Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It

by Janina Ramirez

Overview

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A groundbreaking reappraisal of medieval femininity, revealing why women have been written out of history and why it matters

The Middle Ages are seen as a bloodthirsty time of Vikings, saints and kings; a patriarchal society that oppressed and excluded women. But when we dig a little deeper into the truth, we can see that the “Dark” Ages were anything but.

Oxford and BBC historian Janina Ramirez has uncovered countless influential women’s names struck out of historical records, with the word FEMINA annotated beside them. As gatekeepers of the past ordered books to be burned, artworks to be destroyed, and new versions of myths, legends and historical documents to be produced, our view of history has been manipulated.

Only now, through a careful examination of the artifacts, writings and possessions they left behind, are the influential and multifaceted lives of women emerging. Femina goes beyond the official records to uncover the true impact of women, such as:

• Jadwiga, the only female king in Europe
• Margery Kempe, who exploited her image and story to ensure her notoriety
• Loftus Princess, whose existence gives us clues about the beginnings of Christianity in England

In Femina, Ramirez invites us to see the medieval world with fresh eyes and discover why these remarkable women were removed from our collective memories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781335498526
Publisher:	Hanover Square Press
Publication date:	02/28/2023
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	103,310
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Dr. Ramirez is an Oxford lecturer, BBC broadcaster, researcher and author. She has presented and written over thirty hours of BBC history documentaries and series on TV and radio, and written five books for children and adults.

Editorial Reviews

12/05/2022

Historian Ramirez (Julian of Norwich) spotlights in this vibrant and accessible account remarkable medieval women including polymath Hildegard of Bingen and Margery Kempe, author of the first autobiography written in English. Diligently sifting through monastic, legal, and diplomatic materials, Ramirez unearths intriguing clues about the power medieval women held and the way they lived, despite contemporaneous efforts to remove them from the historical record. In 10th-century England, for example, Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, ruled the kingdom of Mercia after her husband’s death and excelled as a military strategist against the Vikings, but is not remembered as well as her male relatives, largely because her brother “suppressed her reputation in order to bolster his position as king of Wessex.” The chapter beginnings, which recount relevant archaeological discoveries or scholarly reexaminations of primary sources, often link modern women with their medieval predecessors; in one noteworthy instance, Ramirez details how medieval scholar Margarete Kühn, with the help of Caroline Walsh, the wife of a high-ranking U.S. military official, spirited the famed Reisencodex containing the collected writing of 12th-century nun Hildegard of Bingen out of Soviet-occupied East Germany in 1948. Throughout, Ramirez’s adept scene-setting segues gracefully into deeper considerations of these women’s lives and work. This feminist history fascinates. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Extensive, well-researched, and readable, this book invites us to reassess the historical record. A great choice for any history buff.” –Kirkus Reviews

"Throughout, Ramirez’s adept scene-setting segues gracefully into deeper considerations of these women’s lives and work. This feminist history fascinates." -Publishers Weekly

“Beautifully written, wonderfully free-ranging and gloriously original, Femina makes us look into the mists of history in new, exciting and provocative ways. A joyous read.”―Peter Frankopan, bestselling author of The Silk Roads

“Janina Ramirez is a born storyteller, and in Femina she is at the peak of her powers. This is bravura narrative history underpinned by passionate advocacy for the women whom medieval history has too often ignored or overlooked. Femina is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the Middle Ages and its place in the modern mind.” ―Dan Jones, bestselling author of Powers and Thrones

“The women of the Middle Ages, so often silent and inconspicuous in our histories, find voice, agency and justice in this brilliant book.” ―Alice Roberts, bestselling author of Ancestors: A prehistory of Britain in seven burials

“Spellbinding, passionate, gripping and magnificently fresh in tone, boldly wide in range, elegantly written, deeply researched, Femina is a ground-breaking history of the Middle Ages. It brings the world to life with women at its very heart, center stage where they belong. What a delight.” ―Simon Sebag Montefiore, bestselling author of Jerusalem: The Biography

“Janina Ramirez is a passionate voice for women in history. With this bold and masterful book, she salvages women's stories from the dark corners into which they have been pushed, and brilliantly restores them to the center of the historical narrative where they have always belonged.” ―Hallie Rubenhold, bestselling author of The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

“This is a passionate, energetic, hugely enjoyable and brilliantly observed book. Both a plea for a new way of thinking about history and a commitment to putting women's lives back at the heart of things, I read it in one sitting. Magnificent.” ―Kate Mosse, bestselling author of Labyrinth

“Femina is an important addition to our understanding of a period still - mistakenly - thought to have excluded women from positions of power and significance. Femina skillfully brings out from the shadows the lives of women who ruled, fought, traded, created, and inspired.” ―Cat Jarman, bestselling author of River Kings: A New History of Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads

“Passionate, provocative and brilliant, this book is a firecracker somehow captured between two covers.” ―Lucy Worsley, author of Jane Austen at Home

“Challenging, inclusive and riveting, Janina Ramirez's book is breaking new grounds. This is a history as you've never read before. A unique page turner.” ―Olivette Otele, author of African Europeans: An Untold History

“As both writer and broadcaster, Dr. Janina Ramirez radiates tremendous passion for her subject. To spend time in her company is to soon find yourself intoxicated by the vast drama of human history, with all its far-off wonders, frustrating mysteries, and tantalizing echoes that still resonate in our modern world.” ―Greg Jenner, author of Ask a Historian and Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity

“Gripping, incisive, brilliant, Janina Ramirez opens a door into hidden worlds, the secrets of women's lives. She is a detective and guide on this, an eye-opening, wonderful journey into the power, beauty and reality of early women's experiences.” ―Kate Williams, author of England's Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton

"If you love history and think you know the Middle Ages, you absolutely must read Femina. With stories of warriors and leaders, scientists and artists, outlaws and royalty, Ramirez will captivate you and turn everything you thought you knew about medieval women upside down. Femina is an incredible achievement and the world is better for it. Run, do not walk, to get it." —Mallory O'Meara, bestselling author of The Lady from the Black Lagoon

From the Publisher

2022-12-13
A well-documented study of several significant women of the medieval era.

Using archaeological discoveries and the objects and literature connected to these women, Ramirez, a BBC presenter and Oxford lecturer, seeks to comprehend their spheres of influence and expand their stories. Queens and abbesses, tradeswomen and artisans, monastics and mystics: The author demonstrates to a modern audience that, contrary to many traditional historical accounts, women in the Middle Ages had power, influence, and agency. “This book has focused on a handful of women who high­light specific themes—diplomacy, artistic production, warfare, literacy and leadership—at particular moments throughout the medieval period,” she writes. “Every woman is a complex web of characteristics….It wasn’t just rich and powerful men who built the modern world. Women have always been a part of it, as has the full range of human diversity, but we are only now beginning to see what has been hidden in plain sight.” Ramirez presents an impressive array of evidence, including art, jewelry, coinage, needlework, and manuscripts. She begins each chapter with a “discovery,” which run the gamut from the minuscule (discerning a new figure for King Harold on the Bayeux Tapestry) to the dramatic (stealing the “priceless” Riesencodex, by Hildegard of Bingen, from the Soviets in the aftermath of World War II). Among other interesting characters, the author introduces us to Jadwiga, crowned “king” of Poland in 1384 and now a Roman Catholic saint; and an unknown woman of African origin who was found in a Black Plague mass burial ground and whose bones, like others found nearby, “show evidence of health issues caused by living in a densely populated urban environment.” Ramirez also highlights new breakthroughs in archaeology and anthropological study that have allowed researchers to uncover these hidden stories. Extensive, well-researched, and readable, this book invites us to reassess the historical record.

A great choice for any history buff.

Kirkus Reviews

This is a passionate, energetic, hugely enjoyable, and brilliantly observed book…I read it in one sitting.”

New York Times bestselling author Kate Mosse

Spellbinding, passionate, gripping, and magnificently fresh in tone, boldly wide in range, elegantly written, deeply researched, Femina is a groundbreaking history of the Middle Ages.”

bestselling author of Jerusalem: The Biography Simon Sebag Montefiore