Medieval Women in their Own Words

By Dr Michael Hahn

Our study of historical sources and figures is often inspired by current-day concerns. With developments in women’s rights movements and feminism throughout the 20^th century, there have been significant attempts to find the voices of women in our understandings of the past. We might think particularly of the groundbreaking work of church historians like Caroline Walker Bynum (particularly in her books, Jesus as Mother (1982) and Holy Feast and Holy Fast (1987), and that of scholars such as Judith Bennet and Sharon Farmer on the productive and societal roles of women in the Middle Ages.

Such academic research has allowed us to paint new and more nuanced understandings of the Middle Ages (the period roughly from 500 to 1500 CE) and particularly the roles of women both in the day-to-day sphere and as major contributors to the institutional and intellectual landscapes of their day. In the popular sphere, a swathe of recent books has made the profits of this academic research available, including Janina Ramirez’s Femina and Hetta Howes’s Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife. Some of these books are good, some less so.

The British Library’s current exhibition, Medieval Women in their Own Words, adds to the popular availability of these advances in our knowledge of the Middle Ages, focusing primarily on the later Middle Ages from 1100–1500. While much of our knowledge of medieval women come from sources written and preserved by men (usually those in positions of power), the exhibition specifically works from the laudable basis that “women’s surviving testimonies offer remarkable insight into their contributions to medieval social and economic life, culture and politics, their skilful management of households and convents, and the vibrancy of female religious culture.” The exhibition does an excellent job at accomplishing this and makes a major contribution to the availability of these new narratives about the important place of women in late-medieval cultures.

The impressive collection of items on display speak into the spiritual, medical, economic, political and home lives of women from a range of areas (although predominantly those in the British Isles and Western Europe). Additionally, the exhibition highlighted the roles of women as scribes and collectors of writings as well as writers. Although most of the sources come from Christian Europe, there are also materials from Jewish and Islamic sources.

Given pride of place are manuscript editions of the works of well-known female theologians such as Hildegard of Bingen, Christine de Pizan (the image illustrating this piece is from The Book of the City of Ladies), Margery Kemp, Julian of Norwich and Marguerite Porete. But attention is also given the day-to-day lives of medieval women, including payrolls, wills and divorce documents. Such items are supplemented by statistics provided by various scholarly works, telling us about female occupations (that “26% of women employees in Paris around 1300 worked in the production of silk”) or use of books (that “48% of aristocratic women from England between 1350 and 1500 made bequests of books in their wills, compared with 18% of noblemen”). Accompanied by (for the most part) very helpful and informative explanatory notes and curated excellently, the exhibition is very easy to navigate.

Gwerful Mechain’s Poem to the Vagina written (15c.).

Of particular interest to exhibition visitors were scientific manuals about medieval gynaecology, images of Christ’s side wound in the shape of a vulva and erotic poetry such as the Welsh language Cywydd y cedor (Poem to the Vagina) by 15^th-century writer Gwerful Mechain. Such items make clear that far from shirking from the subject, sexuality empowered female writers of the period. Likewise – unlike some popular publications about medieval women – the exhibition should be commended for not giving an overly rosy picture of life for medieval women. Focuses, for example on pregnancy loss, on the more difficult aspects of women’s lives give a more balanced view of the predicaments women found themselves in.

The opening of the Mortuary Roll of Lucy of Hedingham.

Although I didn’t see any items relating to medieval Salisbury, of local interest to those in Wiltshire might be the early-thirteenth-century scroll created in dedication to Lucy, the first prioress of the Benedictine Priory of Castle Hedingham (Essex). The scroll (pictured, right) was taken to 122 religious houses in England, including to Wilton Abbey, just three miles away from Salisbury.

As well as the physical items and their explanatory notes, the exhibition also featured interactive elements. This included listening stations where you can hear recordings of “chanter m’er de so qu’eu no volria” (‘I must sing of what I’d rather not) by Comtessa de Dia, and Ordo virtutum (Play of the Virtues) by Hildegard of Bingen, both 12^th century. Gaining great interest from those present were two side-by-side smelling boxes, depicting on one side the scent described by Julian of Norwich’s vision of the devil which Julian had described as “so vile and so painful” and for which this exhibition created the smell of fire, brimstone, smoke, sulphur as well as of fetid and bodily smells.

Exhibition visitors exploring a scent interactive by Tasha Marks.

On the other was Julian’s contemporary Margery Kempe’s presence of angels which Kempe described as “sweeter […] than ever was any sweet earthly thing which, in the exhibition, featured syrup, strawberry, honey, caramel, and was described as sweet, pink, bright and vibrant.” The inclusion of these interactive items is commendable and gives greater depth to the experiences of medieval women.

One point that might have been better developed is the impact of language. Although for the most part the explanatory notes made explicit references to the languages used, this is absent from some, including two manuscripts from Hildegard and Christine at the front of the exhibition. Perhaps greater attention could have been given to figures who wrote both in Latin and the vernacular or to texts which changed meaning or audience when they were translated.

For the most part, the explanatory notes were expertly researched. A couple of exceptions were the reasons for the condemnation of Marguerite Porete – those given were the inclusion of mystical union and Marguerite’s lay status, possibly contributing factors but not those given in the trial documents. Likewise, the idea that the Poor Clares were founded by Clare of Assisi in 1212 and followed the Rule of St Clare is outdated. But these are very minor points and ones that most scholars working even in closely adjacent fields would not be aware of.

The exhibition is really a fantastic resource making available the riches of the past century of historical research more fully than has been done in recent publications. The exhibition is likely to be of interest for a wide range of people, and is pitched at a level suited for complete novices in women’s and medieval history as well as those with significant knowledge of the field. Even those with substantial research experience are likely to discover new items. I spent about an hour and a half in the exhibition, and I suspect people could spend anywhere between 45 minutes and two hours (or a little more). The exhibition runs until 2 March 2025, and is definitely worth a visit.

With grateful thanks to the British Library for the photos above.

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If you are interested in the works of medieval women and particularly their contributions to theology, the church and spirituality, you might be interested in our series of five webinars, Women Mystics: Female Theologians through Christian History, held one Monday evening a month between January and May. The series is run in partnership with The Church Times and features experts who will introduce us to Hildegard of Bingen, Clare of Assisi, Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila and Thea Bowman. You may also be interested in an MA module (available to audit) in person at Sarum College specifically on Hildegard of Bingen’s text Scivias, 12 to 15 May 2025. For information about these courses or our MA in Christian Spirituality (which includes much opportunity to study and research the lives and texts of medieval women), contact Dr Michael Hahn (mhahn@sarum.ac.uk).