When we imagine the Crusades, our minds almost immediately summon images of armored Christian knights and Muslim warriors clashing on the battlefields of the Levant. Popular history and romanticized media have long portrayed these medieval holy wars as an exclusively male enterprise. Yet the historical reality tells a far more surprising story. Women took up […]
Female Knights of the Middle Ages
When we imagine the Middle Ages, our minds almost immediately summon a specific image: a heavily armored man astride a warhorse, charging into battle to defend a kingdom or rescue a damsel in distress. Centuries of popular culture, literature, and romanticized history have taught us that chivalry was exclusively a man’s game. Yet history tells […]
4 Medieval Women Mystics
In medieval Europe, the theology and practice of Christian mysticism flourished. Mystics were those who tried to identify or pursue communion with God by meditation, visions, intuition and insight. These four women were unusual in their religious influence at a time when women were thought to be physically, mentally, and spiritually weaker than men. Christina […]