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

by Janina Ramírez

1

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Feminism, Medieval, Historical, Audiobook, Womens

464 pages, Paperback

First published July 21, 2022

About the author

Janina Sara María Ramírez (née Maleczek; 7 July 1980), sometimes credited as Nina Ramírez, is a British art and cultural historian and TV presenter, based in Woodstock, Oxfordshire. She specialises in interpreting symbols and examining works of art, within their own historical context.

Ramírez went to school in Slough. She gained a degree in English literature, specialising in Old and Middle English, from St Anne's College, Oxford, before completing her postgraduate studies at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York. She completed an art/literature PhD on the symbolism of birds, which led to a lectureship in York's Art History Department, followed by lecturing posts at the University of Winchester, University of Warwick, and University of Oxford.

Ramírez is currently the course director on the Certificate in History of Art at Oxford University's Department for Continuing Education.

Reviews

[Maja - BibliophiliaDK ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

PROBABLY ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE READ THIS YEAR 😍

The second I saw this book, I knew I had to read it. From the first page I was sold. And unto the end, I was enthralled.

❤️ What I Loved ❤️

Feminist approach: From the beginning I loved Ramírez' aim of telling the story of the middle ages through the notable women of the time. Once you start digging, you'll find that there are many more than you originally thought. As a medieval historian specialised in queenship, I'll admit that there were few of the women that I was not already familiar with. But even so, I still absolutely loved this book. I loved the originality of the approach. And I loved how Ramírez didn't try to write out the men from the narrative. And that is a truly feminist approach, where both sexes are allowed to coexist.

Setting the stage: At the beginning of each chapter, Ramírez employed a rather ingenious writing technique. She set the stage. Painted us a picture of the time and place. Such a thing is usually mainly done in fiction, but I found it very engaging and enlightening. I loved those little insights in the world and the time.

A modern angle: Also at the beginning of each chapter Ramírez gave us a modern "version" of the medieval story, she was about to take us through. By telling us of the archeologists, who uncovered the gender of the Birka warrioress or when the writings of Margery Kemp were found, Ramírez gives us an insight into the invaluable work of those people, who first brought the women's stories to life and gives credit were credit is (over)due.

Writing: From start to finish this almost didn't feel like non-fiction. Ramírez' prose made it feel like I was being spoon-fed with delightful history, loving every single bite.

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[K.J. Charles]

Highly readable and very interesting history (more a set of essays than a continuous account) digging the traces of medieval European women out of accounts mostly written by men. Lots to relish here, well written, and intersectional with some traces of trans people. The author takes an unapologetically feminist stance here although even her staunch support of the women wavers slightly as she discusses the hilariously awful Margery Kempe, whose utter intolerability echoes down the centuries.

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well done! I like this more than I expected.

The book consists of a series of essays. An assortment of early, middle and late medieval women are presented. Examples are a female Viking warrior, the embroiderers who created the Bayeux Tapestry, the female monarchial King Jadwiga of Poland, the musician and composer Hildegard of Bingen and a woman who travelled and saw to it that her own life history was written. Through her we see an ordinary woman like you and me. The variety of the women we meet is wide. That which is made evident is that the women of the Middle Ages have many similarities with women of our own time. You are in for some surprises!

The information is well researched, well organized and well written. Time after time I was impressed by the balance of the statements made. She doesn’t jump to conclusions, make sweeping statements or exaggerate. Not always, but most of the time adequate background information is provided. Occasionally, a touch of humor is added.

I am not a fan of essays. The reading of them is perceived by me as being fragmentary. This is my only real complaint. The preface and introduction were too long.

The author, being both an historian and TV presenter, reads the audiobook herself. That she is a broadcaster is evident in the telling. This gives the reading a particular style. The words are clearly spoken. She reads the lines a mile a minute. I turned down the speed. Three stars for the narration.

[Sharon-anne Leach · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing

I found this very frustrating and disappointing but that’s probably mostly due to my expectations of what I thought this book was going to be. Truthfully, I feel the title is misleading. Within the book it acknowledges it only looks at a ‘handful’ of women and that’s true. I can’t say I learned a huge amount about these women and the focus felt very narrow at times. Some of the chapters admit it’s conjecture and it’s hard to know anything. The Loftus Princess chapter is more about jewellery construction. I understand that it’s about the wider female experience or their lives but like I say, I think I expected more on specific women. I feel the structure is disjointed and even the chapters themselves are fragmented. More time is spent on the ‘Discovery!’ and context sections than on the women themselves. In the Hildegard chapter (probably the best one), the initial section (Discovery) about smuggling her manuscript out of Russian occupied Dresden is muddled and jumps back and forth. Often I felt I was reading more about the men than the women. Unavoidable but still. So, I didn’t really like it but I believe it is most likely due to my expectations and thinking the book was going to be something it isn’t and due to reading other books about the Middle Ages this year that I’ve liked better.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wenn wir an das Mittelalter denken, haben wir meist folgendes düsteres Bild vor Augen: Männer erobern als Könige und Krieger die Welt, während sich Frauen um Kinder und Burgen kümmern oder als Prostituierte für das (männliche) Vergnügen zur Verfügung stehen - fernab des binären Geschlechtersystems fehlen uns die Bezüge komplett. Diese patriarchale Sicht auf die mittelalterliche Welt stammt aus der Feder von Historikern, sie wurde Jahrhundertelang in unsere Geschichtsbücher so aufgenommen. Die Autorin, Kulturhistorikerin, Literatur- sowie Sprachwissenschaftlerin, Dozentin und Forscherin Dr. Janina Ramirez wirbelt mit ihrem Sachbuch "Femina: Eine neue Geschichte des Mittelalters aus Sicht der Frauen", übersetzt von Karin Schuler, genau diese Geschichtsschreibung gehörig durcheinander und erweckt die Frauen des Mittelalters wieder zum Leben, die so lange vergessen bzw. unsichtbar gemacht wurden.

Durch eine Neuinterpretation der bekannten Quellen, durch archäologische Weiterentwicklung und neue technische Möglichkeiten kommen in den letzten Jahren immer mehr mittelalterliche Frauenschicksale ans Licht, viele davon versammelt die Autorin in ihrem über 500 Seiten starken Buch. Sie erzählt unter anderen von Æthelflæd, der Herrscherin von Mercia, von Emma von der Normandie, Königin von England, von Hildegard von Bingen, Äbtissin, Dichterin, Komponistin und bedeutender natur- und heilkundiger Universalgelehrten und von Jadwiga von Polen, die zum König Polens ernannt wurde. Dabei sind die Kapitel des Buchs immer gleich aufgebaut, Dr. Janina Ramirez geht chronologisch vor und schafft zunächst einen Zugang durch einen Einblick in moderne Forschungsmethoden, um die Lesenden im Anschluss in die jeweilige Zeit und den mittelalterlichen Ort zu entführen.

Ich habe "Femina: Eine neue Geschichte des Mittelalters aus Sicht der Frauen" als höchst interessant empfunden und es hat mir großen Spaß gemacht, die originell aufbereiteten Erzählungen über mittelalterliche Heldinnen zu lesen. Ich liebe Serien wie "Vikings: Valhalla" oder auch "The Last Kingdom", weshalb ich einige Frauenfiguren aus Dr. Janina Ramirez Buch schon kannte - mehr über die reale Person hinter den Seriencharakteren zu erfahren war für mich ein kleines Highlight. Trotzdem ist dieses Sachbuch eine Lektüre, für die man viel Zeit und Interesse benötigt und ich glaube nicht, dass es thematisch zu allen passt. Falls ihr aber - wie ich - gerne mehr über Frauen* im Mittelalter erfahren möchtet und Bock auf ein Sachbuch der etwas anderen Art habt, kann ich euch Janina Ramirez beeindruckendes Werk sehr ans Herz legen!

[Hannah Greendale (Hello, Bookworm)]

Picked this up to read about women in the Middle Ages, as promised by the book's subtitle, but I've spent the first 50+ pages largely reading about men, so I'm shelving this for now.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship]

Read a bit over 100 pages, though non-consecutive—once I realized I wasn’t liking it I skipped ahead to the chapters that interested me most, which ultimately did not change my mind.

This isn’t really a “new” history of the Middle Ages, it’s nine essays about specific exceptional women or moments in history. The author is a television presenter and you can really, really tell—she spends a long time setting the scene in each chapter, including multi-page “imagine yourself in 7th century Loftus. The salt air bites your skin as you look out over the choppy waters of the North Sea….” style descriptions. There’s also a heavy focus on describing surviving objects and magnifying their importance, lots of vague conclusory statements, and then long repetitive wrap-ups at the end of each segment that feel like student papers stretching to meet a word count.

About half the book focuses on England, which has really been done to death in popular history, but I was curious about a couple of the non-England chapters. One is on the Polish female king, Jadwiga, who was later canonized—sadly this chapter read like a detailed Wikipedia entry; I didn’t get any more out of it than that. As for why Jadwiga was “king” rather than “queen,” this apparently was a question of semantics: her father, king of Poland and Hungary, had no sons and wanted his daughters to inherit in their own right, and this seems to have been a way of getting around rules against women ruling. Both were declared kings while still young girls, but married off to older men on top of the usual control by advisors that any young rulers face. Both also died young.

The section on the Cathars—the victims of the 13th century Albigensian Crusade in southern France—was a bit better; while again pretty surface-level on the individual women, it compensates for that by including a bunch of them along with addressing the larger issues at play. It could have used more specifics (the author emphasizes that there’s a lot of dispute and fictionalized history here, without being clear on what is and isn’t known), but this chapter was worth reading for me as I knew little about the topic.

Overall though, I found this author’s style tiresome and uninformative. On to a different book about medieval women, which is looking much more promising.

[Sophie (Is having a bookish breakdown) · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.*

One of my favourite genres is books centering forgotten female stories and figures, and this is exactly what Ramírez has written in Femina.

As she puts it in the author's note, "I am not here to convince you that it is high time we put women at the centre of history. Many have already done that." And she is correct, because thousands of women have tried and for the most part, begun to succeed. What is necessary, rather, is that these women have their stories told and remembered.

Femina examines case studies of women from throughout the early ages by analysing artifacts, providing contextual information and interspersing the text with vivid descriptions to bring the ancient women to life. In 9 chapters, Ramírez expertedly weaves an astounding narrative firmly explaining how, if not wrong, but distorted modern history truly is.
The amount of male figures who simply wouldn't, or even didn't, accomplish what they've been credited without a woman's intervention for was ridiculous. It seems absurd that these powerful icons could just be forgotten.
That's what really makes Femina stand out.

A second reason for this is Femina gives a reason for this revisionist history we learn today. We all know WHO rewrote history (men) and WHAT they rewrote (anything featuring a powerful woman) but why? And how? Femina examines this point carefully.

My only criticism would be that the book is heavily focused on central and western Europe, I think a broader scale would be great.

From medieval queens, to Viking warriors, Ramírez truly does shine a light into the inner workings of the pre modern ages. I think this should be essential reading for anybody, of any age, learning history.

[Katya]

A partir da Reforma, as bibliotecas foram vasculhadas à procura de textos controversos. Foram usados vários termos abreviados em catálogos para indicar aqueles que deveriam ser conservados ou potencialmente destruídos. Os livros eram registados como contendo assuntos de «bruxaria», «heresias e «católicos»; o destino de muitos destes textos é desconhecido, sendo as listas o único registo da sua existência. O título deste livro - Femina foi o rótulo rabiscado ao lado de textos que se sabe terem sido escritos por uma mulher, portanto menos dignos de serem preservados. Não podemos deixar de nos perguntar quantos outros foram descartados ou destruídos por serem obra de «femina».

Janina Ramirez, como está tanto na moda, é uma historiadora com presença frequente na televisão britânica. O que se justifica, porque Ramirez é uma contadora de histórias nata. E desprovida do ego que normalmente acompanha o nível de exposição a que se sujeita qualquer comunicador. Por isso, ao contrário, por exemplo, daquilo que Beard muitas vezes faz, imiscuindo-se subrepticiamente na narrativa que conta, Ramirez abstrai-se do próprio discurso deixando brilhar os nomes de outros académicos (enquanto Beard tem muitos pruridos no que diz respeito a creditar diretamente os seus pares). Em Femina, desfilam os nomes de arqueólogos solitários e equipas de estudiosos, diretores de museus, curiosos e colecionadores lado a lado com as figuras de várias mulheres medievais que a história tem vindo a ignorar ou esquecer.

A sobrescrita - a prática através da qual os escritores masculinos tomavam as visões, palavras e ideias das mulheres intelectuais e as reescreviam para uma audiência maioritariamente masculina - foi também comum durante todo o período [medieval]. Isto significou que tanto os relatos orais como os escritos por mulheres foram incluídos nos de autores posteriores e permaneceram não reconhecidos. O apagamento de muitas mulheres letradas dos registos é mais um caso de má referenciação do que de exclusão deliberada.

De reis (não só rainhas), a santas, mercadoras, místicas, escritoras, viajantes, guerreiras e cientistas, este livro está pejado de nomes pouco badalados - com a exceção, talvez, de Hildegarda de Bingen e Margery Kempe que alimentam correntes de estudos muito específicas. Sedimentadas nos achados e investigações arqueológicas mais recentes, as histórias destas mulheres trazem à luz do dia o conhecimento de uma realidade medieval muito diferente daquela que nos legou o Século das Luzes, uma era de tradição oral e de memória em que o lugar das mulheres não se definia de acordo com o binómio feminino/masculino, subserviente/poderoso. Falamos de uma época em que as mulheres detinham negócios (como a fiação ou o fabrico de cerveja), faziam comércio (esse ele errante ou fixo), possuiam terras e podiam governar como pares dos seus maridos ou mesmo em nome individual:

Enquanto o seu pai ainda era vivo, Ethelflæd era praticamente invisível nos registos, uma vez que o seu marido assinava cartas com o apoio do rei. Mas viria a sobressair como governante por direito próprio quando Alfredo morreu, em 899, e quando a saúde do seu marido começou a falhar, alguns anos mais tarde. Em 902, estava a tomar decisões importantes em nome do reino de Mércia. A expulsão dos nórdicos de Dublin tinha deixado um grupo de viquingues deslocados, sem lugar para se estabelecerem. Apelaram a Æthelflæd para que lhes desse a autorização de se estabelecerem num local de cultivo perto de Chester. A sua resposta revela uma cabeça clara para a diplomacia e o planeamento do futuro, mesmo sendo ainda uma jovem mulher, começou a fortificar a cidade de Chester para o caso de estes decidirem atacá-la. Seguiu o exemplo do pai, reforçando as muralhas romanas e criando um burh defensivo. Os Anais Irlandeses dão pormenores sobre a forma como Æthelflæd protegeu a cidade quando, em 907, os viquingues do Wirral se juntaram às tropas dinamarquesas e atacaram Chester. Ela reuniu à sua volta um grande exército das regiões vizinhas». Após uma primeira batalha, Æthelflæd enviou mensageiros às tropas inimigas. Declarou que era «a rainha que detém toda a autoridade sobre os saxões». Através de pedidos de lealdade e da promessa de recompensas, convenceu os viquingues de Wirral, que tratara com tanta generosidade, a trocarem a sua lealdade e a juntarem-se às suas forças, e juntos fizeram recuar os seus atacantes. O povo de Chester utilizou todos os meios possíveis para derrotar os dinamarqueses, incluindo despejar cerveja a ferver sobre os homens que se encontravam em baixo e até atirar «todas as colmeias que havia na cidade para cima dos sitiantes. Æthelflæd era agora mais do que uma simples esposa e senhora: era uma estratega militar, diplomata e defensora de Mércia.

Com um índice tão cativante como enigmático, agrupado em categorias que elencam: motores de mudança e agitadoras, guerreiras e líderes, artistas e mecenas, polímatas e cientistas etc etc, este livro tem tanta presunção como uma lista de compras e acaba por oferecer um manancial de dados históricos extremamente ricos aliados a uma visão interdisciplinar que desencadeiam uma nova leitura de materiais e artefactos que são tudo menos desconhecidos, acabando, isso sim, propositadamente ignorados.

[Jadwiga]foi a primeira e única mulher «rei» da Polónia. De facto, ela e a sua irmã Maria, que foi declarada Rei da Hungria, são duas das únicas mulheres na Europa a terem ostentado o título de «Rex» em vez de «Regina».(...) Os cronistas documentaram que ela falava até sete línguas, sabia certamente ler e muito provavelmente também sabia escrever. Isto não era de modo algum um dado adquirido para os governantes medievais, e o seu marido Jagiełło não sabia ler nem escrever.

Desenterrando códices, peças utilitárias, vestuário, crónicas, arte, tapeçaria ou paramentos, Ramirez sugere uma outra leitura histórica (propositadamente parcial, no sentido em que destaca a narrativa feminina, mas sempre devidamente fundamentada), coeva não da nossa época, mas daquela para a qual os achados remetem.

Ela foi vítima não de preconceitos medievais, mas de atitudes modernas relativamente à liderança feminina. Vê-la como o fizeram os seus contemporâneos mostra-nos que as mulheres podiam exercer influência e que as suas vozes, agora apagadas dos registos, ainda podem ser ouvidas.

Felizmente, já se vai ouvindo um discurso académico menos tendencioso (pelo menos, é essa a minha experiência), um discurso que já reconhece a complexidade dos cerca de mil anos que compõem a Idade Média. Felizmente, já se vão vendo reconhecidas as estruturas criadas pelas mulheres para assegurar a sua igualdade: a educação (muitas vezes encontrada no seio da igreja), a propriedade (através dos negócios) e a liberdade física (através da recusa de modelos hierarquizantes). Este livro é mais uma evidência disso mesmo.

Não se limita a atravessar a Inglaterra, mas vai à Noruega, à Polónia, ao Médio Oriente, através de França, Espanha, Itália e Flandres. É mais viajada do que muitos de nós hoje em dia, apesar de ser significativamente mais limitada nos meios de transporte de que dispunha, sendo as opções o cavalo, as carroças e a pé. E, apesar de ter viajado muito, Margery [Kempe] regressava sempre a casa, a King's Lynn.

Femina é o resultado das investigações mais recentes e de um olhar muito particular do tempo e espaço ocupado pela sua autora. Não é uma empresa perfeita, ou sequer acabada, mas resulta numa leitura estimulante, cativante e impressionante (jamais "inventiva", como tristemente se publicita na capa!) sobre a multiplicidade e o potencial da história para ensinar o passado e moldar o futuro.

[Carlton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a thought provoking book, which is successful in that it has made me further question popular history books for the general reader, and it is well written and engaging. I’m dissatisfied to the extent that it is (hopefully) making a historically dated argument (I may be optimistic here!) and does so in a disjointed way.

The book is a series of essays about various medieval women, but I found it dissatisfying overall, since other than relating to medieval women, the essays are otherwise disconnected. As the only narrative thread linking these stories is that they are about women, it does not provide the “new history of the Middle Ages” which is the book’s subtitle, and I found any pattern too fragmentary, although the essays are engagingly written and well researched. Ramirez’s excellent introductory essay concludes identifying the book’s purpose more honestly: “We need a new relationship with the past, one which we can all feel a part of. Finding these extraordinary medieval women is a first step, but there are so many other silenced voices waiting to have their stories heard.”

Ramirez’s essay style of an introduction to each chapter’s subject by reference to a relatively contemporary event (for example the 1997 canonisation of the fourteenth century Jadwiga, “King” of the Poles in chapter 7), followed by an imaginative verbal recreation of an event in the individual’s life and then an exploration of their wider historical significance is a good approach. But it does become repetitive and underlines the discontinuity of the essays.
The book is well illustrated with photos of artefacts, artistic reconstructions and useful maps, but for me there appears to be an idiosyncratic choice of historical figures, some well known, others unknown (the Loftus “Princess”), although each essay is engaging and full of interesting stories. Also, after introducing her eminent women in the early chapters, Ramirez can appear to go off on a tangent due to the lack of records, but skilfully brings the narrative back to her chosen exemplar of a worthy woman in the period, providing relevant context for their significance.

In her final thoughts, Ramirez says : “Like so many others, I have been led by generations of historians before me, their contemporary agendas often presented in the guise of empirical truths. I have tried a different, but similarly loaded, approach in this book, putting the spotlight on women. It is no less biased, and is representative of the time in which I am writing. But by re-examining extraordinary women like Hildegard and Margery, casting a new light on over-written females like Æthelflæd and Jadwiga, and using recent discoveries to reconstruct lost individuals like the Loftus Princess and Birka Warrior Woman, the medieval world has taken on a different complexion.”

My overall impression is of the book trying to make a larger argument (thesis) from a collection of engaging essays about medieval women who were influential in their time. Instead the book reads like a collection of case studies with which to make the argument that the role of historically significant medieval women has been downplayed when histories of the medieval period were being being written in the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. This is “topped and tailed” with essays outlining Ramirez’s argument, that the histories of the medieval period need to be expanded to reflect the simplification and distortion of women’s roles, and this book provides some examples of historically significant medieval women.
The challenge identified in this book can be seen to have been accepted in books such as Michael Woods’ 40th anniversary updating of In Search of the Dark Ages: The classic best seller, fully updated and revised for its 40th anniversary published earlier this year, which includes new chapters on the historically significant Anglo Saxon women Aethelflaed, Lady Wynflaed and Eadgyth. The ongoing challenge for popular history writers will be to incorporate the stories of historically significant women seamlessly into broader narrative history, so widening our understanding. It is a difficult balancing act to show relevance and significance, but not to be read by modern readers as just inclusion as positive discrimination of “token” women.

I received a Netgalley copy of this book, but this review is my honest opinion.

[Bagus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first thing that came to mind when I picked up this book is that this book should not be categorised as a ‘history’ book. Rather, we should call it ‘herstory’ since it highlights the unheard voices of women during the medieval period in Europe (no puns intended). The medieval period is often seen as a period heavily influenced by the clergy, with religions taking a central role in people’s daily lives as well as the men who took a central position in it. In attempting to voice the lives of the women from the medieval period, both extraordinary and ordinary, Janina Ramírez utilises a new approach in her discourses, namely relying on alternative interpretations based on recent findings in the fields of archaeology, newly available archives, as well as the writings written by the women themselves.

Femina is a reassessment of the medieval period, particularly in the role of women in unheard roles, notably in science, governance, clergy and cultural developments. But apart from that, Janina does not only talk about women but also about the ‘now and then’ situation. Supported by recent findings, we could see that queerness and heretics did exist in the past and that history contains the other sides of official narratives. An example of this would be the Cathars who practised a Christian dualist movement in 12th century southern France and were considered heretics by their contemporaries. Yet we could find among their practices which encourage women empowerment, i.e. through abstaining from sexual intercourse and meat, which encourages the women to not be constrained by their traditional roles as they were less likely to die from childbirth and could have the luxury to pursue other vocations in their lives. The Cathars' practices would be considered more progressive from the modern point of view as opposed to their contemporaries.

Some women who are described in this book are quite popular in their native countries and countless scholarly research is already written about them. For example, Jadwiga who married Jagiełło in the Union of Krevo that established the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is widely celebrated in Poland, especially during the era of the partition of Poland by the neighbouring Russia, Austria and Prussia in the 19th century, as she was seen as a symbol of Poland’s enduring history. Yet Janina’s research adds more values to Jadwiga’s role in Poland, particularly when compared with her husband Jagiełło in terms of their contribution in negotiating Poland’s position in the medieval Europe and the establishment of the first university in Poland, i.e. Jagiellonian University in Kraków, which was named after Jagiełło even though it was established by Jadwiga.

Janina’s research shows that history is not static, new findings could change the way we view the past. And it also highlights our collective responsibility to negotiate how we want the future generation to view our timeline in the course of history. But first, we need to reassess history to gain more objective views about those written out of it, i.e. women, queer, working class people. It’s an interesting book, but I think the discourses are too focused on the women in the medieval Europe and shows lack of representation of women from other parts of the world.

[Emmy B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this on audiobook, read by JR herself. Perhaps this coloured my impression of the book a little, but JR’s love and passion for this project and her subject matter shines through in her voice and her words. She is an unapologetic enthusiast of this fascinating historical period and I enjoyed the trip she took me on here. As she herself acknowledges, there is more to be said on this topic. But she chooses her case studies purposefully and manages to tell the story in a way that entertains without violating the principles of sound academia.

I can recommend this, and if you can listen to it, I’d recommend that too.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book’s title is very misleading. I read more about men than women. Oh and also archaeologists than the actual women.

The women the author chose to write about are not mostly unknown or left out of history. And they still managed to be a footnote in a book supposedly about them.

A lot of assumptions were made in the book, probably due to limited information. Which is why the title should be adjusted to more reflect the content of the book. A lot of mental gymnastics and reaching.

[Willow Heath]

Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It is a lengthy title, but it perfectly sums up the entire book. The European Middle Ages lasted for a millennium, from the fifth to the fifteenth century, and the history we often learn about that enormous span of time usually ignores the successes and contributions of women. This book explores and outright celebrates the female artists, scientists, leaders, and warriors of the Middle Ages.

My full thoughts: https://booksandbao.com/best-history-...

[Jeanne Adamek · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

The epitomime of ctfishing in a book. The introduction tricks you up talking about suffragettes and medical women, so you think "wow this is so new and interesting!" And then BOOM straight to medieval stories that are plain boring.

If you're more of a contemporary historian or just fancy a nice history book, this is not your book. It is very factual, not ideal for those who don't know much about medieval times as you will be lost. It doesn't explain the history of the time or the people. It just assumes you will know. Man, give me timeliness, at least!

Also, don't be tricked about women's history. She doesn't really do much. She tales 20 pages talking bout the husband and sons to then go, "Oh yes, back to her. She was very important too." And the times she does speak about viking and medieval woman being more Liberal than we think is already known facts. It's nothing new.

[Bee · Rating 1 out of 5]

A few upper class women do what they are allowed to do within the existing power structures -religion and/or monarchy. The collective suffering of women as a sex-class in the middle ages is overlooked to an insult.
As the author admits the book covers only a handful of women, so might I ask…how is individual success of a few women supposed to change the way we see the middle ages? Also, there have always been books about powerful women, what can this book contribute re-assessment of history as it only reviews the findings of other archeologist and historians? Why does she keep saying “gender” throughout the book, when all the people in the book are simple, old-fashioned women? Of course, this question is answered in the last chapter of this bloody book.
Ah well…

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this. I like the premise and the main idea about reframing history back into the context of the past instead of through our own lenses still stood out. But the actual writing and stories wasn’t thrilling… a big focus on items rather than people’s histories… a few standout moments like the early chapter on Vikings and the last chapter on migration, race and sexuality but the middle parts bored me.

[Schubi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anita fragte neulich, was in letzter Zeit Reinfälle bei Büchern bei uns waren. Ich habe mich sehr auf dieses Buch gefreut und mit großen Erwartungen gelesen, bin aber leider sehr enttäuscht worden.

Erst einmal war die Einführung sehr seltsam, weil es um eine Suffragette in den 1920er Jahren ging. Es wurde zwar irgendwie eine Parallele zu Frauen im Mittelalter gezogen, die ich aber nicht nachvollziehen konnte und deplatziert gewirkt hat. Hier hätte ich mich über eine klassische Einführung mit Begriffsdefinition und Ziel des Textes gefreut.

Generell hat das Buch leider keinen erkennbaren roten Faden: es handelt sich um eine Aneinandereihung von Biographien von Frauen und Essays über Personengruppen bzw . Kunstobjekten aus dem Mittelalter, was grundsätzlich ja ganz spannend sein kann. Jedoch ist die einzige Gemeinsamkeit das in irgendeiner Form Frauen beteiligt waren, und das war's auch schon. Über die Auswahl kann man definitiv streiten; ich hätte keine weiteren Ausführungen über Hildegard von Bingen gebraucht, über die gefühlt schon alles geschrieben worden ist. Der Texte über den Teppich von Bayeux war ebenfalls deplatziert, man erfährt nichts über die Frauen die den Teppich hergestellt haben (weil es dazu auch gar keine gesicherten Erkenntnisse gibt) - die Autorin gibt nur anekdotisch wieder, was auf dem Teppich zu sehen ist. Das Kapitel über die Katharer war völlig überflüssig, von Frauen war kaum die Rede und am Ende erzählt die Autorin krude Theorien von Nazis und dem Heiligen Gral, wobei sie mich völlig verloren hat. An der Stelle hatte ich kaum noch Motivation weiterzulesen.

Leider hat sich Autorin einiges herausgenommen, was ich von einer ernsthaften Historikerin nie erwartet hätte. Historischen Persönlichkeiten Gefühle anzudichten und Worte in den Mund zu legen ist höchst unprofessionell. Im Kapitel über Jadwiga z.B. dichtet die Autorin aufgrund der Tatsache, dass es einen Almosenbeutel mit Tristan und Isolde-Motiv gibt, der Jadwiga zugeschrieben wird, ihr an, dass ihr Liebesleben ja wie in besagter Legende gewesen sein müsste und sie sich bestimmt sehr darin wiedergefunden hat. Daraufhin erzählt die Autorin Tristan und Isolde auf zwei Seiten nach. Das fand ich massiv deplatziert. Es gibt keinerlei Quellen, die uns irgendetwas über Jadwigas Gefühlswelt verraten.

Generell war leider nicht viel Quellenkritik zu finden; mir schien es so: wenn die Autorin eine Hypothese fand, die in ihr Narrativ passte, wurde sie wie ein Fakt behandelt und basierend darauf weiter gearbeitet. Vor allem im Kapitel über Hildegard von Bingen ist mir das aufgefallen.

Insgesamt bin ich leider sehr enttäuscht. Es gibt sicherlich so viele interessante Frauen im Mittelalter, über die man Bände schreiben könnte. Sehr interessant hätte ich gefunden, wenn sich die Autorin mit dem generellen mittelalterlichen Genderbild auseinandergesetzt hätte. Im letzten Kapitel macht sie auch Anstalten in die Richtung, das Thema kommt jedoch viel zu kurz und hat nur Platz als Randbemerkung. Schade - gerade angesichts dessen, das Genderrollen im Mittelalter längst nicht so binär waren wie wir uns es heute vorstellen.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this very engaging book, Janina Ramirez looks at the lives of individual medieval women with the aid of new advancements in technology and scientific research and through a lens that puts women at the center of their own stories. She discusses ways in which medieval women’s stories have been overlooked, rewritten, or even deliberately silenced because of stereotypes and biases. Medieval history was often written by men, about men, and for a predominantly male audience. Although Ramirez admits that her approach carries it’s own inherent biases, she believes that “casting a light back on medieval women and turning many lenses - from osteoarchaeology to art historical analysis - on the evidence, (she) can illuminate a new version of the Middle Ages.” It certainly seems that she has done so in this book.

I really enjoyed the structure of the book. Each chapter begins with a recent discovery or an event, for example, a new archaeological find, or a medieval women’s life’s work that exists because a Nazi-era scholar kidnaps the ancient book in order to preserve it. Another chapter begins with a fourteenth century journal found in a dusty closet of a country mansion and was almost trashed when it was rescued serendipitously by a visiting museum curator.. Each discovery offers the opportunity for the new examination of a woman from the medieval era.

The women’s stories are fascinating and Ramirez shows them in a fresh light - from Hildegard of Bingen, a polymath who Ramirez compares to da Vinci (only she finished things!) to Jawiga, the now sainted and the once and only female “king” of Poland and Margery Kempe, whose dictated autobiography (believed to be the first in the English language) offers a unique look at life in the late 14th and early 15th century. I think my favorite was the Birka Warrior Woman, a skeleton found buried with weapons of war and assumed to be a male until updated research applications proved her to be female, causing a bit of an uproar.

The stories show medieval women who were not monolithic nor do they always fit the mold of the stereotypical patriarchal medieval culture. In fact they exemplify Ramirez’s argument that the medieval era was a time as rich in human diversity as today. As she says, “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.”

There were instances where I questioned the conclusions that Ramirez draws even though they are logical and well-argued. But I think that questioning and challenging assumptions is what she would expect her readers to do. This is an excellent and very worthwhile read that offers up much food for thought.

[Eavan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm coming to realize I am not the audience for these books, as much as I whine and cry and try to make them be.

Femina is not so much a "new" history of medieval women's lives as it is a series of nine biographies of exceptional women who lived in the European Middle Ages. There are much fuller negative reviews on this that I recommend perusing, but broadly speaking, this book offers nothing new to readers familiar with the period. The author's thesis is the laziest of pop-feminist history: "Did you know... Women did stuff back then?" Anyone who seriously believes women did nothing exceptional for a thousand years is so far gone, maybe it's a blessing that this book exists.

Anyway, this book reminded me of everything I hate about the current trend of popular feminist frameworks of texts. Femina reminded me of the let-down that was The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society—A pop-history book promising to elucidate the reader on something much larger, complicated, and nuanced than the author is either able or willing to do. I always find it funny that the authors of books like this remind the reader over and over again how rich the tapestry of time is but cannot seem to go deeper than the surface-level critique their advertising promises. When will they truly take to heart that history cannot be boiled down to pithy feminist takes? When will (usually female) social historians give their readers something to really chew on? Why do I feel like women's-interest history always believe their readers are complete fucking dolts?

To summarize, I don't think it's possible to extract more than Ramírez simple thesis when you look at only nine people, and nine very, very wealthy and powerful people at that. It's interesting, sure, and these women absolutely deserve to be in the casual historical canon as the author argues, but... It is in no way a "new history," you know? That would entail much, much more than Ramírez is willing to put in.

Well... The book obviously strikes a chord though: look at those high reviews! I would only recommend this to people who know close to nothing on this period, and obviously only as a supplement to a more historiographical sound or primary source texts. I'm just annoyed at sexism and its over-production of limp-wristed non-fiction texts.

On to new pop history I will inevitably hate...

[rina.reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading about the Birka woman and Æthelflæd. The Hildegard of Bingen chapter was really fascinating as well.

[Emma Sea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this but I started to get bored about 1/3 in , and I can't really put my finger on why. It was a struggle to finish in the end. The topic is fabulous but I guess this just wasn't my book.

[Anneliese Tirry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Al bij al was dit boek een teleurstelling, wat erg jammer is want het gegeven is erg boeiend. Wie zijn de vrouwen uit de geschiedenis van de middeleeuwen die uit onze parate kennis verdwenen zijn. Dat is het prachtige uitgangspunt van dit boek. Waarom ook zijn ze verdwenen? Vaak was het de tijd gewoon waardoor bronnen verdwenen, of de foute veronderstelling dat, wanneer iemand met veel pracht en praal is begraven, of wapens meekreeg, dit automatisch een man is. DNA-onderzoek leert ons nu dat dit ook vrouwen kunnen zijn.
Ook is in de loop van de geschiedenis de vrouw naar het achterplan verdwenen, onzichtbaar en ondergeschikt geworden, terwijl enkel de geschiedenis van de machtigen en de heersers werd bewaard.
Dat uitgangspunt over de vrouwen in de geschiedenis en later ook even van andere minderheden, is dus prachtig.
In de kijker staan een aantal vrouwen, en 1 keer een ding, waar telkens een hoofdstuk aan gewijd is. Jammer genoeg is de vertaling van dit boek ondermaats en hangt het vertelde aaneen van “wellichts” en “waarschijnlijks”.
Sommige hoofdstukken boeiden me ook meer dan anderen, bvb dat over het tapijt van Bayeux of Hildegard von Bingen. Zo zijn er nog wel een paar. Dat komt omdat ik hier al een kapstok van kennis had waar ik dan de gelezen gegevens gemakkelijk kon aanhangen en driftig ging googelen.
Al bij al zijn de stukken over voor mij onbekende geschiedenis te warrig om er enig houvast aan te krijgen, de vertaling te slecht om mij niet af en toe te ergeren.
Jammer. Maar ik vind nog wel andere boeken over dit thema.

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fascinating. My interest in history has only grown the more I learn, and Janina Ramírez has written a book showing us how much more rich the past actually was, rather than just a listing of accomplishments by learned and/or powerful men.

Instead, by reconsidering societies going back at least a millennia and reviewing archaeological and written records of the periods, Ramírez tells us of researchers who have reanalyzed older work describing medieval Europe. Ramírez tells us that these reviews have yielded a far more interesting and well-rounded picture of the past where women were not just restricted to the domestic sphere. Rather, women were warriors, leaders, patrons, artists, and entrepreneurs, among other things. It's so much more interesting than what was taught in high school.

A concerted effort to recast and erase these women's actions and their impact on their societies and countries was made, starting several hundred years ago, to instead portray only strong men as having led civilization forward.

The writing is engaging; Ramírez's descriptions of the societies and attitudes prevalent in medieval Europe brought each woman she profiled to life.

Books like these that recount these lives are necessary; Ramírez devotes only one chapter, however, to the queer, Black, Indigenous and women of colour who also lived in Europe during medieval times, and I would have loved more information illuminating their lives.

[mads]

Both accessible and fascinating, this was a fantastic first read of the year.

I did feel like it meandered at times, getting lost in the stories of men surrounding the women- often in ways that didn't even connect to the stories of the women meaningfully. While I understand the point made, that history is so predominantly male-centered, it's impossible to tell any significant narrative without the inclusion of the men in the story, it still felt extremely concentrated.

With that being said, it was still a great, introductory read and I would recommend.

(also, because people question every time I don't mention it, I don't rate nonfiction.)

[Quirkyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Because of previous studies elsewhere, I was familiar with many of the events in this book.

This is a very good introduction to many women written or overlooked in the Middle Ages. What stands out the most, is women who stepped out of the world into religious life. They knew they would be safe in cloisters as nuns, abbesses, and the penultimate the anchoress.

There is a definitive endnotes section and bibliography that will direct you to even more resources from this age in history.

If the Middle Ages in your thing, give this one a go.

[Kitty G Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up on audio after seeing it in the shops and thinking it sounded pretty interesting.

I do think the topic of women written out of history is a big one, and the author, therefore, has to skim it a little as she wants to show a range of cases, but for me this felt a little bit too surface-level and I really didn't get a huge amount from the book in terms of detail. I definitely had some interesting moments listening to the stories of the women, and I liked the little 'intro' sections which the author gives as a kind of background/set-up to what we might be interested in, but I didn't feel that I really got deeply into any one woman and her life, I felt as if each one was a kind of summary and could have been delved much further into.

Overall, I did like it, and I did hear about some new-to-me ladies from history, but the context of the women wasn't always the focus, and what I really learned is how much has been suppressed or changed or just not uncovered as yet. I felt as if it was fairly sad that such minimal evidences had been found and smaller effort was going towards the belief in, or discovery of, women in history. I wish there was more specific focus on them and more detail to be uncovered and shared in this book.

3*s from me, I want to read more on this topic, but next time something a little more of a deep dive rather than a surface insight.

[Clarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Femina“ ist die Randnotiz, die am Rand von Texten von Frauen gekritzelt wurde, um zu signalisieren, dass er getrost entsorgt werden kann. Schon mit dieser Erklärung in der Einleitung hatte Ramirez mich.

Ich bin nicht allzu bewandert und geschichtsinteressiert, aber dieses Buch hat mir sehr gefallen und hat mir unglaublich viel Neues beigebracht.
Manche Kapitel fand ich persönlich etwas zu lang und ich finde es schade, dass der Abschnitt über generelle Diversität im Mittelalter auf zehn Seiten ganz ans Ende des Buches gequetscht wurde, das hätte meiner Meinung nach mit an den Anfang gehört.

[ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Siamo tutti responsabili di come i posteri interpreteranno il periodo storico che stiamo vivendo. Ma prima dobbiamo guardarci indietro per capire dove siamo ora e per creare il futuro che vogliamo vedere. [...] Ciascuno di noi è parte del mutevole passare della storia. È nostro compito riflettere su come vogliamo che sia documentata e ricordata."