The momentous events of 1066, the story of invasion, battle and conquest, are well known. But what of the women? Harold II of England had been with Edith Swanneck for twenty years but in 1066, in order to strengthen his hold on the throne, he married Ealdgyth, sister of two earls. William of Normandy’s Duchess, […]
Medieval women’s family lives
Medieval women’s family lives varied widely, as did the work they carried out daily. Rank in society was a factor, as was whether they lived in a town or the country, but the most important influence on their lives was their position in a family, the historian Catherine Hanley explains. Family was the concept and […]
The Family Lives of Medieval Women by Catherine Hanley
Women in the Middle Ages led fascinating and often wildly differing everyday lives, depending on their social class and family situation. Yet their wealth of experience has long been obscured and overshadowed by the experiences of men, with history books often relegating women to a single, catch-all chapter, as if their lives formed a unified […]
Can books save lives?
A pioneering library was set up at Endell Street Military Hospital during the First World War. There, the women who ran the hospital used reading as therapy for the damaged soldiers. Louise Morrish writes about the library, which inspired her latest novel, and asks: can books save lives? If we could step back in time, […]
Princesses of the Early Middle Ages by Sharon Bennett Connolly
Daughters of kings were often used to seal treaty alliances and forge peace with England’s enemies. This book explores the lives of these young women, how they followed the stereotype, and how they sometimes managed to escape it. It looks at the world they lived in, and how their lives and marriages were affected by […]
Faith, flesh and fortunes in a Victorian sex cult
LC Winter writes about the Agapemonites, a faith community whose founder became deeply interested in ‘taking the flesh’ — and the fortunes — of female converts. It’s now probably remembered best as a Victorian sex cult and the cause of several scandals. It started with a sickly teenage boy reading the Song of Solomon with […]
The Blood Countess by Shelley Puhak
There have long been whispers, coming from the castle; from the village square; from the dark woods.The great lady-a countess, from one of Europe’s oldest families-is a vicious killer. Some even say she bathes in the blood of her victims. When the king’s men force their way into her manor house, she has blood on […]
Beatrice Cenci: innocent victim, cunning killer – or both?
Beatrice Cenci is elusive. Even ‘her’ portrait isn’t a painting of her. Executed for murdering her abusive father, was she an innocent victim or a cunning killer? Both, says Elizabeth Fremantle, whose novel, Sinners, is a powerful reinterpretation of her story. But above all, she says, Beatrice was human. Elizabeth won the 2024 HWA Gold […]