her male superior refused her, she pr...
Eleanor (l. c. 1122-1204) was Queen of France, Queen of England, wife of two kings, mother of King Richard I (the 'Lion-heart'), King John of Magna Carta fame, Marie de Champagne (patroness of Chretien de Troyes), as well as a number of other notable children. She personally participated in the Second Crusadealong with her ladies-in-waiting, allege...
Marie (wrote c. 1160-1215) was a multilingual French poet, translator, and proto-feminist best known for her poetic work The Lais of Marie de France which popularized the concept of courtly love, the chivalric code, and the power of women. She is recognized as the first female poet of France but seems to have spent the majority of her time in Brita...
Julian (l. 1342-1416, sometimes given as Lady Juliana of Norwich) was a mystic, visionary, and author of the masterpiece of religious literature, Revelations of Divine Love. Julian's actual name is unknown, and her pen name comes from her residence at St. Julian's Church in Norwich, England. In May 1373, Julian believed she was dying and, as she la...
- Joshua J. Mark
Smashing conventions and challenging ill-founded beliefs, here are 12 of the most badass medieval women. Effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Fontevraud Abbey, France, c.1204. Garden Court Antiques
- Margery Kempe. The first on our list of famous women of the Middle Ages is Margery Kempe. She is noted for her work The Book of Margery Kempe, which is deemed as the first autobiography in the English language.
- Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim- A famous medieval woman who was the first playwright of the West. Hrotsvitha is a famous medieval woman who is regarded as the first playwright of the West.
- Margaret I of Denmark. Margaret I was a fierce queen and one of the famous women of the Middle Ages. Deemed as the ‘Lady King’, Margaret I was the regent of Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
- Eleanor of Aquitaine- One of the famous and powerful women of the Middle Ages. Eleanor of Aquitaine was perhaps the most powerful woman in the 12th century Europe.
- Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor of Aquitaine's life story reads like a medieval epic, filled with power, intrigue, and romance. Born in 1122 to the Duke of Aquitaine, she grew up in one of the largest and wealthiest domains in France.
- Isabella of France. Isabella of France, often known as the "She-Wolf of France," was a figure whose life intertwined with both the beauty and brutality of medieval politics.
- Hildegard of Bingen. Born in 1098 in the Holy Roman Empire, she was destined for a monastic life from a young age. Hildegard was not just a nun; she was a visionary, a composer, a writer, a philosopher, a naturalist, and a spiritual leader.
- Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc lived during a tumultuous period marked by the Hundred Years' War between France and England. Joan's life story is one of extraordinary courage, conviction, and, ultimately, martyrdom.
Modern portrayals of medieval women tend toward stereotypical images of damsels in distress, mystics in convents, female laborers in the fields, and even women of ill repute. In fact, women’s roles in the Middle Ages were varied and nuanced, and medieval depictions of womanhood were multi-faceted.
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Mar 8, 2021 · These women lived through moments of history, they are women of faith, queens and empresses, and mystics. So here are the lives of eight incredible medieval women for International Women’s Day.
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