Kathedralenbouwers

In this recording, historian Hetta Howes charts the life and times of four medieval women: Marie de France, Julian of Norwich, Christine de Pizan and Margery Kempe, who all bucked convention and forged their own path. These four writers reveal how women lived, survived, and thrived in their age. Who did they marry and why? Were they expected to have children? Did they ever have extramarital affairs? Could they earn money and become self-sufficient? How did they make friends? Could they be leaders? What did they think about death, and what about life and their place in it? While in many ways the Middle Ages was a terrible time to be a woman, there were areas of life that were surprisingly progressive. In her new book Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife, Howes paints a vibrant portrait of these women, their world, and the ways they speak to us today.