In the mid-13th century, one woman rose from enslavement to become the Mamluk sultana and the female ruler to reign across Egypt and Syria. Her name was Shajar al-Durr (d. 1257) and her story features in our major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, which runs till 2 March 2025. While Shajar al-Durr’s reign was only a short one, it was particularly consequential, both for her and the dynasty she left behind. We are delighted to have on loan from the British Museum one of only three known gold dinars (coins) minted for Shajar al-Durr during her reign. The coin is on display in the exhibition alongside a later historical account of her reign by the historian ibn Waṣīf (Add MS 25731).

The golden dinar of Shajar al-Durr on display in the exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words

Very little is known about Shajar al-Durr’s early life. Even the details of her original name are lost to us (Shajar al-Durr is in fact an epithet or nickname that means ‘tree of pearls’ in Arabic). Most likely of Turkic or Armenian origins, she was sold as a slave as a child to Al-Mustaʿṣim (b. 1213, d. 1258), the last caliph of the Abbasid dynasty, who ruled a vast territory from his capital in Baghdad. By 1239, she had been purchased by Salih Najm al-din Ayyub (b. 1205, d. 1249), the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria, as a concubine and travelled to Egypt with him. There she quickly became of one of his most trusted wives, giving birth to their son Khalil in 1240.  

Shajar al-Durr’s dramatic ascendancy to the throne came in 1249/50. Sultan Salih died, just as an army under Louis IX of France had invaded Egypt as part of the Seventh Crusade. While the crusaders marched on Cairo, Shajar al-Durr acted as regent in her husband’s place. She took steps to hide the news of her husband’s death from her forces and transported his body away in secret. Unaware of their sultan’s demise, the Ayyubid army were able to defeat the French invaders in a decisive battle at Mansurah. Louis IX was later captured and had to be ransomed back to the French and the Seventh Crusade itself was derailed and came to an end soon after. It was then that Shajar al-Durr became the first Muslim woman to take on the role of sultan, using her status as the mother of Salih’s son and heir, Khalil, who was still too young to ascend the throne and would later die in infancy.  Her rule marked the beginning of the Mamluk dynasty, which would control the region for centuries.

Shajar al-Durr’s story is one of those featured in our new animation, Tales of Medieval Women

Shajar al-Durr’s reign only lasted three months, from May to July 1250, but she was still able to assert her status through the minting of gold and silver dinars from her capital Cairo. Very few of these coins now survive. The golden dinar on display in the exhibition is tiny (measuring only 22mm in diameter). The obverse (or front face) of the coin features an inscription that dates it to the year 1250, enclosing a central panel with lines referring to the Abbasid caliph Musta’sim, Shajar al-Durr’s former owner and a key figure whose recognition she needed if she was to remain on the throne. The reverse meanwhile features Shajar al-Durr’s titles, referring to her as the former slave of al-Mustaʿsim and Salih, the mother to Salih's heir Khalil and glorifying her in uniquely female terms as 'queen of the Muslims' (malikat al-muslimīn).

The front and back face faces of a golden dinar minted for Shajar al-Durr; Cairo, 1250: The British Museum, 1849,1121.294

Despite her efforts to placate Musta’sim, Shajar al-Durr’s rule was not accepted by the Ayyubid caliph and she was soon forced to abdicate, having first married her successor as sultan, Izz al-Din Aybak (d. 1257). Nonetheless, she remained an influential advisor to her new husband, positioned at the very centre of court life and politics, until her assassination by a rival in 1257. In that time, Shajar al-Durr decided to commission two mausoleums, one for herself and another for her former husband, built in the very heart of Cairo. The design of the tomb, which survives to this day, features an elaborate mosaic in the form of a tree of pearls, an allusion to the Arabic epithet that became synonymous with her and subsumed her very name in the annals of history.

The tomb of Shajar al-Durr, as imagined in the animation Tales of Medieval Women

To see Shajar al-Durr’s coin in person, visit our exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025. You can purchase your tickets online now. 

This exhibition is made possible with support from Joanna and Graham Barker, Unwin Charitable Trust, and Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at the London Community Foundation. 

Calum Cockburn

Overlooking the harbour town of Dunbar in East Lothian, Scotland, stands a ruin. The corner of a tower, a broken courtyard, and the walls of a blockhouse: these stone fragments and the barest of foundations are all that remain of one of the most important fortresses in medieval Scotland. Dunbar Castle’s location and prominence against the surrounding coastal landscape meant that it was often the target of enemy lords and across the centuries, it sustained many sieges. One particular siege would take on an almost legendary status in Scottish history thanks to the actions of a single woman. In 1338, Agnes Randolph (b. c. 1312, d. 1369), commonly known as ‘Black Agnes’ either because of her dark complexion or her fierce character, led a heroic five-month defence of its fortifications against an invading English army. An account of the siege and Agnes’ bravery is detailed in the Orygynale Cronykil by the 15th-century writer Andrew Wyntoun, currently on display in our exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words.

Dunbar Castle Ruins by Jennifer Petrie: CC BY-SA 2.0

Agnes was the daughter of Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, and later Countess of Dunbar through her marriage to Patrick Dunbar, a prominent Scottish lord during the reigns of Robert the Bruce and David II. In January 1338, Patrick Dunbar was away on an expedition, leaving Agnes to hold the castle. It was then that an invading English army led by William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury, took the opportunity to cross the Scottish border, the latest in a series of military campaigns ordered by Edward III to seize Scotland. They surrounded the fortress and laid siege to it. The defenders were made up of Agnes, her household and only a handful of soldiers, but despite the odds against her, Agnes refused to give up the castle.

A 15th-century map of Scotland, including a depiction of Dunbar Castle (bottom left), from John Hardyng's Chronicle: Lansdowne MS 204, ff. 226v-227r

During the siege, Montagu made various attempts to assault Dunbar Castle. He began by using catapults to fire huge rocks at the walls, but they did little to damage the strong fortifications. According to Wyntoun, Agnes poured salt on the wound of Montagu’s failed bombardment by sending out her ladies-in-waiting to dust the ramparts with pieces of cloth:

Thai warpyt at the wall gret stanys
Bathe hard and hewy for the nanys
Bot that nane merryng to thame made.
And alswa qwhen thai castyne hade,
Wyth a towalle a damyselle
Arayid jolyly and welle
Wipyt the wall, that thai mycht se,
To gere thaim mare anoyid be.

They threw great stones at the wall
Both hard and heavy for that purpose
But they did no damage.
And also, when they had the thrown them,
A damsel with a cloth,
Dressed prettily and well,
Wiped the wall, so that the English could see,
To make them even more annoyed.

The siege of a medieval castle, defended by women, from the Luttrell Psalter: Add MS 42130, f. 75v

When the catapult barrage failed, Montagu then tried to blackmail Agnes into submission, by threatening to execute her brother, John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray, who had recently been captured. Agnes responded by pointing out that there was no incentive for her to save her brother, as his death would leave her the inheritor of the earldom.  At the same time, another effort by the English to reach the walls with a special siege engine, called a 'cat’ or a ‘sow’, ended badly when Agnes ordered a giant boulder to be dropped on it, re-purposing one of the very stones Montagu had fired at the castle earlier in the siege.

An English attempt at bribing one of Agnes’s men to sneak them through the castle gates similarly led to disaster for the besieging army. The guard received the money, but promptly told the countess, who used it as an opportunity to set a trap for Montagu and his men. When a portion of the English army was already through the gates, she suddenly closed the portcullis behind them with no way for them to leave. While the English earl was able to escape in time, many of his men were killed in the chaos that ensued.

A woman defends a castle from assault, from the Smithfield Decretals: Royal MS 10 E IV, f. 18v

Eventually, on 10 June 1338, five months after the English had first arrived at Dunbar Castle, with supplies dwindling and having spent some £6000 in the attempt (the equivalent of over £4.5 million in modern currency), Montagu decided to raise the siege completely. Wyntoun’s chronicle quotes a song the English are believed to have sung as they abandoned the castle, its words a testament to the strength of Agnes’ resilience and the impression she left on them over those five months:  

I wowe to God, scho maid gret stere
The Scottish wenche ploddere.
Come I are, come I late,
I fand Annot at the yhate.

I vow to God, she makes a great leader
That Scottish woman fighter.
Come I early, come I late
I found Agnes at the gate.

Andrew Wyntoun’s verse account of the Siege of Dunbar in his Orygynale Cronykil; Scotland, 15th century: Royal MS 17 D XX, ff. 238v-239r

To learn more about Agnes Randolph and see the account of the Siege of Dunbar in person, visit our exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025. You can purchase your tickets online now. 

This exhibition is made possible with support from Joanna and Graham Barker, Unwin Charitable Trust, and Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at the London Community Foundation. 

Calum Cockburn

What is the measure of a life once it has ended? In the early decades of the 13th century, the Benedictine nuns of Castle Hedingham Priory in Essex marked the life and passing of their first prioress, Lucy, in the most special way: they made a mortuary roll for her. This most poignant of manuscripts (Egerton MS 2849) can be found on display in our major exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, which runs till 2 March 2025.

The installation of the Mortuary Roll of Lucy of Hedingham (Egerton MS 2849) in Medieval Women: In Their Own Words

Mortuary rolls were used to commemorate the deaths of the most significant members of monastic communities during the medieval period. They were typically composed of a covering letter, which eulogised the deceased and set out a call for prayers to be made for their soul. Specially employed messengers would then take the roll around neighbouring institutions, who would add these Latin prayers for the dead beneath the letter, together with memorials and reflections on their passing.

The mortuary roll of Prioress Lucy was made between 1225 and 1230. Now divided into two parts, the roll comprises ten parchment membranes and is almost six metres long. It is particularly notable for its opening illustrated panel, arranged in three framed scenes. At the top, a depiction of the Crucifixion is shown alongside the seated Virgin and Child; in the middle, two angels carry the soul of Prioress Lucy up to Heaven; at the bottom, a vision of Lucy’s funeral appears, with her body lying in a bier, surrounded by priests, clerics, and nuns.

The illustrative programme at the beginning of the Mortuary Roll of Lucy of Hedingham: Egerton MS 2849/1, Membrane 1

The roll’s covering letter, written by Agnes, Lucy’s successor as prioress of Castle Hedingham, provides an account of her virtues – among them her virginity, her piety, her abstinence, and her lifelong discipline – and the grief of her fellow sisters at her death, ‘ymbres lacrimarum, et fletuum innundacionem’ (a storm of tears and flood of lamentation).

The letter is followed by the written responses (also known as 'tituli') of 122 religious houses in East Anglia and the southern half of England, including Barking Abbey, the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, Campsey Priory, St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, Dover Priory and Wilton Abbey. It is unclear how long it took the roll-bearers to reach these houses and return to Castle Hedingham, but it could have been a period of many years, a reflection of both the magnitude of the nuns’ undertaking and the strength of their affection for the late prioress herself.

The first response, made by the monks of St Botolph’s Priory in Colchester, some 20 miles from Castle Hedingham, is also the longest and includes a set of Latin verses dedicated to Lucy, which play on the Latin meaning of her name, ‘light’:

Hec Virgo vite mitis super astra locatur.
Et sic Lucie lux sine fine datur.
Transijt ad superos venerabilis hec Monialis.
Vix succedit ei virtutum munere talis.
Luci lucie prece lux mediente Marie
Luceat eterna, quia floruit vt rosa verna.

This Virgin, humble in life, is placed above the stars.
And so, Lucy is given eternal light.
This venerable nun has passed to the Heavens.
There are few who can compare to her in virtue.
Let the eternal light shine on Lucy with its light,
by the intercession of Mary’s prayer, because
she flowered just like a spring rose.

The first ‘titulus’ or written response added by the monks of St Botolph’s Priory: Egerton MS 2849/1, Membrane 3

Little is known about the rest of Prioress Lucy’s life. There are few documents or references to her in the surviving historical record, though some have speculated that she was a close relation of Audrey de Vere (d. 1194), 1st Earl of Oxford, who probably founded Castle Hedingham Priory in the second half of the 12th century. Nonetheless, the impact of her life and the emotion at her passing are preserved forever in this precious mortuary roll, made by the community of women she led and left behind.

The Mortuary Roll of Lucy of Hedingham on display in Medieval Women: In Their Own Words

To see the Mortuary Roll of Lucy of Hedingham in person, visit our exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025. You can purchase your tickets online now. 

This exhibition is made possible with support from Joanna and Graham Barker, Unwin Charitable Trust, and Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at the London Community Foundation. 

Calum Cockburn