{"id":10536,"date":"2024-11-11T13:26:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T13:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=10536"},"modified":"2024-11-12T12:14:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T12:14:06","slug":"medieval-women-in-their-own-words-british-library-until-march-2-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/?p=10536","title":{"rendered":"Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, British Library, until March 2 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Sekenesse of Wymmen, 15th century\/damesnet<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

To the British Library, where a recently opened exhibition highlights voices from medieval women\u2019s varied and active lives, revealing female impact and influence across private, public and spiritual realms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition focuses on Europe from roughly 1100 to 1500. The women\u2019s testimonies here 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsurprisingly, there is much on display with regards to women\u2019s health; it was assumed that their bodies were inferior to men\u2019s, while illness and childbirth made the female body vulnerable.  Though excluded from the medical elite, women physicians, healers and carers brought a depth of female knowledge to the treatment of women\u2019s health issues. In medieval France roughly 1.5% of medical practitioners whose names survive were women and of these, around 36% were midwives. The rest included barbers, surgeons, trained physicians and untrained healers. The mere fact that women were practising surgery at that time is astonishing and inspiring.<\/p>\n\n\n

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15th century Italian bridal marriage chest\/damesnet<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

One of the most widely read gynaecological texts during the medieval period was The Sekenesse of Wymmen<\/em>, published in the 15th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Anatomical drawings accompany instructions for midwives dealing with all aspects of labour and childbirth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It goes without saying that women of wealthy and aristocratic families had much more agency over their lives and choices; this would seem to have been carried over into the provision they made for future generations.  Apparently 48% of aristocratic women from England between 1350 and 1500 made bequests of books in their wills compared with 18% of noblemen.  I leave the reader to draw her own conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Browsing through beautifully illustrated manuscripts and books, I was delighted to find works of the Welsh nation\u2019s favourite female medieval erotic poet on display. I have already featured the writings of Gwerful Mechain<\/a> in damesnet, so it was gratifying though not surprising to come across her in the exhibition, and to happily reread her \u2018Poem to the Vagina\u2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A girl\u2019s thick glade,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

it is full of love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lovely bush, blessed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

be it by God above.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n

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Scene from the Hortus deliciarum, 12th century\/damesnet<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Property rights are explored; there is displayed an early 13th<\/sup> century document issued to one Hugh Bard by Matilda de Chauz, hereditary Keeper of Sherwood Forest. The opening line states that Matilda granted her land \u2018in my free power, without a husband\u2019.  It is authenticated with Matilda\u2019s seal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The picture is not so good when it comes to divorce, with the Church inevitably favouring the husband; nevertheless according to the Welsh lawcode known as The Book of Iorwerth<\/em> a woman could leave her husband within seven years of marriage, while retaining her rights and possessions, on one of three grounds: if he had leprosy, if his breath stank, or if he was unable to have sex.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Woven silk with geometric design, Spain, around 1400\/damesnet<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

There are fascinating exhibits from continental Europe; Christine de Pizan was the first professional woman author in Europe, writing in the early 15th<\/sup> century. In the 14th<\/sup> century Jeanne Montbaston was a prolific illuminator and businesswoman, with a commercial manuscript-making workshop in Paris. Nicolosa Sanuti wrote a treatise in Bologna in 1453 On the Ornament of Women<\/em>, arguing women should have the right to wear what they wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I end with a homage to Marguerite Porete, burned at the stake for heresy in Paris in 1310. Her treatise Mirror of Simple Souls<\/em>, which depicted the soul\u2019s mystical union with God, was too much of a threat to Church authorities, combined with her status as an independent woman, unattached to any formal religious order.  The good news is that anonymised copies of the treatise remained in circulation despite the Church demanding that all should be destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apparently 48% of aristocratic women from England between 1350 and 1500 made bequests of books in their wills compared with 18% of noblemen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,2,69,316,70,309,58,59],"tags":[76,78,93,104,82],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10536"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10554,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10536\/revisions\/10554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damesnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}