Medieval Women: In Their Own Words
Yesterday, our A Level English Literature students travelled to London for a workshop at the British Library’s Medieval Women: In Their Own Words exhibition.
We saw a fascinating range of historical objects and texts, from documents signed by Joan of Arc to the skull of Queen Margaret of Anjou’s pet lion. We explored whether our preconceptions about the limitations on medieval womens’ lives were justified, and learnt about the many ways women defied expectation and broke boundaries (including an order of nuns who wore silk dresses and golden crowns, Black Agnes and her military leadership, and Christine de Pizan, the first women to make a living as a professional writer in the 14th century).
The students have been studying the medieval writings of Geoffrey Chaucer and the Wife of Bath’s Tale, so this was a great way of contextualising the author and understanding the world in which his character lived. She breaks boundaries, but she wasn’t the only one!
