Deborah Swift writes about the background to a scene in her latest book, The Silkworm Keeper: a cruel punishment carried out on women in 17th-century Italy. In my new novel, The Silkworm Keeper, there is a scene in which the sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini sends a servant to slash the face of his unfaithful lover, Costanza […]
Nanny state: why the golden era of Edwardian childhood is ripe for fiction
Mrs England, the latest novel by Stacey Halls, takes a young nanny in what we think of as the golden age of Edwardian childhood into what should be a happy home and exposes the tensions beneath the rose-tinted surface. Stacey tells Historia what drew her to this era – and this subject. Though children have […]
Books of Hours and their role in women’s lives
Medieval Books of Hours were far more than devotional aids; as beautiful, cherished objects they were a way for their creators and owners to experiment with miniature art and ideas, often carrying hidden messages. And, being made for private use, they had a special significance for women, the bestselling author Elizabeth Buchan explains. Two miniature […]
Historical fiction’s role in giving a voice to women
Flora Johnston reveals how a shabby old gown led her to uncover the stories of two women from 17th-century Scotland – and to give them back their voices through her first novel. What is the role of historical fiction in giving a voice to the women who lived before us? When it comes to revealing […]
A charmed life: childbirth and superstition
Eagle-stones, holy girdles, cheese and cake and a coral rattle: all were meant to aid childbirth and keep the newborn baby safe. Quaint superstitions to us, perhaps, but sensible approaches when facing the danger of giving birth, Martine Bailey, author of The Prophet, argues. “When a woman conceived she was launched on a roaring wave […]
Magna Carta’s inspirational women
Historian Sharon Bennett Connolly writes about the women whose lives influenced Magna Carta, or who used Magna Carta to defend their rights; the inspiration for her latest book, Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England. When writing my first book, Heroines of the Medieval World, two women in particular stood out […]
Anglo-Saxon women with power and influence
Annie Whitehead, historian and novelist, writes about the women who had power and influence in Anglo-Saxon England. Pre-Conquest women are rarely written about, so for my new book, Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England, I decided to track them down and tell their stories. The original plan was to categorise them – queens, abbesses, witches, […]
Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England by Sharon Bennett Connolly
Magna Carta clause 39: No man shall be taken, imprisoned, outlawed, banished or in any way destroyed, nor will we proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. This clause in Magna Carta was in response to the appalling imprisonment and starvation of […]