Medieval women: everything you wanted to know

Medieval women: everything you wanted to know

Up next

From plague 'searchers' to strawberry birthmarks: a history of women's bodies

What was 'nidgeting'? How did women know they were pregnant before modern tests? And what did people in the past believe a mother’s imagination could do to her unborn child? In this episode, Lauren Good speaks to historian Erin Maglaque about her book Presence, which explores the ...  Show more

The country house at war

It might be assumed that the owners of Britain's country houses weren't hugely affected by the Second World War, and that they continued to live in luxury in their vast estates. However, as Judith S Lewis explains to Lauren Good, that wasn't the case. From the conscription of upp ...  Show more

Recommended Episodes

Medieval Women: Beauty, Work & Pubic Hair
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

How would a medieval woman achieve a Brazilian bikini line? Why can’t you trust a nun in the night time? And what were women doing at Medieval universities? Kate is joined for the THIRD time by Eleanor Janega to talk about how women were expected to be in the medieval era, and ho ...  Show more

Sex in the Middle Ages
Gone Medieval

Despite being a key part of society and everyday life, medieval sexuality was probably left out of your history lessons at school. But how much do we really know about these very private aspects of life in the Middle Ages? Dr Cat Jarman is joined by historian Dr Eleanor Janega ...

  Show more

Medieval Writers, Extraordinary Women
Gone Medieval

**This episode contains some strong language**


Few women had the luxury of writing down their thoughts and feelings during medieval times. But remarkably, there are at least four extraordinary women who did. Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic; Chris ...

  Show more

Could You Survive Medieval Childbirth?
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

Childbirth isn't for the faint-hearted at the best of times, let alone in the medieval period. What was a birthing room like at this time in history? Who would have been in there helping bring a new baby into the world? And how suspicious were the church of these all-women spaces ...  Show more