A substack I had never heard of Weird Medieval Guys. Topics include The coolest medieval woman you've never heard of,* The Medieval Monks Who Lived on Top of Giant Pillars, a continuing series on strange etymologies, and the coat of arms of the Colleoni family, which has 3 sets of testicles on it. It's not likely to make it to my sidebar, but it's worth at least a look.
*I had heard of her on the Great Books podcast this year. It's sort of like playing soccer, where if you just hang around in good places good things can happen to you.
She is possibly the most famous medieval woman, so if you have not heard of her there’s a good chance that you will struggle to name any at all. Royalty, perhaps, or certain abbesses; Marie de France. But she is right up there with the best known and most studied.
ReplyDeleteJoan of Arc, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteHildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena, Julian of Norwich, Aethelflaed, um, um, Margery Kempe. Eleanor of Acquitane. And Christine. I've shot my bolt. St Dymphna. Wife of Bath. Maid Marian. The peasant woman in the marsh who yelled at Alfred about burning the cakes. I'm just trying to pad my total here.
ReplyDeleteThis is fun. Is Elizabeth Bathory too late?
It occurs to me that she may be more famous since I’ve been involved in medieval studies than previously. She’s something of a feminist icon, and since the field became heavily female there are a plethora of feminist historians writing today. She’s gotten a whole lot of attention as a consequence of her famous pro-female feuding over Roman de la Rose, for example. That was needed, too; there was a dark rising misogyny towards the end of her life that gave rise to the Early Modern witch burning craze.
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