Femina: The instant Sunday Times bestseller – A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It

Product Information

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. In fact they exemplify Ramirez’s argument that the medieval era was a time as rich in human diversity as today. 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. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. 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.

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. In Femina, Ramirez—a cultural historian, author, and broadcaster— intends to re-evaluate the status of women in the Middle Ages whose names have been ‘struck from the historical record due to the one word annotated beside them – FEMINA. She has also written and presented a number of documentaries for BBC4 and Radio Four, and is a regular guest presenter of Front Row. I'd never heard of the Loftus Princess, but the comparisons between her burial and the one at Sutton Hoo, mean that I'm keen to learn more about her. Books like this are vital to start to set the record straight, but there is a question around how that plays to someone who is already on board with the project (and is critical of Great Anyone Theory).

It dispels the myth that all women were worse off in the past and shows that the dark ages were not as dark as we've been led to believe. A joyous read ― Peter Frankopan, bestselling author of The Silk Roads --This text refers to the paperback edition. A few upper class women do what they are allowed to do within the existing power structures -religion and/or monarchy.

Hier hätte ich mich über eine klassische Einführung mit Begriffsdefinition und Ziel des Textes gefreut. Both a plea for a new way of thinking about history and a commitment to putting women's lives back at the heart of things, I read it in one sitting. 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. Since her death, Jadwiga has been invoked for nationalist purposes rather than for her accomplishments as an intelligent female ruler, her piety and image as a paragon of virtue overshadowing her history-altering life.The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. I was also surprised not to hear mention of Brunhild and Fredegund which I think fit in her period and were themselves extraordinary women - if perhaps not learned and rather more bloodthirsty. The East Smithfield skeleton is an exciting example of science merging with history to literally unearth the buried reality of migration and diversity during the Middle Ages. 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.