Medieval Gender Roles Were Much More -- and Less -- Strict Than We Can Imagine

History Unplugged Podcast · May 18, 2023 · 56m

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

Oxford and BBC historian Janina Ramirez, today’s guest author of the new book “Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It,” has uncovered countless influential women's names struck out of historical records, with the word FEMINA annotated beside them. Only now, through a careful examination of the artefacts, writings and…