Femina

A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It

By: Janina Ramirez

Narrated by: Janina Ramirez

Brought to you by Penguin.

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. Male gatekeepers of the past ordered books to be burnt, artworks to be destroyed, and new versions of myths, legends and historical documents to be produced, which has manipulated our view of history.

By weaving a vivid and evocative picture of the lives of the women who influenced their society, we discover not just why these remarkable individuals were removed from our collective memories, but also how many other misconceptions underpin our historical narratives, altering the course of history, upholding the oppressive masculine structures of their present, and affecting our contemporary view of the past.

©2022 Janina Ramirez (P)2022 Penguin Audio

This is a fantastic introduction to Medieval history from a feminist perspective

Very well researched, fantastic performance, highly informative. I truly recommend this book to all people, but specially to young women. I think we need to know more about the past if we want to change the present.

The author is a great researcher

The author has done excellent research into the task of finding out women of substance in medieval Europe.
The book shows the level of research done.
The narrator can be someone else. In the eagerness to tell the story, the author trips over herself to convey facts. I had to slow down the narration speed to understand.