Medieval manuscripts blog

Bringing our medieval manuscripts to life

04 October 2024

Medieval Women exhibition book available now!

There’s just one month to go until the opening of our new exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words. We can’t wait for visitors to come and explore the rich and complex lives of women in the Middle Ages!

If you can’t wait either, then you might be excited to learn that the exhibition book, Medieval Women: Voices & Visions, is now available for pre-order from the British Library’s online bookshop. All orders will be dispatched after 25 October, the exhibition's opening date.

Photo of the book, entitled 'Medieval Women: Voices and Visions'. The cover image shows a group of nuns taken from a medieval manuscript

Drawing on the exhibition items, the book takes a deeper dive into the lives and times of women in Europe in the period of roughly 1100–1500. It begins with a preface by International bestselling author and British Library board member Kate Mosse, followed by an introduction by the exhibition’s lead curator, Eleanor Jackson. The book contains nine chapters exploring over-arching themes, and forty-three short ‘spotlights’ that shine a light on particular women, events and issues, all written by experts in the field.

The volume is divided into four main sections reflecting women’s contributions right across medieval society: ‘Private Lives’, exploring women’s bodies, health, households and family life; ‘Public Lives’, focusing on women’s power and political involvement; ‘Working Lives’, revealing women’s work and creativity; and ‘Spiritual Lives’, uncovering women’s experiences as visionaries, heretics, and in religious communities. It tells the stories of a wide variety of women: from queens to peasants, nuns to sex-workers, physicians to artists.

Contents page of the book, with chapters on 'Private Lives', 'Public Lives', 'Working Lives' and 'Spiritual Lives'

Sumptuously illustrated, the book is a feast for the eyes. There are images of most of the items on display in the exhibition, and many more!

One of the spreads in the book, showing illustrations of an illuminated manuscript and a charter

You can pre-order your copy of the Medieval Women exhibition book now on the British Library website.

The exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is open at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025. You can pre-book your tickets online now.

This exhibition is made possible with support from Joanna and Graham Barker, Unwin Charitable Trust, and Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at the London Community Foundation.

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