07 November 2024
Requesting a raise: the petition of Joan Astley
At a time when women’s work was often undervalued, one woman petitioned for a raise in her salary. Her name was Joan Astley and she was nurse to Henry VI (r. 1422-1461, 1470-1471), who became King of England at only eight months old. She made her petition to the king and his council on 14 January 1424, when Henry had just turned two, asking for her annual salary to be doubled from £20 to £40, equivalent to around £35,000 in modern currency. The petition, written in Middle French, now survives on a single leaf in the British Library’s collections (Stowe Ch 643), and is currently on display in our exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words.
The petition of Joan Astley to Henry VI, asking for a pay increase; 14 January 1424: Stowe Ch 643
Joan came from a well-connected family. Her father, Sir Thomas Gresley (d. 1455) was a Lancastrian nobleman and landowner in Derbyshire who had fought in recent military campaigns in France. Meanwhile, her husband, Sir Thomas Astley (d. by 1432) was a relative of Richard Beauchamp (d. 1439), Earl of Warwick, a figure at the very heart of the English government. Upon her appointment in 1422, Joan entered a household that was principally based at Windsor and almost wholly composed of women. It included two additional nurses, Elizabeth Ryman and Matilda Fosbroke, a chamberwoman by the name of Agnes Jakeman, a laundress named Margaret Brotherman and at least two other female attendants.
As the king’s nurse, Joan had an essential role to play. The high infant mortality rate during the period meant that, even with the wealth and privilege that befitted his status, the king needed to receive the best care if he was to survive to adulthood. Joan would have been expected not only to breastfeed the young Henry, but also take responsibility for his general health and well-being, his daily life, and his education in his formative years.
A mother chooses a potential wet nurse, from Aldobrandino of Siena’s Regime du Corps: Sloane MS 2435, f. 28v
Joan’s role was even more significant considering the sudden death of Henry VI’s father, Henry V (r. 1413-1422), in 1422. Henry VI was the sole surviving heir from his father’s marriage to the French princess Catherine of Valois (d. 1437). When the infant king ascended to the throne, England had to be ruled by a regency council until he came of age. If Joan had failed in her care and Henry had not survived into adolescence, the whole country could have been plunged into a major succession crisis.
The birth of Henry VI, showing Catherine of Valois with her nurses and attendants, from the ‘Pageants of Richard Beauchamp’: Cotton MS Julius E IV/3, f. 22v
When Joan submitted her petition to the king and his council in January 1424, the two-year-old king was too young to answer her request. Yet the council evidently felt that Joan had done her job well because an inscription on the back of the document indicates that the increase in her salary was not only granted but given to her for life, a fact corroborated by the pipe rolls (a collection of financial records maintained by the English Exchequer). The same year, the composition of the royal household began to change. In April 1424, a governess called Alice Butler was appointed to teach Henry courtesy, manners and discipline. A few years later, at the age of seven, the young king had all but transitioned away from the community of women who had looked after him, spending most of his time under the care of the Earl of Warwick and with other boys from noble and royal families. He no longer had any need for a nurse and Joan’s time in the household ended altogether.
However, this was not the end of her story. After her husband died in the early 1430s, Joan remained in the king’s favour. Further grants and annuities were awarded to her in the following years, probably as a reward for her service. Most notably in 1446, she was one of three founders given a royal license to establish a fraternity and chantry for St Botolph’s without Aldersgate, a parish church in the Smithfield area of London. Joan lived nearby, one of a number of widows who rented properties within the lands owned by St Bartholomew’s Hospital during this period. A rental for the hospital, compiled in 1456 by Brother John Cok (and now known as SBHB/HC/2/1) lists her as the resident of a tenement above the Smithfield Gate and tenant of a small garden in the vicinity. She probably remained there until her death (sometime after 1463), when she was said to have been buried in St Botolph’s Church. Though Joan’s home no longer exists, in 1907 a plaque was installed to commemorate the site, serving as the foundation stone for a new building in the complex of the hospital.
A plaque marking the site of Joan Astley’s home in the grounds of St Bartholomew’s Hospital
You can see the petition of Joan Astley in person by visiting our major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, which runs from 25 October 2024 until 2 March 2025, at St Pancras in London. Tickets are available to order 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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05 November 2024
Birgitta's marvellous marginalia
A monumental manuscript is on display in our Medieval Women exhibition. Harley MS 612 measures 54.5 x 38 cm, weighs over 15kg, and usually requires at least two British Library staff members to place it back onto its shelf. It is a compilation of Latin material by and about Birgitta of Sweden (d. 1373), copied in the mid-15th century for the Birgittine brothers of Syon Abbey. With its gorgeous, illuminated initials, wide margins, and elegant script full of decorative flourishes—courtesy of Thomas Colyngbourn, the manuscript’s scribe—one can easily imagine the awe of the Syon brothers on seeing it lying open on a lectern to be read aloud during the evening meal.
A monumental copy of the works of Birgitta of Sweden, made for the brothers of Syon Abbey: Harley MS 612, ff. 164v-165r
The text begins with a Latin translation of Birgitta’s Revelations, her visions and teachings originally written down in Swedish, but Birgitta’s voice peters out over the course of the manuscript. Considerable space is devoted to defences of Birgitta by male ecclesiastical authorities, posthumous accounts of her miracles, and even lives of other saints. As you move through the volume, it becomes more of a ‘Birgittine book’ than it is ‘Birgitta’s book’: less a document of the Swedish saint’s mysticism, and more of a grand testament to the cementing of her cult in England—and to the wealth of the community whose order bore her name.
So, amid all this institutional grandeur, what’s this doodle doing in the margins?
A marginal figure marking an addition to the text: Harley MS 612, f. 118r
Or what about this cheeky little face that peers out from the letter ‘h’ in the Latin word ‘humiliter’?
Peekaboo: Harley MS 612, f. 138r
The manuscript is full of these surprises. Marginal images are dotted throughout—some glossing the text, some marking additions, and some of them seemingly just for fun. Where they came from is something of a mystery. The volume’s exemplar (the model from which it was copied) has not been identified, so we can’t tell whether the scribe was copying them out from a manuscript sitting open in front of him, or making them up as he went along. Some patterns of marginal images seem to suggest the scribe was working with a planned programme in mind, such as the concentration of images on ff. 78v-82v, all illustrating bits of text next to which they appear. They include a trussed-up corpse head with a banderole warning about the spiritual death of worldly souls:
‘For just as they died a bodily death’ (Sicut enim illi morte corporali moriebantur): Harley MS 612, f. 78v
… and this yapping creature, a fox in a shell, seemingly representing the ‘serpent-born’, devil-suckled beast described in the text as seeking to supplant its superiors:
‘Tending towards treasons’ (proditiones tendere): Harley MS 612, f. 80v
But other marginal images seem less integral to the manuscript’s design. Instead, they are like little Easter eggs, visual treats tucked into the pages to delight any reader willing to look closely enough. This tiny critter, buried in the gutter, playfully glosses the Virgin Mary’s words to Birgitta about bad bishops being as flashy and insubstantial as butterflies:
A butterfly buried in the gutter: Harley MS 612, f. 32v
On another page, what at first looks like a simple doodle to prop up an overflowing line reveals itself as a clever illustration of the accompanying text, in which Mary tells Birgitta that Christ is like a poor peasant carrying around brushwood:
A wooden support illustrating an overflowing line of text: Harley MS 612, f. 50r
My own favourite marginal images play with the manuscript’s physical dimensions, creating trompe-l’œil effects that turn the two-dimensional page into a playground of light, shadow, and depth. You feel as though you could almost step into this tiny door, which represents Christ’s promise to protect all those who enter the Bridgettine order from their enemies:
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Qui in eam intraverunt): Harley MS 612, f. 164v
Then there’s this addition suspended on a ‘rope’, which, when you turn the page, appears to be driven through the folio and attached on the other side. The scribe was clearly enjoying himself here.
A real page-turner: Harley MS 612, ff. 232r-v
Since this manuscript is on display in our Medieval Women exhibition, however, I would be remiss if I didn’t end this tour of the manuscript’s marginalia with what appears to be its only image of Birgitta herself, a small portrait peeking out between two columns of text.
After all, even though this image appears alongside a male bishop’s words, defending and ‘authorising’ Birgitta’s sanctity, it’s the rich, strange, dizzying images of the divine in Birgitta’s own Revelations that must have inspired the scribe to create his gallery of wonders in the margins. However demure she looks in this portrait, Birgitta was a woman of remarkable force and intellect—just one of many whose stories are represented in our Medieval Women exhibition.
Holy Birgitta, pray for us: Harley MS 612, f. 207v
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025. You can purchase 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.
Rowan Wilson
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31 October 2024
Medieval witches
While we were developing our exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, the most common question we were asked was, “Will you be including witches?” Although many people think of the Middle Ages as a time when women were widely persecuted as witches, in fact witchcraft trials were rare before 1500. The European “witch craze” only reached its peak in the early modern period, during the late 16th and 17th centuries. Still, the late Middle Ages was the time when many myths about witchcraft first developed. We always aim to please, so this Halloween we’re pleased to announce: yes, we’re including witches!
In 1486, notorious inquisitor Heinrich Kramer published a book called Malleus Malificarum (Hammer of Witches). This guide to identifying and prosecuting witches codified many ideas about witchcraft that became influential in later witch trials: that witches are predominantly women, that they enter pacts with demons, that they use magic to cause impotence, crop failure, disease and death of livestock and people. Yet the Malleus Malificarum was the culmination of a development that took place throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, when several strands of thought about magic, spirituality and women came together into one disastrous stereotype. In this blogpost, we explore these various strands as well as the stories of some of the earliest accused witches.
Midwives and herbalists
From the earliest times, women were important healthcare providers. In the absence of any formal healthcare system, informal networks of female practitioners provided medical cures and assisted women during pregnancy and childbirth. Methods of treatment ranged from blood-letting to herbal remedies to magical charms. Sometimes they would use their skills for non-medical purposes, such as supplying love charms, finding lost objects and predicting the future.
The male medical elite looked down on female practitioners. The English surgeon and medical writer John Arderne (d. c. 1377), for example, wrote dismissively of “þe medycinez of ladiez” (the medicines of ladies), which, he said, made patients worse. We can see how the woman healer whose practices spanned the medical and the occult became a figure of distrust and derision in John Lydgate’s The Pilgrimage of Man. In this moralising verse account of an allegorical journey, the pilgrim “everyman” meets an old hag who, it turns out, is the personification of sorcery. This unpleasant character is peddling inscriptions, images, ointments, herbs and astrological readings, which she uses for malicious ends. The pilgrim asks her, “Tell on without more tarrying, where learnest thou all thy cunning?” She replies, “Soothly as I rehearse can, I learned my cunning off Satan”.
Sorceresses and the devil
In the Middle Ages witchcraft was not a secular crime, but from the 14th century it came to be regarded as a form of heresy making it punishable by the Church. The heresy trials of the Order of the Knights Templar beginning in 1307, designed by Philip IV of France as a means to destroy the powerful order, included trumped-up accusations of sorcery, devil worship and performing sexual acts with demons. Many Templars confessed under torture, the order was disbanded and the leaders burned at the stake. These trials set an important precedent for establishing sorcery as evidence of heresy and paved the way for the persecution of women associated with magic.
In 1324, perhaps inspired by the trials of the Templars, one of the earliest known witchcraft trials in Europe took place. The accused was Alice Kyteler of Kilkenny in Ireland, whose three wealthy husbands had all died mysteriously leaving her with a great fortune. Richard Ledred, bishop of Ossory, pursued the case after Alice’s stepchildren accused her of using sorcery to infatuate and kill her husbands. Seven lurid charges were made against her, including that Alice summoned demons, brewed potions and had a sexual relationship with a demon incubus named Robin Artisson. Alice fled to England and evaded punishment, but her maidservant Petronella of Meath was tortured and burned at the stake as an accomplice.
Visionaries and demons
The association between women and supernatural influences was also informed by their prominent role as spiritual visionaries in medieval religious culture. It was believed that visionaries were able to witness glimpses of the supernatural world and communicate with spiritual beings such as God, saints or angels to gain hidden knowledge. While visionaries could be male or female, women were particularly attracted to the visionary path as it was one of the few ways that they could claim individual religious authority. Some female visionaries recorded their experiences and created important works of religious literature, including Hildegard of Bingen, Bridget of Sweden, Catherine of Siena and Julian of Norwich.
Yet a career as a female visionary could be risky. Many churchmen were concerned that holy women might be receiving visions not from God but from the Devil. They considered that women were particularly susceptible to supernatural influences, including those of a more malevolent nature. As Heinrich Kramer explained in the Malleus Malificarum:
“Women are naturally more impressionable, and more ready to receive the influence of a disembodied spirit; [...] when they use this quality well they are very good, but when they use it ill they are very evil” (translation by M. Summers, 1971).
Church authorities developed elaborate systems to determine whether a reported vision was truly from God. Those whose visions were deemed to be from the Devil, especially those who gained power and knowledge from him, could be accused of witchcraft and heresy.
One of the most famous visionary women to be accused of witchcraft was Joan of Arc. During the Hundred Years War between England and France, the illiterate peasant girl received visions of saints and angels who told her to help the Dauphin Charles accede to the throne of France. She became the hero of the French army at the siege of Orleans, before being captured by the Burgundian-English alliance and tried for heresy. During the trial, the inquisitors accused her of visiting a “fairy tree” near her village of Domrémy, where she supposedly danced and adored the fairies. They concluded that Joan’s visions were not of saints but of evil spirits, such as Belial, Satan and Behemoth. She was found guilty and burned at the stake in 1431.
The English were particularly keen to remember Joan as a witch. The Brut chronicle, one of the most popular accounts of English history in the medieval and early modern periods, refers to Joan as “the wicche of Fraunce” (the witch of France), and claims that “By her crafte of sorserie alle the Frensshe men and her compeny trystid for to haue ouyrcome alle the Engelisshe pepull” (By her craft of sorcery, all the French men and her company trusted that they would overcome all the English people).
Political witches
Political motivations also underlie many of the other high profile witchcraft accusations of the period. Perhaps the biggest witchcraft scandal in medieval England centred on Eleanor Cobham (d. 1452), Duchess of Gloucester. Eleanor rose from a position in the lower gentry to become one of the most powerful women in England as the mistress and then wife of Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester. Humfrey was the uncle and heir of King Henry VI of England, meaning that he and Eleanor could have become king and queen if Henry had died young.
Eleanor fell victim to court politics in 1441 when she was accused of encouraging a group of scholars to make horoscopes predicting the untimely death of the king, and employing a woman named Margery Jourdemain, “the Witch of Eye”, to perform sorcery for her. At her trial, Eleanor denied plotting against the king, although she did admit to buying fertility remedies from Margery Jourdemain to help her to conceive a child with Humfrey. Both Eleanor and Margery were found guilty of heresy. Eleanor was made to perform humiliating public penance, divorce Humfrey and spend the rest of her life in imprisonment. Margery, who had been in trouble with the authorities for witchcraft before, was burned at the stake as a relapsed heretic.
Eleanor Cobham was not the only woman connected with the English royal family who was accused of witchcraft in the 15th century. Earlier in the century, Joan of Navarre (d. 1437), widow of King Henry IV of England, was accused of witchcraft as a thin excuse to confiscate her money and lands to help pay for Henry V’s war with France. Later, the Titulus Regius of 1484 justified Richard III seizing the throne of England from his young nephew by claiming that the marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville came about through “Sorcerie and Wichecrafte, committed by the said Elizabeth, and her Moder” (sorcery and witchcraft committed by the said Elizabeth and her mother).
These accusations show the great fear directed at women who were active in English politics, particularly those who challenged the status quo by marrying into the royal family for love rather than diplomacy, and — in the case of Eleanor Cobham and Elizabeth Woodville — climbing the social ladder from relatively obscure backgrounds. In each of these examples, including Alice Kyteler and Joan of Arc, accusations of witchcraft proved to be a convenient tactic for discrediting an ambitious and influential woman in a way that was impossible for her to disprove.
Women healers, visionaries, heretics and accused witches all feature in our Medieval Women exhibition. You can encounter unique historical manuscripts relating to Joan of Arc, Eleanor Cobham and Elizabeth Woodville, and you can even have a go at our digital interactive “Are You a Witch?”, based on criteria from the Malleus Malificarum.
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025. You can book your tickets online.
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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29 October 2024
Keeping a cat and other rules for anchoresses
Our exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words highlights the stories of women across medieval society, from labourers and artisans to abbesses and queens. Some of the most unique experiences were had by anchoresses, religious women such as Julian of Norwich (d. after 1416), Christine Carpenter (fl. 1329-1332) and Margaret Kirkby (d. c. 1391-4), who chose to enclose themselves permanently in cells attached to churches. There they lived lives of prayer, contemplation and devotion to God.
Several surviving texts provide guidance to anchoresses about how to live their lives. One handbook, known as Ancrene Wisse, was composed in the first decades of the 13th century, supposedly for three sisters who had chosen to enter the contemplative life. One of the earliest and most important surviving manuscripts of this text (Cotton MS Cleopatra C VI) is on display in the exhibition. The Middle English work not only offers anchoresses spiritual advice, but also practical instructions about all aspects of their daily routine, outlining the rules they are expected to observe, from their food and drink to their clothes and possessions, and even the pets they could own.
The earliest surviving manuscript of Ancrene Wisse; England, c. 1225-1230: Cotton MS Cleopatra C VI, f. 193r
Here is a selection of these rules that give a taste of what life as an anchoress might have looked like:
Life in the Anchorhold
- An anchoress’s cell should only have three windows: a church window, that provides a view into the church to see the Eucharist, a house window, to allow for food and other goods to be brought in, and a parlour window for dealing with the outside world. These windows should be as small as possible, and closed when not in use.
- Anchoresses are not allowed to preach and can only offer advice to women. They are also not allowed to criticise men for their vices, the exception being ‘holy old anchoresses’ who may do it in a certain way (the text does not elaborate).
- Anchoresses should not curse or swear.
- Anchoresses must not become teachers or turn the anchorhold into a school.
- They should neither send letters, nor receive letters, nor write without leave.
- Anchoresses are allowed maidservants – Julian of Norwich is known to have had two, called Sarah and Alice – but they have to observe strict rules.
The enclosure of an anchoress by a bishop; London, 15th century: Lansdowne MS 451, f. 76v
Diet, Sleep and Hygiene
- Anchoresses must not use meat or fat in their meals but instead observe a diet of vegetable stew and be accustomed to drink very little.
- Eating with guests outside the anchorhold is not allowed, and men are barred from eating in the anchoress’s presence.
- Anchoresses and their maidservants should not eat or snack outside of mealtimes.
- No one else is allowed to sleep in the anchoress’s home, and anchoresses must only sleep in their beds.
- Washing is encouraged! Anchoresses can wash themselves and their things as often as they like.
- Anchoresses must have their hair cut, shaved or trimmed four times a year.
- Bloodletting is permitted (a common medieval medical treatment), but the guide warns that afterwards, the anchoress should do nothing strenuous for three days and pass the time with her servants, sharing ‘theawfule talen’ (virtuous stories) together.
- When unwell, anchoresses should not take remedies advised by ‘uncundelich lechecreft’ (unnatural healing), in case they make things worse.
Clothing
- Clothing should be plain, warm and well-made.
- A covering should be worn upon the head, either a wimple or a simple cap.
- In winter, an anchoress’s shoes should be soft, large, and warm, while in summer, light shoes can be worn, or there is the option to walk barefoot.
- Anchoresses should not own rings, brooches, patterned belts and gloves or any other kind of adornments.
The only animal an anchoress was allowed to keep was a cat: Add MS 42130, f. 190r
Manual Work and Possessions
- Anchoresses should not conduct business. An anchoress who is fond of bargaining ‘chepeth hire sawle the chap-mon of helle’ (sells her soul to the peddler of Hell).
- They should not make embroidered items like purses, caps, silk bandages or lace as a means of making friends. If they want to sew, they can make church vestments or mend clothes for the poor.
- Anchoresses can receive gifts from ‘good people’, but they should not take anything from those they do not trust. Examples of untrustworthy people include those with ‘fol semblant’ (foolish pretences) or ‘wake wordes’ (idle chatter).
- Anchoresses are not allowed to look after other people’s possessions, including clothes, boxes, charters or tally sticks, indentures, church vestments and chalices.
- No pets allowed! Anchoresses are told ‘ne schule ye habben nan beast bute cat ane’ (you should not keep any animals, except a single cat), so they do not invest too much thought on their welfare. If an anchoress must have an animal, then it should not bother or harm anyone and she should not think too much about it, as an ‘ancre ne ah to habben na thing thet ut-ward drahe hire heorte’ (‘an anchoress should not have anything which draws away her heart’).
Ancrene Wisse was one of the more popular medieval anchoritic handbooks – at least 17 manuscripts of the text survive, with translations in Middle English, Anglo-Norman French and Latin – but whether these rules represented a reality for all anchoresses is difficult to judge. There may have been other advisory texts available to guide them, some less stringent than others. One can also imagine the individual relationships anchoresses had with their communities meant that a life of restriction and near-total seclusion was harder to adhere to. Nonetheless, the rules Ancrene Wisse sets out give us a sense of what these women were knowingly committing to when then entered the contemplative life.
An anchoress inside her anchorhold; London, c. 1400-1410: Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 079, f. 96r
To learn more about the lives of anchoresses, visit our major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, which runs from 25 October 2024 until 2 March 2025, at St Pancras in London. Tickets are available to order 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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25 October 2024
Medieval Women well and truly open
Fanfare, please! We are thrilled to say that the British Library's major new exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, is now open to the public. The first ticket-holders are starting to go through the doors, and we hope thousands more will follow them in the coming months.
It's about time, we think, that medieval women took the spotlight. Margery Kempe (died in 1438) wrote the first autobiography in the English language. Her contemporary, Joan of Arc (burned in 1431), led armies to victory in a male-dominated world. Marta, an enslaved Russian woman, was sold in the marketplace in Venice in 1450. Shajar al-Durr (died in 1257) was the first woman to rule in Mamluk Egypt. Margery Brews wrote the first Valentine letter in 1477. Sibylle of Flanders (died in 1163) refused to return home with her husband from Jerusalem. Margaret of Anjou (died in 1482) owned a pet Barbary lion. Gwerful Mechain (lived in the late 1400s) wrote explicit poetry. Joan Astley asked Henry VI for a pay rise in 1423/4. Margaret, Maid of Norway (died in 1290), aged just seven, was to be betrothed to an English prince. Estellina Conat was the first woman to print a book in Hebrew, in 1474. Margaret Starre took part in the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. Joan of Beverley embroidered an altar band in the 14th century.
Our exhibition features an incredible range of manuscripts, documents and early printed books from the Library's collections, alongside some amazing loans from other institutions. Medieval Women is the culmination of many months' hard work behind the scenes, by colleagues in our Exhibitions, Loans, Conservation, Marketing, Press, Publishing, Events, Learning, Commercial and Visitor Services teams — not to mention the curators (Ellie, Julian, Calum) and our other colleagues. We hope you have the chance to visit our exhibition in person, to attend one of the events, or to buy the book. We like to think that the medieval women whose stories we tell would have been delighted to make your acquaintance.
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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19 October 2024
Countdown to Medieval Women
Our major new exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, opens on 25 October 2024. In hot anticipation, here are some ways you can get involved, and a sneak preview of the gallery to whet your appetite.
Tickets can be purchased in advance here or in person at the British Library, with a large range of concessions available.
The exhibition book, Medieval Women: Voices and Visions, edited by Eleanor Jackson & Julian Harrison, with a foreword by Kate Mosse, can be ordered in advance from the British Library Shop. The perfect birthday or Christmas present! Maybe we can even tempt you to buy our Medieval Women Christmas jumper.
We have an exciting programme of events, starting with Kate Mosse, Here and Now: Meet the Medieval Women, on 29 October (in person and online).
Meanwhile, our Learning team has organised school workshops and tours, and you can find more information about them here.
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words runs from 25 October 2024 until 2 March 2025, at St Pancras in London. We'd be delighted to see you there, as we uncover the stories of women from the past, from across Europe, and from all walks of life.
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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17 October 2024
Maidens or monsters?
During the Middle Ages, some of the most popular and well-loved stories were about classical women, female saints and heroines of courtly romance. In a new British Library publication, Maidens or Monsters? Tales of Amazons, Goddesses, Queens & Temptresses in Medieval Manuscripts, Chantry Westwell delves into the stories of these women, exploring their portrayal by medieval authors and illuminators.
The book is divided into six sections dedicated to female warriors and murderesses, women of virtue and faith, power, and tragedy, as well as enigmatic and allegorical women taken from myth and legend. Their accounts are accompanied by some of the most exquisite examples of medieval art, reproduced from within the pages of manuscripts from the eighth to the 16th centuries, mostly from the British Library’s collections.
The six sections are as follows:
I: Warriors, Murderesses and Femmes Fatales
The first section of the book features stories of the legendary Amazon Women led by their Queen Penthesilea, the Colchian witch Medea, who takes her revenge on the Greek hero Jason, Minerva, goddess of war and Salome, who danced for Herod, then asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
Queen Penthesilea leads the Amazon Women into battle, from Christine de Pizan’s ‘Book of the Queen’ (Paris, c. 1410-c. 1414): Harley MS 4431/1, f. 103v
II: Holy Women
The second section focuses on the lives and stories of holy women, from Mary Magdalene and St Margaret of Antioch, who emerges from a dragon’s belly to St Helena, mother of Constantine the Great and a remarkable group of desert saints known as the Holy Harlots.
St Mary of Egypt is handed a cloak by St Zosima, from in the Theodore Psalter (Constantinople, 1066): Add MS 19352, f. 68r.
III: Powerful Women
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, Olympias of Macedon, and Candace of Ethiopia are among those featured in this section dedicated to women who wielded real power in their lifetimes but were not always treated fairly by historians and chroniclers, who tended to portray them as manipulative temptresses rather than as skilful politicians or rulers.
The Egyptian Nectanebo disguised as a serpent seducing Olympias, in the Roman d’Alexandre en prose (‘Prose Alexander Romance’), from the Talbot Shrewsbury Book (Rouen, c. 1445): Royal MS 15 E VI, f. 6r
IV: Tragic Heroines
This section looks at women whose stories ended in great tragedy: from the romantic heroine Elvide and the classical Lucretia who both die for their honour, to the Persian Shirin who takes her own life on her husband’s grave, and the story of the Biblical Eve, blamed for the downfall of humanity, exiled from paradise, before experiencing terrible family tragedy.
The suicide of Shirin at Khusraw’s tomb, in Nizami, Khamsah (India, 1595): Or 12208, f. 102r
V: Partners and Lovers
The women in the fifth section of the book were all partners of famous men, but nonetheless captured the limelight in their stories. Among them are Camelot’s Guinevere and the legendary Helen of Troy, as well as the Old Testament Delilah, Dante’s Beatrice from the Divine Comedy and Humayun, the Chinese princess of Persian folklore.
Beatrice showing Dante the orders of angels and saints in Dante, Paradiso (Tuscany, c. 1445): Yates Thompson MS 36, f. 180r
VI: Mystical, Magical and Allegorical Women
The final section looks at the stories of mystical and magical women, from the fairy Melusine, who transforms into a fish, to the mermaids, who lured sailors from their ships, and the divine Sibyls, known for their prophecies, along with other fantastical female characters.
Two Sirens swim beside a ship with sailors who are under their spell, from the Queen Mary Psalter (London, c. 1315): Royal MS 2 B VII, f. 96v
It becomes clear when reading these tales that women were not always treated fairly or in a positive light by medieval historians and storytellers, most of whom were, of course, men. A counter to this was Christine de Pizan (b. 1364, d. c. 1430), a professional author based at the French royal court during the 14th and early 15th centuries, who argued forcefully in her writings for the intellectual and moral equality of women. Her Book of the City of Ladies was an impassioned defence of women, in which she recounted the stories of these heroines, and imagined herself building a metaphorical city from their achievements. It was Christine who provided the inspiration for this book.
The goddess Venus presiding over her courtiers, who give her their hearts, from Christine de Pizan’s ‘Book of the Queen’ (Paris, c. 1410-c. 1414): Harley MS 4431/1, f. 100r
Maidens or Monsters? Amazons and Goddesses, Queens and Temptresses in Medieval Legend is available to order now from the British Library Shop.
Chantry Westwell
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25 September 2024
Medieval Women: 1 Month to Go!
There’s only one month to go before our major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words opens. Running from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025, this exhibition tells the history of medieval women through their own words and uncovers their lives through manuscripts, documents and precious artefacts. Tickets for the exhibition are already on sale!
As opening day approaches, we thought we would reveal a few more of the incredible items that are going to be on display.
The Psalter of Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem
The Presentation in the Temple, from the ‘Melisende Psalter’; Jerusalem, 1131–43: Egerton MS 1139, f. 3r
From Margaret of Anjou to Empress Matilda, you will hear the stories of many medieval queens, their lives, words and achievements in the course of the exhibition. They include Melisende (d. 1161), ruler of the Crusader state of Jerusalem in the mid-12th-century. Jointly reigning with her husband, Fulk of Anjou, and then her son Baldwin III, Melisende was responsible for much of the kingdom’s day-to-day governance. She was also a renowned patron of the Church and the arts, founding schools devoted to bookmaking and miniature painting. A precious survival from her reign is her Psalter (Book of Psalms), a personal prayer-book that was probably commissioned for her and features exquisite illuminations and writing in gold.
Birth Girdle
Medieval birth girdle, featuring the Three Nails from the Crucifixion, illustrations of Christ’s Side Wound, and other textual and image-based talismans; England, 15th century: Harley Roll T 11
A life-size representation of Christ’s Side Wound, from a medieval English birth girdle: Harley Roll T 11
Among the exhibits devoted to the subject of women’s health is one of only nine surviving medieval English birth girdles. These parchment waist belts were produced commercially as amulets, offering protection against a number of different hazards and ailments, but particularly childbirth. This 15th-century birth girdle is covered with a variety of prayers, charms and other textual and illustrative talismans, including an image of the three nails used during the Crucifixion and a life-sized representation (‘measure’) of Christ’s side-wound.
Hildegard of Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum
Hildegard of Bingen’s proto-opera, Ordo virtutum (‘Play of the Virtues’); Sponheim, 1487: Add MS 15102, f. 219v
The exhibition will also introduce a number of women who embraced a spiritual calling and found purpose as part of religious communities. A foremost example is Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179). Sent to live in the Benedictine nunnery of Disibodenberg in Germany when she was 8 years old, Hildegard later founded and became abbess of the nunnery of Rupertsberg. In the course of her life, Hildegard had many achievements and roles. She was a polymath, a visionary and prophet, who went on multiple extended preaching tours, even in her 60s and 70s; she was also an author, a prolific letter-writer, and the beloved leader of her religious community. One of her many compositions is a musical play, or proto-opera, the Ordo virtutum (Play of the Virtues), which tells the story of the struggle for a human soul between personifications of the virtues and the Devil, and was intended to be sung by nuns.
The Luttrell Psalter
Female labourers bringing in the harvest and reaping barley with sickles, from the ‘Luttrell Psalter’; Lincolnshire, 1325–40: Add MS 42130, f. 172v
The exhibition will also highlight the variety of working roles women played at all levels of medieval society, from rural communities to royal courts. The Luttrell Psalter is one of the masterpieces of medieval English art, an illuminated copy of the Book of Psalms commissioned by the landowner Sir Geoffrey Luttrell (d. 1345), lord of Irnham in Lincolnshire. Its marginal illustrations are known for their fantastical menagerie of hybrid creatures and grotesques, but they also include depictions of arable farming and labourers, artisans, and craftspeople at work, many featuring women prominently. On this page, three female farmworkers reap and gather barley with sickles. In the background, one of the labourers stands and stretches to ease her aching back, her sickle balanced on her shoulder.
The Lais and Fables of Marie de France
An opening from Marie’s ‘Bisclavret’, the story of a werewolf trapped in lupine form, from a collection of her Fables and Lais; England, 13th century: Harley MS 978, ff. 66v–67r.
Alongside Christine de Pizan’s ‘Book of the Queen’ and The Book of Margery Kempe, one of the exhibition’s most important literary manuscripts contains the work of Marie de France (active around the 1180s), one of the first recorded female authors in Europe. Few details of Marie’s identity are now known to us, though she was probably based in England, since she wrote in Anglo-Norman, a dialect of French spoken by the ruling class in England after the Norman Conquest. This manuscript is the only medieval copy to record all twelve of Marie’s Lais, a set of narrative poems notable for their celebration of courtly love, and featuring such memorable characters as the werewolf Bisclavret, the abandoned girl Le Fresne, and the knights Milun, Guigemar and Lanval.
Marie ai nun, si sui de France (Marie is my name and I am from France): Marie naming herself at the end of the lai ‘Bisclavret’; Harley MS 978, f. 67r
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is on show 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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