A Medieval Woman's Companion

Thanks to my student, Aphrodite, for calling my attention to this great video.

CNN has reported, “An eight-year-old girl has discovered a pre-Viking-era sword in a Swedish lake, prompting locals to name her the “Queen of Sweden.” What could be more exciting news?  

Not everyone wants to stay in a nunnery. Recent archival work discovered the clever attempt by Joan of Leeds to escape her confinement. As Alison Flood tells us, “A team of medieval historians working in the archives at the University of York has found evidence that a nun in the 14th century faked her own … More Medieval Nun Fakes Her Own Death

My Amazing Students did it again–totally impressed me with projects and writings I never could imagined save for their brilliance! I was touched by my student Elizabeth’s point concerning her short story, “Revelation”: “The main driving force of this creative project was my desire to see women’s experiences used as an authoritative tool to heal … More My Amazing Students: Creativity that Heals, Provokes, and Amuses

No one wants to be silenced. Forced silence oppresses. Yet some literary characters chose to be silent. They do so as a form of self-empowerment. “Self-chosen silence can be more powerful than speech in many circumstances.” Last semester I taught my class called The Sounds of Silence: A Biodiversity of Mute and Quiet Women in … More Silent and Quiet Women: Silence as a Tool for Empowerment

It’s hard to believe that Judy Chicago’s iconic feminist artwork, “The Dinner Party,” was once panned by a New York Times art critic. Fortunately, those days are past (I hope). A recent retrospective article in the NYT examines the history of reactions to Chicago’s work, now housed at the Brooklyn Museum.     Chicago has … More Let’s Dig In! Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party”

I was a German major in college and lived in Munich, Berlin, and the Black Forest. I also taught in East Germany in the 1980s. So it is especially exciting for me to announce that A Medieval Woman’s Companion is published in German as Frauen des Mittelalters: Künstlerinnen – Herrscherinnen – Denkerinnen by Verlagshaus Römerweg … More Schnell! Now in German!

This week in my Medieval Women Writers class, we are reading the letters of Heloise and Abelard. Is it a coincidence this excellent post on the Medieval Histories site appeared on Valentine’s Day listing major publications about them? Check it out!    

Two courses I teach, Medieval Women Writers and The Sounds of Silence: A Biodiversity of Mute and Quiet Women in a World of Brutal Noise,*  seem even more timely than ever now that the revelations — fearlessly spoken by heroic female athletes — of sexual abuse they endured have rocked the world. One of my … More Our Duty

“The feeling you get after leaving as a female–like a badass.” A favorite student evaluation. It’s the effect of reading about amazing women, historical and fictional…