It’s the final week of our major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words and we have some fantastic news! Several important items from our Medieval and Renaissance Women digitisation project are now available to consult online, including handwritten volumes, charters, and rolls. All these manuscripts have been on display in the exhibition and can be explored in their entirety.

A full list of the items, with links to their digitised images and summary catalogue information, can be consulted on the British Library website. We will be adding more manuscripts from the project over the coming weeks. The Medieval and Renaissance Women project was made possible through the generous support of Joanna and Graham Barker.

Here are a few highlights from the items now available:

Christine de Pizan, Livre des faits d'armes et de chevalerie; London, England, 1434: Harley MS 4605, f. 3r

Refoundation charter of Bordesley Abbey; Devizes, England, 1141-1142: Add Ch 75724, Seal obverse

Cicero, De senectute, written by Ippolita Maria Sforza, Milan, Italy, 1458: Add MS 21984, f. 3r

Hildegard von Bingen’s Liber divinorum operum; England, Late 15th century: Add MS 15418, f. 7r

Breviary; Northern Germany, 2nd half of the 15th century: Harley MS 2975, f. 73v

The will of Margaret Paston; England, 1482: Add Roll 17253, Membrane 1

Middle Dutch prayer-book; Southern Netherlands, c. 1440-c. 1500: Harley MS 3828, f. 27v

Collection of medical treatises in Middle English; England, 2nd quarter of the 15th century: Sloane MS 6, f. 177r

The Martyrology of Syon Abbey; England, 2nd half of the 15th century: Add MS 22285, Upper cover

Indenture between Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, and John Islip, Abbot of Westminster Abbey; London, England, 1506: Lansdowne MS 441, f. 3r

Aldobrandino of Siena, Le Régime du corps; England, 4th quarter of the 15th century: Sloane MS 2401, f. 36v

Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025.

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. 

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Among the items in our major exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, a handful of volumes bear witness to women’s contributions to early printing. By studying the documentary evidence these women left behind, we can learn more about the types of books they produced, and the nature of their lives and experiences. Today’s blogpost explores the stories of three Jewish women living and working in Europe in the 15th century – Estellina Conat, Teresa de Lucena and Doña Reyna Mendes – highlighting books from the British Library’s Hebrew incunabula (15th-century printed books) and 16th-century printed collections.

Jedaiah ben Araham Bedersi, Behinat ha-’Olam, printed by Estellina Conat; Mantua, c. 1476: C. 50. a. 5. 

Printing with Hebrew moveable type developed approximately fifteen years after the introduction of printing with moveable type in the Latin script thanks to Johannes Gutenberg. The first Hebrew books were probably printed in Rome in the late 1460s and the earliest book with a date was printed in the city of Reggia di Calabria, in 1475. A few years later, an edition of Jedaiah ben Araham Bedersi’s early 14th-century didactic poem Behinat ha-’Olam (The Examination of the World) was published by the printer Estellina Conat in Mantua, Italy around 1476. The volume (C. 50. a. 5) is considered the earliest book made by a named woman and is on display in the exhibition. As is the case for most named 15th-century printers, all of what we know about Estellina is contained in her colophon, a short statement of responsibility found at the book’s conclusion. It usually provides the printer’s name, place and date of publication. Here Estellina’s colophon reads:

I, Estellina, the wife of my lord and husband, the honourable teacher master Abraham Conat (may he see offsprings and length of days, amen) wrote this Epistle on the Examination of the World with the assistance of the young man Jacob Levi from Tarascon in Provence, long may he live, amen.

Estellina is using the word ‘write’ here to describe her involvement in the book’s production because Hebrew did not yet have a word to refer to the emerging technology of printing with moveable type. Estellina and her husband, Abraham, who signs off the later books printed by the Conats, had set up their workshop shortly before the publication of the book. The technology was so new that Estellina’s book was the first edition of the Behinat ha-’Olam to be printed (the other two known 15th-century editions were printed in 1484 and 1499 respectively) and researchers believe it was one of the earliest books printed in the city of Mantua.

The colophon added by Estellina Conat: C. 50. a. 5. 

In 1795, G. B. De Rossi, a Catholic priest and Hebraist, dated the book to c. 1476 arguing that Abraham might have ‘left the glory of publishing the first sample of their wares to his wife’. De Rossi then proceeded to disparage the quality of Estellina’s work:

For in this little book, which is to be sure in Conat’s types, but printed by his wife, or at least issued in her name, the lines and pages are so unequal – now shorter, now longer – as to suggest either the first trial of a beginner or the effort of a woman attempting something beyond her powers.

It’s not only this kind of sexist commentary in some early printing scholarship, which has hidden the legacy of women’s contribution to early book production. The stories of Jewish female printers cannot be told without reference to the antisemitic persecution and violence Jews experienced all around Europe in the 15th century. In Spain, the Inquisition’s actions destroyed many traces of Hebrew book production, leaving us with only limited evidence of its existence. The Alhambra decree in 1492, which forbade any practicing Jews to live in Spain, led to mass forced conversion and the expulsion of up to 100,000 Jews from Spain and Portugal.

The Sister Haggadah includes illustrations of the observance of Jewish life in Spain in the mid-14th century, the practice of which would be repressed by the Inquisition by the end of the medieval period: Or 2884, f. 18r.

One story that survives in records left by the Inquisition is that of the printer Juan de Lucena and his daughter Teresa de Lucena. Although no surviving books can be clearly attributed to the press, it is believed that Juan de Lucena started his printing workshops in Puebla de Montalban and Toledo around the mid-1470s. The de Lucena family were Conversos: Jews who had been (forcibly) converted to Christianity following the massacre of 1391. In the context of antisemitic persecution, Juan de Lucena fled Spain to go to Portugal in 1481, later continuing to Italy. His daughters remained in Spain, where they continued to experience repression. The Inquisition reports on Teresa de Lucena give us a comprehensive view into the Inquisition’s effect on all aspects of Jewish life, including the printing press. Following a call by the Inquisition in Toledo for Conversos to come forward to denounce themselves for secretly practicing Judaism, the 17-year-old Teresa and her sister Leonor made a voluntary confession. Following this, Leonor escaped to Portugal, but Teresa remained behind in Toledo.

In 1530, Teresa was arrested again and this time put on trial for heresy. The inquisitors forced her to expand the limited testimony she had given as a young girl. This included having to provide information about observing Jewish practices and communicating with known heretics (i.e. her own family.) It also included information about her father’s printing press, which she hadn’t mentioned in 1485. Now in her early 60s, she recalled how her father had to flee when she was around 10 or 11. Asked why he fled, she answered, ‘I think it was because he was selling the books he printed in Hebrew’. The inquisitors did not pursue this line of questioning to determine her or her sister’s role in the printing workshop. Both BMC X and BMC XIII (Catalogue of Books Printed in the XVth Century Now Held at the British Library) suggest that Teresa and her sister Juana assisted in the presswork after their father’s escape. In any case, it is only thanks to Teresa’s testimony, given under duress, that we know that her family was probably running a Hebrew printing press at all.

The expulsion of Jews from Spain as well as persecution across Europe meant that many moved to North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, taking their knowledge of the emerging printing technology with them. Hebrew printing proliferated in the 16th century with both Jewish and Christian printing houses relying on the expertise of Jewish printers. One woman stands out. Doña Reyna Mendes is the only Jewish woman from this period known to have founded and owned her own printing press. Reyna was the daughter of Doña Gracia, patron of literature and one of the wealthiest women in Early Modern Europe. As Conversos (or Anusim Jews), the family had fled Spain after 1492 to live in Lisbon up to the establishment of the Portuguese Inquisition in 1536. Doña Gracia and her infant daughter Reyna then moved to Antwerp, Venice and Ferrera, before ultimately fleeing to the Ottoman Empire in 1553 amidst family turmoil and the effects of the Catholic Reformation.

In the late 15th century, Sultan Bayezid II had welcome many Sephardic Jews after the downfall of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and the Alhambra decree. Many Jewish communities developed a thriving cultural life in the Ottoman empire. The first printing press was founded as early as 1493 by two brothers, David and Samuel Ibn Nahmias, two Spanish refugees. Hailing from great wealth and power, Doña Reyna Mendes was afforded opportunities most other women in the printing and printers in general, especially in earlier generations, did not have.

After her husband Joseph Nasi, advisor to the Sultan and one of the most important men in the Ottoman Empire, died, most of her money was confiscated by the authorities. She then used the rest to found her own printing press in Belvedere, just outside of Constantinople (and later a second one in Kuruçeşme), producing at least 15 editions up until her death in 1599. The British Library holds one edition printed by Doña Reyna Mendes (C.50*.a.5). As a founder and owner of a printing press, Reyna was able to take on an extraordinary position for women at the time. The confident tone of an inscription on the title page of one of her books speaks to this:

Printed in the house and with the type of the noble lady of noble lineage Reyna (may she be blessed among women), widow of the Duke, Prince and Noble in Israel, Don Joseph Nasi of blessed memory … near Constantinople, the great city, which is under the rule of the great and mighty Sultan Mohammed.

Doña Reyna Mendes’ printing press highlights the liminal and often precarious status of women in this occupation. Often dictated by familial relationships and the reality of antisemitic persecution, the historical evidence offers only glimpses into the contributions, wives and daughters and many other unnamed women made to early Hebrew book production. While few of their books now survive and the nature of their contributions has been contested in scholarship over the centuries, nonetheless Estellina, Teresa, and Reyna have left important and moving evidence of the brave and defiant efforts to spread Jewish learning through printing in the face of antisemitic persecution.

To see Estellina Conat's printed book 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. 

Alyssa Steiner

References

Catalogue of Books Printed in the XVth Century Now Held at the British Library. XIII Hebraica, 2004.

Catalogue of Books Printed in the XVth Century Now Held at the British Library. X Spain-Portugal, 1971.

Kanner, Ellen, 'Teresa de Lucena, 1467–1545' in: The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. URL: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/de-lucena-teresa#pid-20444

Offenberg, Adri K., 'The Chronology of Hebrew Printing at Mantua in the Fifteenth Century: A Re-examination', The Library, 16/4 (1994), 298-315.

The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, Volume 5. The Early Modern Era, 1500-1750, ed by Yosef Kaplan, 2023.

University of Pennsylvania Guide to Hebrew Printing. URL: https://guides.library.upenn.edu/earlyprintedhebrewbook/intro

In February 1477, at the village of Topcroft in Norfolk, Margery Brews dictated a letter to her suitor John Paston III, calling him her ‘right well-beloved valentine’ and expressing the depth of her love. While John’s reply to Margery does not survive, her words form the oldest known Valentine’s letter in English. The letter (Add MS 43490, f. 23r) is currently on display in our major exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, which runs till 2 March 2025. 

The earliest Valentine’s letter, by Margery Brews to John Paston III; February, 1477: Add MS 43490, f. 23r

Margery’s letter expresses great affection for John at a turbulent time for the couple, when it was by no means guaranteed their marriage would proceed. She asks after his welfare and prays to God to keep him safe. She confesses that she is not in good health ‘of body, nor of heart’ and nor will she be until she hears from him. She begs John not to leave her and promises in turn that she will not forsake him. Fascinatingly, Margery also asks him to keep the letter private, and not to show it to ‘any other earthly creature’, perhaps wary of the influence of other members of his family.

The letter includes several lines of Middle English poetry composed by Margery to express her commitment to him:

And yf ye commande me to keep me true where-ever I go,
Iwyse I wil do all my might yowe to love and neur no mo.
And yf my freendys say that I do amys,
Their schal not me let so for to do,
My herte me byddys euer more to love yowe
Truly ouer all erthley thing.
And yf thei be neuer so wroth,
I tryst it schall be bettur in tyme commyng.

And if you command me to keep me true wherever I go,
Of course, I will use all my might to love you and never no more.
And if my friends say that I do amiss,
They shall not let me so for to do,
My heart bids me ever more to love you,
Truly over all earthly things,
And if they be never so wroth,
I trust it shall be better in time coming.

At the root of Margery’s anxiety was a complex set of marital negotiations between their families. The Paston family, up-and-coming members of the Norfolk aristocracy, felt that Margery’s dowry was too small, while her father, Sir Thomas Brews, a landowner in his own right, was not inclined to increase the payment and evidently felt that there were better matches for his daughter. In a letter sent later the same month (Add MS 43490, f. 24r), Margery suggests that negotiations were breaking down completely, stating plainly to John that she has done all she can in the matter and that her father ‘will no more money parte with all in that behalfe but an hundred and fifty marke, whech is ryght far fro the accomplyshment of yowr desyre'. John was asking for at least 400 marks and a loan of £120 from Margery's father. 

A subsequent letter sent by Margery to John Paston the same month; Add MS 43490, f. 24r

If not for the efforts of Margery’s mother, Elizabeth Brews, the marriage may never have happened. Elizabeth seems to have actively encouraged the relationship and acted as a go-between for the families. According to Margery, Elizabeth ‘laboured the matter to my father full diligently’, and eventually suggested in a letter of her own to John that he stay with the family on St Valentine’s Day to thrash out the details in person, reminding him that the feast day was a propitious time for lovers. Her strategy was successful. The families reached an agreement and the pair were married two months later.

Margery signing off her second letter to John Paston III, 'By your valentine': Add MS 43490, f. 24r

To learn more about the Paston Family and see the earliest Valentine's letter 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

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

Our major exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, features many examples of female figures working in professions and fields otherwise dominated by men. Among them, one woman’s story is particularly striking. Around the year 1403, the widow Joan du Lee sent a petition to Henry IV, King of England, asking for permissions so that she could practise medicine around the country. Her petition is known to us through a single document now housed at the National Archives in London (SC 8/231/11510). We are thrilled to have this incredible manuscript on loan to us for the exhibition, which runs until 2 March 2025.

The petition of Joan du Lee to Henry IV, requesting permission to practise medicine; England, c. 1403: The National Archives, SC 8/231/11510

Joan’s document is so significant because it provides first-hand evidence of women practising medicine during the medieval period. Surviving medical manuscripts from the Middle Ages typically give us an impression of a field almost entirely occupied by men, specifically those who were able to receive a university education. Women were not allowed to go to university to study medicine and so could not qualify as licensed physicians. Yet despite the institutional restrictions placed upon them, women were not entirely alienated from medical professions. In fact, they performed many functions and occupied numerous roles, serving as healers and caregivers in domestic and religious households, hospital and infirmary staff, midwives who assisted women in childbirth, wetnurses who looked after young children, and other paid professionals called upon to attend patients or exist in caring capacities.

A midwife hands a newborn baby to their mother: Arundel MS 66, f. 148r

Evidence of the kind of medical treatments women might have performed can be found in a collection of medical treatises (Sloane MS 6), made in England in the 15th century. The volume is also on display alongside Joan’s petition in the exhibition. The manuscript notably features an accompanying set of drawings of female medical practitioners caring for their patients and performing different treatments and surgical procedures. These include ‘cupping’, where a heated glass cup would be applied to a patient’s skin as a means of managing their humoral balance.

A set of drawings showing women performing different medical procedures and treatments, from a collection of medical treatises: Sloane MS 6, f. 177r

However, while women did take up medical roles, they could undoubtedly face animosity and suspicion as a result. Joan’s petition to Henry IV hints at some of the adversity she faced. In her request to Henry, she specifically asks for letters under the great seal – a symbol of the King’s approval that would effectively guarantee the legitimacy of the documents for anyone doubting her – which would allow her to go safely about the country, performing the art of ‘fisik’, without hindrance or disturbance from those people who might regard her with contempt or otherwise mistrust her medical knowledge.

A female medical practitioner performs a cupping treatment to a patient: Sloane MS 6, f. 177r

Unfortunately, we do not know any further details about the kinds of resistance Joan faced as a physician or the medical treatments she performed, or even if Henry ever granted her request. Nonetheless, her petition is a fascinating example of a medieval woman using the legal channels available to her to continue to work in her chosen profession. 

To see Joan's petition 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

The team behind our major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words has created a new animation (designed by animator Ivyy Chen) telling the stories of five of the exhibition’s extraordinary leading figures, women who carved out their own destinies in ways that would be remembered for generations to come. The full animation can now be viewed below!

Discover the stories of Empress Matilda, who battled to assert her claim to the English throne in the 12th century, and Shajar al-Durr who became the first Sultana of Egypt and defended her country from an invading Crusader army.

Learn about Margery Kempe, a visionary responsible for the first autobiography written in the English language, and Christine de Pizan, a professional female author who argued for the moral and intellectual equality of women in her writings. 

Explore the life of a military leader and patron saint of France, the young peasant girl Joan of Arc, who was inspired by a divine calling to rally the French army and save her country.

The animation’s design has been inspired by medieval manuscripts that are part of the British Library’s collections, many of which are also on display in the exhibition. How many references can you spot?

Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is 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