Medieval Women: In Their Own Words

Fabulous exhibition at the British Library looking at the lives of Medieval women.

I studied Medieval history at university, a long time ago, and how I wished we’d had this exhibition. It was full of wonderful stories and new people to discover. I’ve been twice now and got just as much from it the second time around.

I liked the way it was divided into sections on private, public and spiritual lives. The private section looked at domestic life and had a number of displays on women’s health. Spiritual lives included nuns as well as Joan of Arc and her signature had to be one of the highlights of the show.

I think my favourite section was the public one which looked at queens and what agency they had focusing on those who became regents and women as patrons of the art. There was also a display on working women such as a notary Juliet Durer from Lubeck and Alice Claver, a silk weaver in London.

And my favourite object was Christine de Pisan’s “City of Women” showing women doing brick work which I have seen so often in online lectures.

Closed 2 March 2025


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