At just one year old, Joanna (c. 1328 – 1382) had a lot resting on her tiny shoulders: due to the untimely death of her father, she became heir to the throne of Naples. At the time, Naples was ruled by her grandfather, Robert the Wise. Joanna’s life...
The daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile (part of present-day Spain) and granddaughter to one of the Medieval periods most infamous couple, Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Blanche of Castile (1188 – 1252) certainly lived up to the legacy of her...
Eleanor of Aquitaine (c.1122-1204) is considered one of the most powerful women in Medieval Europe, and became Duchess of Aquitaine at age 15. Due to her vast inheritance she was one of the most desirable women of her time, and the same year she inherited...
69 years after the Norman Conquest, England was in again in crisis. This time it was because a woman had been left the throne of England, and England’s nobles were not happy with the concept of the unprecedented rule of a woman. Matilda (1102-1167 C.E.) was...
Heloise (c. 1098 – 1163 CE) was a French scholar and abbess, who is famous for the love letters she wrote to her husband, Peter Abelard, from a religious convent. Heloise’s birthdate and parents are a mystery to us. We know that she spent her childhood at...
Can you imagine being shut away from the world before reaching your teens? That’s what happened to Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179 CE). Yet she emerged from a life of solitude to become one of the most educated women of the Middle Ages: a writer, naturalist,...
