Significant women from the Middle Ages

Femina by Janina Ramirez is a book about women who are often overlooked. The Middle Ages was a time of patriarchal power, Vikings, kings, wars and religion and that’s the image which we usually have of that period of European history. There were, however, a number of influential and powerful women at the time whose lives are not written about as much as those of the men and whose stories the author has chosen to feature in this book. I listened to the book on audio which was read well by the author.

The women who are featured in this book are varied. Jadwiga was the first European female king. Hildegard of Bingen was a writer, composer and theologian. Other women have no name but their burials reveal to us the power and standing that they did have. Other women made themselves notorious. There isn’t a lot of information about all these women but the author brings together what there is to highlight these people who have otherwise been forgotten.

The theme running through the book is the way in which the achievements of women, even powerful and successful women, have been marginalised and overlooked by historians in subsequent centuries. The main content of the book, however, is potted histories of the lives of the subjects and details of how they have come to the notice of modern historians and archaeologists. Each of these is very interesting and if you wanted to know more about the subjects you could search out more detailed biographies. The author tells a number of stories in this book to help you to realise how many more women there must have been who played a significant role in the culture and history of Europe but who are now completely forgotten.

This is a well written book which I found very accessible. I knew a bit about a few of the women in this book but I liked how they were presented here and the questions that the author asked about how their stories and achievements have been belittled and often ignored.