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Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women
An invaluable reassessment of what we think we know about the daily lives of women in medieval Europe.
Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife charts the life and times of four medieval women—Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a no-good wife—who all bucked convention and forged their own path. Largely forgotten by modern readers, these women have an astonishing amount to teach us about love, marriage, motherhood, friendship, and earning a living.
Through these four writers, Hetta Howes engagingly reveals how everyday women lived, survived, and thrived in medieval times. Who did they marry and why? Were they expected to have children? Did they ever have extramarital affairs? Could they earn money and become self-sufficient? How did they make friends? Could they be leaders? What did they think about death—and what about life and their place in it? While in many ways the Middle Ages was a terrible time to be a woman, there were areas of life that were surprisingly progressive. Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife paints a vibrant portrait of these women, their world, and the ways they speak to us today.
Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife charts the life and times of four medieval women—Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a no-good wife—who all bucked convention and forged their own path. Largely forgotten by modern readers, these women have an astonishing amount to teach us about love, marriage, motherhood, friendship, and earning a living.
Through these four writers, Hetta Howes engagingly reveals how everyday women lived, survived, and thrived in medieval times. Who did they marry and why? Were they expected to have children? Did they ever have extramarital affairs? Could they earn money and become self-sufficient? How did they make friends? Could they be leaders? What did they think about death—and what about life and their place in it? While in many ways the Middle Ages was a terrible time to be a woman, there were areas of life that were surprisingly progressive. Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife paints a vibrant portrait of these women, their world, and the ways they speak to us today.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published December 10, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
January 13, 2025
I've studied a fair bit of Medieval Era history. It's an interesting time in history, and much of what makes up the modern Western world has roots in this time period. This is also an extremely sexist and oppressive period in history, so finding powerful women is always a worthy endeavor.
The women chosen to be highlighted for this text are solid, interesting, and quite unique for the times they lived in. They are successful rebels, and the intricate dance required for women who defied their prescribed roles did not diminish their power.
Marie de France was the daughter of another powerful woman ruler who defied the place set for her with both of her husbands. In fact, I'm primarily familiar with Marie through the biographies I've read on her mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. I was aware she was a poet, as the descendant of Troubadours. How could she be anything less?
Julian of Norwich was probably the least well known to me, though I had heard of her. Christine de Pizan was probably the character with which I was the most familiar with peripherally, simply from my studies on the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War in France. Margery Kempe, I knew about but in a very outlinish way. She was fascinating and possibly the woman whose story I found the most interesting.
This is easily accessible to casual readers of history, especially those interested in the medieval era and women during that era. This was very well researched and meticulously laid out. I plan to purchase this for my collection on audiobook. It reminded me not in detail or style but in the tone of Gemma Hollman's Royal Witches, which I revisit regularly.
Another recommendation I'd give for this is an immersive reading experience. The narrator of this novel is Amy Noble. Amy does a wonderful job conveying emotion and making these women feel accessible and almost modern. Making this an excellent candidate for reading the text while also listening to the audio. I especially like this method with history texts like this because I retain so much of the information I've read. I find this works best with books that are paced a certain way, and this is perfectly paced. If you're into such experiences.
Thank you to Hetta Howes, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.
The women chosen to be highlighted for this text are solid, interesting, and quite unique for the times they lived in. They are successful rebels, and the intricate dance required for women who defied their prescribed roles did not diminish their power.
Marie de France was the daughter of another powerful woman ruler who defied the place set for her with both of her husbands. In fact, I'm primarily familiar with Marie through the biographies I've read on her mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. I was aware she was a poet, as the descendant of Troubadours. How could she be anything less?
Julian of Norwich was probably the least well known to me, though I had heard of her. Christine de Pizan was probably the character with which I was the most familiar with peripherally, simply from my studies on the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War in France. Margery Kempe, I knew about but in a very outlinish way. She was fascinating and possibly the woman whose story I found the most interesting.
This is easily accessible to casual readers of history, especially those interested in the medieval era and women during that era. This was very well researched and meticulously laid out. I plan to purchase this for my collection on audiobook. It reminded me not in detail or style but in the tone of Gemma Hollman's Royal Witches, which I revisit regularly.
Another recommendation I'd give for this is an immersive reading experience. The narrator of this novel is Amy Noble. Amy does a wonderful job conveying emotion and making these women feel accessible and almost modern. Making this an excellent candidate for reading the text while also listening to the audio. I especially like this method with history texts like this because I retain so much of the information I've read. I find this works best with books that are paced a certain way, and this is perfectly paced. If you're into such experiences.
Thank you to Hetta Howes, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.
August 18, 2024
I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to read this book.
Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife is a medieval journey based on four groundbreaking women. These four women (hence the excellently fit and creative title), with their norm-defying attitudes, bravery, honesty and determination, provide us with incredibly interesting insights about medieval life.
Howes’ prose is compelling and captivating. This title is by far the most informative and engaging non-fiction book that I have read on this matter to date. Howes’ approach to these cool women’s writing, life and what medieval life was like for women is a great addition to the literature, and thanks to the smooth blending with a fitting narrative, it is a wonderful addition to ‘literature’ as well.
Some things never change; they have not changed. Some things have - fortunately - changed a bit. This is a book about being a woman in a hostile society, child bearing, marriage, friendships, financial independence, brutal conditions, the universality of certain human emotions, needs and desires, the timelessness of resilience, standing up for yourself, and navigating irrational, discriminative or ignorant norms, practices, laws and the like. Oh, the ‘audacity’ of women.
Margery Kempe, you still shine a torch centuries later.
Thank you #netgalley and #bloomsbury. #hettahowes, may you give us more of these, please.
Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife is a medieval journey based on four groundbreaking women. These four women (hence the excellently fit and creative title), with their norm-defying attitudes, bravery, honesty and determination, provide us with incredibly interesting insights about medieval life.
Howes’ prose is compelling and captivating. This title is by far the most informative and engaging non-fiction book that I have read on this matter to date. Howes’ approach to these cool women’s writing, life and what medieval life was like for women is a great addition to the literature, and thanks to the smooth blending with a fitting narrative, it is a wonderful addition to ‘literature’ as well.
Some things never change; they have not changed. Some things have - fortunately - changed a bit. This is a book about being a woman in a hostile society, child bearing, marriage, friendships, financial independence, brutal conditions, the universality of certain human emotions, needs and desires, the timelessness of resilience, standing up for yourself, and navigating irrational, discriminative or ignorant norms, practices, laws and the like. Oh, the ‘audacity’ of women.
Margery Kempe, you still shine a torch centuries later.
Thank you #netgalley and #bloomsbury. #hettahowes, may you give us more of these, please.
Want to read
August 2, 2024I ALSO NEED
January 8, 2025
When we think about the lives of medieval women, we think of the narrow confines of subjugated gender roles and lack of voice and agency. But Hetta Howes shows us the ways in which women were able to break the mold laid out for them by male writers of the era.
She focuses on 4 women: Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a "no-good wife". Howes weaves the words of these women throughout her narrative nonfiction, giving the reader a broader picture of women in the medieval era. All 4 of these women are unique in that they have written historical records left behind centuries later, even in an era where most of our primary source material comes from the writing of men.
As a long time fan of Julian of Norwich, I loved also learning about other women who were either her contemporaries or at least as in eras where culturally women's roles seemed set in stone - or potentially locked in the isolation of 4 walls as an anchoress. There's a unique manner of meditation and reflection that these women achieved through their circumstance (wealth, widowhood, and access to resources other women may not have had), and I loved the way Howes tied them together. There's also a unique mystical thread - as many medieval women found their voices through Christian theology and devotion to God - that gave them all personal strength in the face of adversity.
It's not a full 5 stars for me because I didn't find the central thesis of the book as strong as I would have liked and the conclusion tying the book to modern women was interesting but needed a little more substance for me. That said I highly recommend the book for anyone looking for broad strokes of the life of medieval women and writing about Julian, Marie, Christine, and Margery in particular. (As a side note, Marie is the central character of Lauren Groff's book Matrix.)
Thank you to Tantor Audio for an ALC for review! Poet Mystic Widow Wife is available on audio 1/7/25.
She focuses on 4 women: Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a "no-good wife". Howes weaves the words of these women throughout her narrative nonfiction, giving the reader a broader picture of women in the medieval era. All 4 of these women are unique in that they have written historical records left behind centuries later, even in an era where most of our primary source material comes from the writing of men.
As a long time fan of Julian of Norwich, I loved also learning about other women who were either her contemporaries or at least as in eras where culturally women's roles seemed set in stone - or potentially locked in the isolation of 4 walls as an anchoress. There's a unique manner of meditation and reflection that these women achieved through their circumstance (wealth, widowhood, and access to resources other women may not have had), and I loved the way Howes tied them together. There's also a unique mystical thread - as many medieval women found their voices through Christian theology and devotion to God - that gave them all personal strength in the face of adversity.
It's not a full 5 stars for me because I didn't find the central thesis of the book as strong as I would have liked and the conclusion tying the book to modern women was interesting but needed a little more substance for me. That said I highly recommend the book for anyone looking for broad strokes of the life of medieval women and writing about Julian, Marie, Christine, and Margery in particular. (As a side note, Marie is the central character of Lauren Groff's book Matrix.)
Thank you to Tantor Audio for an ALC for review! Poet Mystic Widow Wife is available on audio 1/7/25.
January 8, 2025
The first history book I've read since my history degree and I'm glad I chose this one.
The structure was the highlight for me - organising by theme from birth to death, and weaving in contemporary context along with the 4 main women, really worked.
The witty writing style complimented, and made more accessible, the academic feel (which I enjoyed).
Its a great introduction to gender in the medieval period - and I say gender, not women, as women's roles are often compared to men with supporting primary source, making it about gender roles as well as the lives of women.
The structure was the highlight for me - organising by theme from birth to death, and weaving in contemporary context along with the 4 main women, really worked.
The witty writing style complimented, and made more accessible, the academic feel (which I enjoyed).
Its a great introduction to gender in the medieval period - and I say gender, not women, as women's roles are often compared to men with supporting primary source, making it about gender roles as well as the lives of women.
June 26, 2025
'Remember how these men call you frail, unserious,
and easily influenced but yet try hard, using all kinds of strange and deceptive tricks, to catch you, just as one lays traps for wild animals?’ Girlie wrote that 14th century !
My medieval sisters
and easily influenced but yet try hard, using all kinds of strange and deceptive tricks, to catch you, just as one lays traps for wild animals?’ Girlie wrote that 14th century !
My medieval sisters
September 16, 2025
4/5
I think most of us picture the Middle Ages as a pretty chaotic and oppresive period in Europe, with the fall of empires, the crusades, and plagues devastating the population. Life was hard back then, and of course it was harder on women, being relegated to the role of daughters, wives, and mothers always depending on a male figure. However, not everything was as we imagine it, as some women resisted this oppressive structure and broke the mold by living quite atypical lives. Through the lives of four remarkable women the author takes us on a journey into the medieval era and what the female experience was like back then.
We get to meet Marie de France, a poet who captivated court yet the most mysterious of the four women. Then there's Christine de Pizan, a widow who used her writing to support herself and her children and wrote one of the first protofeminist texts. Also Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress who closed herself off from the world, and finally Margery Kempe, a bad wife and possibly the first woman to write an autobiography.
I quite liked this, it was an easy way to get into this time period and covered a lot of matters. The author divided the book into chapters discussing a specific theme and linked it to the life of these main four women, but also mentions other women and their life stories. While I did enjoy it and feel like I learned a lot, I do think that at some point it got a little repetitive and the modern morals were a little too shoehorned in.
Ye arn no good wyfe
I think most of us picture the Middle Ages as a pretty chaotic and oppresive period in Europe, with the fall of empires, the crusades, and plagues devastating the population. Life was hard back then, and of course it was harder on women, being relegated to the role of daughters, wives, and mothers always depending on a male figure. However, not everything was as we imagine it, as some women resisted this oppressive structure and broke the mold by living quite atypical lives. Through the lives of four remarkable women the author takes us on a journey into the medieval era and what the female experience was like back then.
We get to meet Marie de France, a poet who captivated court yet the most mysterious of the four women. Then there's Christine de Pizan, a widow who used her writing to support herself and her children and wrote one of the first protofeminist texts. Also Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress who closed herself off from the world, and finally Margery Kempe, a bad wife and possibly the first woman to write an autobiography.
I quite liked this, it was an easy way to get into this time period and covered a lot of matters. The author divided the book into chapters discussing a specific theme and linked it to the life of these main four women, but also mentions other women and their life stories. While I did enjoy it and feel like I learned a lot, I do think that at some point it got a little repetitive and the modern morals were a little too shoehorned in.
January 9, 2025
Hetta Howes is a young scholar of Early Medieval Literature at the University of London. She has written a book on what it was like to be a woman during the Middle Ages in Europe. Think about this. There are relatively few compelling accounts of what it was like to be a man during these times. Add in the gender stratification of society the Middle Ages (defining what those are is itself a huge area of research) and the standing of women within Christianity and it immediately becomes clear that identifying any compelling evidence of medieval women, much less good answers to what their lives much have been like is no small task.
Professor Howes is exceedingly well informed and thoughtful. Still, she needs a focus around which to build her story. Her solution to the problem is brilliant. She selects four women who have left memorable works - that remain accessible and that continue to be read and commented upon - Julian of Norich, Christine de Pizan, Margery Kempe, and Marie de France. Much more is known about Julian of Norwich and Christine de Pizan than about the other two. These four women were very different in the lives they led. Julian was a mystic and an “anchoress” (read the book for details). Christine de Pizan was perhaps the first female professional writer and publisher after her spouse passed away. Marie de France was a poet and a storyteller. Margery Kempe was a housewife and mother turned religious zealot who wrote a memoir.
Professor Howes starts with these four authors and their works as the basis for her analysis. She then builds upon this to include what else we know about the situation of women in medieval society. How would this be organized? I was afraid it would be a four part biography - going through the four lives separately. That is not what occurs in the book. The analysis unfolds in terms of some general topical areas related to women and that the four focal lives help to illuminate. The topics range from pregnancy, marriage, and fidelity to more general areas like travelling, earning money, and companionship. The final chapters deal with mortality and the possibilities for “having it all”.
A continuing tension in the book is whether the lives of these women and the issues they faced should be analyzed in terms of the situation of women today and the current issues of gender and equality or whether medieval women should be looked at on their own terms without as much reference to the situations facing women today. The author is clearly aware of this and I found her discussion of current versus past issues well done and enlightening. I did not really see this as a big problem with the book, however, since I am unclear how a contemporary author’s analysis could avoid some degree of anchoring in present concerns. It just did not bother me.
This is a well done and extremely thoughtful book that I strongly recommend.
Professor Howes is exceedingly well informed and thoughtful. Still, she needs a focus around which to build her story. Her solution to the problem is brilliant. She selects four women who have left memorable works - that remain accessible and that continue to be read and commented upon - Julian of Norich, Christine de Pizan, Margery Kempe, and Marie de France. Much more is known about Julian of Norwich and Christine de Pizan than about the other two. These four women were very different in the lives they led. Julian was a mystic and an “anchoress” (read the book for details). Christine de Pizan was perhaps the first female professional writer and publisher after her spouse passed away. Marie de France was a poet and a storyteller. Margery Kempe was a housewife and mother turned religious zealot who wrote a memoir.
Professor Howes starts with these four authors and their works as the basis for her analysis. She then builds upon this to include what else we know about the situation of women in medieval society. How would this be organized? I was afraid it would be a four part biography - going through the four lives separately. That is not what occurs in the book. The analysis unfolds in terms of some general topical areas related to women and that the four focal lives help to illuminate. The topics range from pregnancy, marriage, and fidelity to more general areas like travelling, earning money, and companionship. The final chapters deal with mortality and the possibilities for “having it all”.
A continuing tension in the book is whether the lives of these women and the issues they faced should be analyzed in terms of the situation of women today and the current issues of gender and equality or whether medieval women should be looked at on their own terms without as much reference to the situations facing women today. The author is clearly aware of this and I found her discussion of current versus past issues well done and enlightening. I did not really see this as a big problem with the book, however, since I am unclear how a contemporary author’s analysis could avoid some degree of anchoring in present concerns. It just did not bother me.
This is a well done and extremely thoughtful book that I strongly recommend.
May 27, 2025
HETTA I LOVE U!!
honestly such a well-written book, and truly an important read for anyone who enjoys history, feminist literature, etc. howes does a beautiful job combining context and the writings of those four Legendary medieval figures, to help us understand the lives of medieval women.
some of my favourite parts/quotes:
- from the Ballad of the Tyrannical Husband: “[Her husband] wishes she could spend a day in his shoes, to see what hard labour is really like: ‘I would that you should go all day to plough with me,/To walk in the clods that are wet and boggy,/Then you would know what it is to be a ploughman.’ … She reminds her husband that because of their baby she only gets ‘a little sleep’, and yet she still has many other tasks: … When all this has been done, the children are crying, and she must get them up and out of bed. Then there are more jobs to do. While minding them she also bakes, brews ale, spins cloth to make clothes for them all and feeds the livestock. And all this before noon and without any help”
- “It would also be naïve to suggest that all the inequalities that we see in the medieval workplace have now completely vanished. While there are far more
corner offices reserved for women than there used to be, and very few professions that are closed to them, there is still a split between what might be deemed
stereotypically ‘male’ and ‘female’ professions, or ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills”
- “The writing of these four extraordinary women continues to stand the test of time. We’ll never know how many other medieval women hoped to craft
a legacy by putting quill to parchment, only to have their words lost or their names forgotten. But, thanks to Marie, Julian, Christine and Margery, we know that they did exist. Undeterred by the obstacles in their path, or by the limitations placed on them by society, our poet, mystic, widow and wife all managed to make their voices heard. By listening to what they have to say,
paying attention to what they have to tell us, we can learn more about their world, hundreds of years ago—and also, perhaps, our own.”
honestly such a well-written book, and truly an important read for anyone who enjoys history, feminist literature, etc. howes does a beautiful job combining context and the writings of those four Legendary medieval figures, to help us understand the lives of medieval women.
some of my favourite parts/quotes:
- from the Ballad of the Tyrannical Husband: “[Her husband] wishes she could spend a day in his shoes, to see what hard labour is really like: ‘I would that you should go all day to plough with me,/To walk in the clods that are wet and boggy,/Then you would know what it is to be a ploughman.’ … She reminds her husband that because of their baby she only gets ‘a little sleep’, and yet she still has many other tasks: … When all this has been done, the children are crying, and she must get them up and out of bed. Then there are more jobs to do. While minding them she also bakes, brews ale, spins cloth to make clothes for them all and feeds the livestock. And all this before noon and without any help”
- “It would also be naïve to suggest that all the inequalities that we see in the medieval workplace have now completely vanished. While there are far more
corner offices reserved for women than there used to be, and very few professions that are closed to them, there is still a split between what might be deemed
stereotypically ‘male’ and ‘female’ professions, or ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills”
- “The writing of these four extraordinary women continues to stand the test of time. We’ll never know how many other medieval women hoped to craft
a legacy by putting quill to parchment, only to have their words lost or their names forgotten. But, thanks to Marie, Julian, Christine and Margery, we know that they did exist. Undeterred by the obstacles in their path, or by the limitations placed on them by society, our poet, mystic, widow and wife all managed to make their voices heard. By listening to what they have to say,
paying attention to what they have to tell us, we can learn more about their world, hundreds of years ago—and also, perhaps, our own.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 17, 2025
Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women offers an intriguing look at the writings of four medieval women who managed to stand out within a deeply patriarchal world. Hetta Howes explores the lives of of Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widowed court writer; and Margery Kempe, the so-called “no-good wife".
I had anticipated a more focused biography of the four women featured. While the book does explore their lives, it is ultimately a broader overview of medieval women and their circumstances arranged thematically. Not to say that this wasn't fascinating as well. I did enjoy the book and learned a lot from it. But it just left me wanting a bit more, unfortunately.
Something that stood out to me and was something new for me to learn was that women’s friendships were frequently suppressed by the medieval patriarchal society, who regarded these friendships as potentially subversive, a threat to social order. Luckily there is evidence that women did form strong friendships in these times. It's not that women never had friendships but societal pressures often discouraged them or shaped the way they could exist.
Overall, I found the book enjoyable but it didn’t entirely live up to what I had hoped for. Even if it wasn't quite up to par for me, it does remain a compelling read for anyone interested in medieval women and their lives.
I had anticipated a more focused biography of the four women featured. While the book does explore their lives, it is ultimately a broader overview of medieval women and their circumstances arranged thematically. Not to say that this wasn't fascinating as well. I did enjoy the book and learned a lot from it. But it just left me wanting a bit more, unfortunately.
Something that stood out to me and was something new for me to learn was that women’s friendships were frequently suppressed by the medieval patriarchal society, who regarded these friendships as potentially subversive, a threat to social order. Luckily there is evidence that women did form strong friendships in these times. It's not that women never had friendships but societal pressures often discouraged them or shaped the way they could exist.
Overall, I found the book enjoyable but it didn’t entirely live up to what I had hoped for. Even if it wasn't quite up to par for me, it does remain a compelling read for anyone interested in medieval women and their lives.
January 18, 2025
The book explores medieval women from a topical perspective (i.e. travel, occupations, religion, motherhood, etc.) using the examples mainly of Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Christine de Pizan, and Marie de France, but the author does talk about other women too. We just have good source material for these women. These women challenged the norms for the period even though they did also have to conform to them or face ridicule, shame, and even discipline. I think the author makes a really good point that society has come a long way, but women still have a long way to go in terms of gender equality, especially as women's rights are being rolled back due to the right Christian nationalist movement. We still need to be vigilant.
June 5, 2025
I wish I had a copy to eye read, as I would have highlighted a few passages. I learned some wild stuff - mostly that medieval folks were pretty vulgar. It's a good time.
On a more serious note, I do think this is a highly accessible text that shines a light on how women in medieval times lived and helps us to understand how we are not SO different.
If it seems appealing, I'd recommend it.
On a more serious note, I do think this is a highly accessible text that shines a light on how women in medieval times lived and helps us to understand how we are not SO different.
If it seems appealing, I'd recommend it.
Read
April 14, 2025Aimed at an extremely non-expert audience, but clears the grievously low bar set by Matrix by mile, by actually remembering and centering the written work of Marie de France.
June 19, 2025
A look at 4 women during medieval times and the choices they made to go against social norms. I didn’t find this as engrossing as I hoped for but it has interesting parts.
Read
October 22, 2024men, Christine de Pizan decided she could do better. The Book of the City of Ladies, completed around 1405, was the result, becoming her most famous work. The widowed Christine went on to make a living from her writing, supporting her family as the first professional female author in Europe.
Margery Kempe gave up her duties as a wife and mother in order to devote herself to God and to take pilgrimages both in England and abroad; upon her return she dictated her memoirs, authoring, around 1430, the first surviving English autobiography. One of the people Margery met on her travels was the mystic and anchoress Julian of Norwich, who had locked herself away from the world to concentrate on spiritual matters and write her Revelations of Divine Love, a work still widely quoted today (‘all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well’). And some two centuries before any of these three women were born, the poet Marie de France left her homeland for England, there to compose subversive tales featuring resourceful heroines who were very different from the heroes of the prevailing male-dominated literature.
These women are the titular subjects of Hetta Howes’ lively and enjoyable Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women, which uses their careers and writings as a springboard for a wide-ranging discussion of women’s lives in the Middle Ages. This is not a simple group biography, but rather an examination, in a series of thematic chapters, of topics such as experiences of childbirth, being a wife, travelling and earning a living, religious life and the power of female friendship. The result is illuminating, although the stylistically jarring conclusion, speculating on hat the four subjects would make of the modern world and listing the many disadvantages women still face, is a disappointing end to a book that otherwise evokes the spirit of the period so well; modern attitudes on what constitutes ‘legitimate rape’ do not tell us much about the Middle Ages.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Catherine Hanley’s latest book is 1217: The Battles That Saved England (Osprey, 2024).
Margery Kempe gave up her duties as a wife and mother in order to devote herself to God and to take pilgrimages both in England and abroad; upon her return she dictated her memoirs, authoring, around 1430, the first surviving English autobiography. One of the people Margery met on her travels was the mystic and anchoress Julian of Norwich, who had locked herself away from the world to concentrate on spiritual matters and write her Revelations of Divine Love, a work still widely quoted today (‘all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well’). And some two centuries before any of these three women were born, the poet Marie de France left her homeland for England, there to compose subversive tales featuring resourceful heroines who were very different from the heroes of the prevailing male-dominated literature.
These women are the titular subjects of Hetta Howes’ lively and enjoyable Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women, which uses their careers and writings as a springboard for a wide-ranging discussion of women’s lives in the Middle Ages. This is not a simple group biography, but rather an examination, in a series of thematic chapters, of topics such as experiences of childbirth, being a wife, travelling and earning a living, religious life and the power of female friendship. The result is illuminating, although the stylistically jarring conclusion, speculating on hat the four subjects would make of the modern world and listing the many disadvantages women still face, is a disappointing end to a book that otherwise evokes the spirit of the period so well; modern attitudes on what constitutes ‘legitimate rape’ do not tell us much about the Middle Ages.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Catherine Hanley’s latest book is 1217: The Battles That Saved England (Osprey, 2024).
January 10, 2025
Approachable or Complex? = Mostly Approachable
This book's is great at defining terms and keeping the language and prose simple for a reader to understand what's going on. Even if you have no experiencing in interacting with women in pre-modern Europe, this book can serve as a good gateway into it.
The only thing that I struggled with is that I really thought we'd go woman by woman in the four women this book wants to talk about but they're all woven in which brings about a complexity in trying to parse out which stories belong to which women.
Narrative Moments or Straight Facts:? = Mostly Narrative Moments
This book aims to take us down the lives of four women: "Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a no-good wife." We are going through their lives as well as the lives of other women. This is a book about women and their lives.
Overviewic or Specific:? = Equally Overviewic and Specific
While this book claims that its about four women, it does cover Kempe and Norwich the most. I couldn't tell you anything about Marie de France that I learned. We also get narratives about other women in this time period and fictional women in books from this time period as well. So it is both specific in that we do get the specific lives of these four women, but it also seeks to give us a general idea about the lives of women in premodern Europe. I would say you'd come out of this book with a very well rounded idea of women in this era.
Definitely Skimmed or Engaging? = Overwhelmingly Engaging.
I've got a religion minor and I focused on Christianity and civil religion and the places where religion and secular society meet and so this book covers the stuff I'm interested in. The moment Anchoresses were brought up I was like here for it. So I stayed engaged the entire time, I nearly read the book in just a single day. This is a book I would read again in hopes of retaining more and new information. Having already taken classes about women in this era I felt this book enhanced that education and I generally had a wonderful time reading.
Do I feel dumb after reading this because I struggled to retain understand that information or did this book make me feel like a more educated person?: I feel smarter after reading this.
Information Retained Off the Top of My Head
- Anchoresses
- Birthing Girdles
- Christ as a mother
- The connection between bleeding Christ and bleeding women
- Margery Kempe constantly crying
- The concept of Virago
- Convents as The Second Option, and women's struggle to carve out a third option.
- Adultery in premodern Europe
Reviewer's Note:
I review nonfiction different than fiction. Each section is on a 5 point scale with each word on opposite sides of the scale. For example, in "Approachable Vs Complex" the scale would go: Overwhelmingly Approachable, Mostly Approachable, Equally Approachable and Complex, Mostly Complex, Overwhelmingly Complex.
One side is not better than the other side because its entirely dependent on the subject matter, the aim of the book, and the intended audience. For example, a quantum mechanics book should be somewhat complex but the historical account of a person should be somewhat approachable.
October 26, 2024
Very disappointed in this book.
I’ve recently read Matrix by Lauren Groff about Marie de France, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie about Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich and I, Julian by Claire Gilbert about Julian of Norwich and so thought this book would tell me about their lives.
The fourth woman is Christine de Pizan, a medieval writer who crops up a lot in the excellent Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club by Christopher de Hamel.
But all it is in fact is a rewrite of general books about the difficulties of being in a woman in the Middle Ages interspersed with quotes mainly from Margery Kempe, Christine de Pizans Book of the City of Ladies, Marie de Frances Lais and the Wife of Baths tale from the Canterbury Tales (written by a man).
No real discussion of who these women were or what we know about them. We don’t know for instance who Marie de France was or even if she was a woman. The book reads like a student’s box ticking dissertation, she gets all the buzz words in like heteronormative, the queer experience and did the Virgin Mary come when she conceived Jesus. In fact I’m surprised she didn’t call CdP’s book the Book of the City of Cervix Owners! She also usefully tells us there was a lot of anti semitism in those days like ‘there is now on the far right’ (factually incorrect as it’s the left who are anti semitic). I gave up half way through but flicked through the conclusion and she was wittering on about discrimination against lgbtq etc and ‘women of colour’.
All I can say is if this is the quality of academic writing these days then we’re in a whole lot of trouble. 3/10
I’ve recently read Matrix by Lauren Groff about Marie de France, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie about Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich and I, Julian by Claire Gilbert about Julian of Norwich and so thought this book would tell me about their lives.
The fourth woman is Christine de Pizan, a medieval writer who crops up a lot in the excellent Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club by Christopher de Hamel.
But all it is in fact is a rewrite of general books about the difficulties of being in a woman in the Middle Ages interspersed with quotes mainly from Margery Kempe, Christine de Pizans Book of the City of Ladies, Marie de Frances Lais and the Wife of Baths tale from the Canterbury Tales (written by a man).
No real discussion of who these women were or what we know about them. We don’t know for instance who Marie de France was or even if she was a woman. The book reads like a student’s box ticking dissertation, she gets all the buzz words in like heteronormative, the queer experience and did the Virgin Mary come when she conceived Jesus. In fact I’m surprised she didn’t call CdP’s book the Book of the City of Cervix Owners! She also usefully tells us there was a lot of anti semitism in those days like ‘there is now on the far right’ (factually incorrect as it’s the left who are anti semitic). I gave up half way through but flicked through the conclusion and she was wittering on about discrimination against lgbtq etc and ‘women of colour’.
All I can say is if this is the quality of academic writing these days then we’re in a whole lot of trouble. 3/10
August 6, 2025
2.75/5
No es un mal libro, es interesante, pero bien parece que va dirigido a gente que no tiene gran idea sobre la Edad Media. A ratos se siente muy periodístico, y demasiado especulativo y vago. La idea era buena, la ejecución no tanto. Aún así tiene cosas muy interesantes y rescatables y se aprenden datos interesantes que luego valen la pena explorar por cuenta propia. Me esperaba algo más académico y riguroso, pero como primer retazo de la Edad Media y el tema de la mujer no está mal, aunque es molesta la cantidad de especulaciones que hace la autora sin recalcar que lo son, sobre todo en un libro tan divulgativo dirigido a un público más general.
No es un mal libro, es interesante, pero bien parece que va dirigido a gente que no tiene gran idea sobre la Edad Media. A ratos se siente muy periodístico, y demasiado especulativo y vago. La idea era buena, la ejecución no tanto. Aún así tiene cosas muy interesantes y rescatables y se aprenden datos interesantes que luego valen la pena explorar por cuenta propia. Me esperaba algo más académico y riguroso, pero como primer retazo de la Edad Media y el tema de la mujer no está mal, aunque es molesta la cantidad de especulaciones que hace la autora sin recalcar que lo son, sobre todo en un libro tan divulgativo dirigido a un público más general.
February 28, 2025
Meh. I wanted more of a narrative of these women’s lives. It was a bit dry for me and read too much like a dissertation.
July 3, 2025
Life in medieval times has always interested me. But most of the information that we get about how life used to be at that time period is that of men. The rare mention of women were also done by men. While we get an idea of a woman's life through Chaucer's Wife of Bath in Canterbury Tales but Alyson is also a man's creation. Hetta Howes, through detailed research, tells us the lives and experiences of a poet - Marie de France, a mystic -Julian of Norwich, a widow - Christine de Pizan, and a wife - Margery Kempe. Howes begins this book with the deep seated misogyny that existed in the medieval times blaming the suffering of mankind on Eve's disobedience to God. Men firmly believed that women were inferior to men in every way because they had too much moisture in their bodies that leaked out of them making them weak and vulnerable. Women had to fight against such prejudice and led a life that was restricted in every way. Despite the restrictions, there are records of women writing, working, raising family, running a business, creating music. Howes focuses on these 4 women and how they left their legacy through their words and the battles they had to fight to do so. Howes also describes the influence of church and that of a vengeful God which dominated society and how societal norms centered around religion.
The last chapter discusses how far women have come from the Medieval times and in what ways we are going back. She gives the example of natural childbirth. A very fascinating read but it also made me cringe at the mentions of the punishments that were meted out (mainly to women) for adultery or any other alleged crime.
The last chapter discusses how far women have come from the Medieval times and in what ways we are going back. She gives the example of natural childbirth. A very fascinating read but it also made me cringe at the mentions of the punishments that were meted out (mainly to women) for adultery or any other alleged crime.
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May 9, 2025Does your history book feature Julian of Norwich and/or Margery Kempe? If yes, I will probably read it. Shameless c14th mystic fangirl here. This time, Julian and Margery are part of a literary read of the lives of medieval women, alongside Christine de Pisan and Marie de France. Literature prof Hetta Howes takes these women's words on aspects of medieval female life and contrasts and expands them with other (i.e. man-written) sources.
From giving birth to going on pilgrimage to making friends to dying, each chapter takes a part of life and shows us what our four titled women said on these. Granted, in some cases they hadn't said much and Howes has to bring in a lot of other sources, but I enjoyed the construction. It's not four biographies of these women (in particular, this would be difficult for the mysterious Marie), rather a collage of insights into lives of ordinary women through the words of some extraordinary ones.
A very good read for people interested in the day to day of medieval life, and possibly for some who don't think they are interested: it certainly gives a more rounded view of things than some of the stereotypes of medieval life. Who wants to go on a party pilgrimage? Or listen to a bunch of romantasy stories around the fire? Or fit in a mention of Joan of Arc cos you absolutely must? Good times.
From giving birth to going on pilgrimage to making friends to dying, each chapter takes a part of life and shows us what our four titled women said on these. Granted, in some cases they hadn't said much and Howes has to bring in a lot of other sources, but I enjoyed the construction. It's not four biographies of these women (in particular, this would be difficult for the mysterious Marie), rather a collage of insights into lives of ordinary women through the words of some extraordinary ones.
A very good read for people interested in the day to day of medieval life, and possibly for some who don't think they are interested: it certainly gives a more rounded view of things than some of the stereotypes of medieval life. Who wants to go on a party pilgrimage? Or listen to a bunch of romantasy stories around the fire? Or fit in a mention of Joan of Arc cos you absolutely must? Good times.
May 8, 2025
Howes presents a very approachable and digestible look into the lives of medieval women through the lens of a selection of women who chose to live against the grain. As someone who has studied the Middle Ages in depth, I would’ve enjoyed some more exploration on certain topics. As with much exploration of the Middle Ages, we lack concrete evidence of circumstances that have not been recorded. Howes did offer her thoughts on explanations, but sometimes it veered a bit too far into speculation without explicitly stating so. I also would have liked the conclusion to expand more upon similarities and differences between the Middle Ages and now, especially for those who are not exceptional like the women highlighted throughout the book. Overall, it was informative and left me with much to meditate on and explore further on my own. I would recommend this book to someone who is looking for introductory information or a starting point for research.
August 1, 2025
very interesting read! i’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of medieval history after stumbling into the corpus sancti phenomenon at work. shotout to my colleague who unearthed this new personal obsession.
the book dragged a bit towards the end: the last two chapters somewhat repeated themselves. it was, overall, great 👍.
the book dragged a bit towards the end: the last two chapters somewhat repeated themselves. it was, overall, great 👍.
January 21, 2025
A fascinating look at the lives of medieval women
January 30, 2025
Fantastic! A great review of medieval women, and the conclusion does a great job of tying back to today. I found the subject matter and content to be extremely relevant and would read again.
May 31, 2025
Fantastic.. Hetta Howes has given life and light to some fascinating women from the past in this well-researched, well-written and well-executed book. Presented with authority and knowledge as well as empathy, warmth and humour. Highly recommended.
April 11, 2025
Solidly constructed with some interesting facts, if didactic.
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January 24, 2025Very funny how margery is the authors blorbo her problemativ fav....
August 17, 2025
Reads like someone bound their dissertation and marketed it well.
November 23, 2025
very accessible, but i was hoping to learn something new and i’m not sure i did
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