Medieval Women

Losing her mother to the witch’s noose and her father to those who placed her there, Lady Edyth DeVries flees for her life into the wilds of Scotland. With all her hopes pinned upon reuniting with the only family left to her, Edyth is tormented as a keeper of a dangerous secret, one that she is only just beginning to unravel.

Paris, 1393. A masquerade ball at the palace ends in tragedy, with four revelers burned to death. Was it an accident...or did someone deliberately hurl a flaming torch at the dancers? Convinced it was an act of murder and that the king himself was the real target, Queen Isabeau has asked Christine de Pizan to spend time at court in an attempt to uncover the identity of the would-be assassin.

Was Joan of Arc accused because she was a woman? Then why did so many fierce and battle-hardened male warriors line up their troops behind her? Yet, not even one of her soldiers, be they longbowmen, cavalry riders, knights, artillerymen, and nobles, ran from the command of a woman. Instead, they marveled at her as she mounted the ladders to a heavily defended castle, right along with the men, shot arrows, thrust spears, and galloped on her great white steed along with the best of them. She was wounded twice and yet did not shirk from battle.

The summer of 1276 at Tyndal Priory is peaceful - until Kenelm’s corpse is found floating in the millpond. When Brother Thomas concludes that the murder occurred on priory grounds, Prioress Eleanor and Crowner Ralf swiftly agree to help each other solve the crime. The murder victim, a newcomer, was disliked in Tyndal village, and no one there wants one of their own hanged for the deed. Fingers quickly point to a Jewish family, refugees under the relocation provisions of King Edward’s Statute of Jewry. As riots loom and threats mount against the family, Eleanor and Ralf have little time before popular opinion rules the murder solved.

The names of few medieval monarchs and their queens are better known than Eleanor of Aquitaine, uniquely queen of France and queen of England, and her second husband Henry II. Although academically labeled "medieval," their era was the violent transition from the Dark Ages, when countries' borders were defined with fire and sword. If princes fought for their succession to crowns, the princesses were traded—usually by their mothers—to strangers for political power without the bloodshed.

In The Lantern: A Renaissance Mystery, a 21st century American woman searches to learn the truth about the 15th century mysterious Italian girl who dared to compete with the most famous artists of the Renaissance. Across time and space, their lives collide as they battle abuse, disease, fear and prejudice in pursuit of their dreams. Along the way, they intersect with some of the most famous figures of the Renaissance.

Aoife MacMurchada is just 14 years old when her father Diarmit, King of Leinster, is brutally deposed, and her family is forced to flee Southern Ireland into English exile. Diarmit seeks help from King Henry II, an alliance that leads him to the charismatic Richard de Clare, lord of Striguil, a man dissatisfied with his lot and open to new horizons. Diarmit promises Richard wealth, lands, and Aoife's hand in marriage in return for his aid, but Aoife, has her own thoughts on the matter. She may be a prize, but she is not a pawn and she will play the game to her own advantage.

What was life really like for women in the medieval period? How did they think about sex, death and God? Could they live independent lives? And how can we hear the stories of women from this period?

As the autumn storms of 1271 ravage the East Anglian coast, Crowner Ralf finds the corpse of a brutally murdered soldier in the woods near Tyndal Priory. The dagger in the man’s chest is engraved with a strange cursive design, and the body is wrapped in a crusader’s cloak. Was this the act of a member of the Assassin sect, or was the weapon meant to mislead? Ralf’s decision to take the corpse to the priory for advice may be reasonable, but he is soon caught up in a maelstrom of conflict, both personal and political.

Being a matchmaking ghost isn’t easy, especially when you're tasked with getting your widow, a warrior woman, together with a brooding, hardened knight…who both care more about war than love. Nesta’s family urges the fiery, middle-aged widow to get a new husband to protect the villa, but she can take care of the villa herself. So, Instead, she grabs her deceased husband's longsword and joins the 15-year-old war leader, Arthur, to battle Saxons. There she meets the dark warrior, Ulfin. Ulfin is Arthur’s champion. And, so skilled in hand-to-hand combat, he has never lost a fight. ...

Will he surrender his kingdom for a kiss? They call him Conn of the Hundred Battles, the warrior-king who forged a nation from a land of isolated clans. As High King of Ireland, he rides with the legendary Fianna, his elite band of warriors. But a threat to the throne looms from a mysterious enemy who has vanquished several of Conn’s bravest warriors. Conn rides out alone to face a seemingly invincible foe, never dreaming he will find a grief-maddened hellcat with emerald eyes and hair like liquid flame… Wielding a sword called Vengeance, Gelina Ó Monaghan has sworn to defeat the man ...

Set in medieval times, Lourin ran away from a life of wealth and luxury suffocated by formalities and responsibilities. She then lived the simple life she desired with a husband who loved her beyond measure and two amazing daughters. Lourin’s evil in-laws colluded with a corrupt bishop to get rid of her and hired bandits who ripped her true love from her life; then mercenaries kidnapped her daughters and captured her. She experienced despair being taken halfway across the world and thrown over a waterfall.

It is 1665 and the women of Eyam village keep many secrets. Especially Isabel and Mae. Isabel Frith, the village midwife, walks a dangerous line with her herbs and remedies. There are men in the village who speak of witchcraft, and Isabel has a past to hide. So she tells nobody her fears about the pious, reclusive apothecary, on whom she is keeping a watchful eye. Mae, the apothecary’s youngest daughter, dreads her father’s rage if he discovers what she keeps from him: her feelings for Rafe, Isabel’s ward, or the fact that she studies from her father’s books at night.

Worms 1414: Sie sind die bekanntesten Medici ihrer Zeit: Madlen und Franz von Beyenburg kümmern sich hingebungsvoll um ihre Patienten und können deren Leid oft lindern, auch wenn gegen viele Krankheiten ihrer Zeit noch kein Kraut gewachsen ist. Nur mit dem Neubau ihres Hospitals geht es zu langsam voran und die beengten Verhältnisse für die Patienten und die Familie kosten Madlen viel Kraft. Da schickt der Erzbischof von Köln nach ihr. Über ein Vierteljahrhundert ist er Madlen ein kluger und warmherziger Freund gewesen, doch der alte Mann spürt, dass seine Zeit gekommen ist.

Three men are trapped in time. One woman could save them all. Historian Lia Carrer has finally returned to southern France, determined to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. But instead of finding solace in the region's quiet hills and medieval ruins, she falls in love with Raoul, a man whose very existence challenges everything she knows about life - and about her husband's death.

Durante el reinado de Felipe II, dos mujeres —Ana de Mendoza, princesa de Éboli, y santa Teresa de Jesús— sostienen una batalla sin cuartel y se abren paso, cada una a su manera, en un mundo que pretende aplastarlas. La primera, en busca del triunfo mundano, trata de alcanzar la supremacía entre los grandes de España; la segunda, en busca de la unión plena con Dios, planta cara al fariseísmo religioso y burla las asechanzas del poder político.

A Woman of No Importance takes place in a 24-hour period during a house party hosted by Lady Hunstanton at her country estate. The upper echelons of English society mix, mingle and flirt, including Lady Caroline Pontefract (who is on her fourth husband), the witty and ironic Mrs. Allonby and the dandyish Lord Illingworth. Wilde balances these worldly characters with a visiting young American woman, Hester Worsley.

Extraordinary women have held positions of power throughout history. But, aside from the select few, why do we not hear about them? The middle ages are seen as a bloodthirsty time of Vikings, Saints and Kings: a patriarchal society that oppressed and excluded women. But by digging a little deeper into the truth, drawing on evidence from all disciplines, we can see that the 'dark' ages were anything but. BBC historian Janina Ramirez has uncovered countless influential women's names struck out of historical records, with the word femina annotated beside them.

In London, journalist Jo Clifford plans to debunk the belief in past lives in a hard-hitting magazine piece. But her scepticism is shaken when a hypnotist forces her to relive the experiences of Matilda, Lady of Hay, a noblewoman during the reign of King John. She learns of Matilda's unhappy marriage, her love for the handsome Richard de Clare and the brutal death threats handed out by King John, before it becomes clear that Jo’s past and present are inevitably entwined.

The idea of a powerful woman in the Middle Ages seems like an oxymoron. Females in this time are imagined to be damsels in distress, trapped in a high tower, and waiting for knights to rescue them, all while wearing traffic-cones for a hat. After rescue, their lives improved little. Their career choices were to be either docile queens, housewives, or be burned at the stake for witchcraft. But what if this image of medieval women is a complete fiction? It turns out that it is. Powerful female rulers fill the Middle Ages.