About the exhibition

The exhibition focuses on Europe from roughly 1100 to 1500 when there was strong cultural interconnection across the continents. While most medieval sources from the period were written by and about men, women’s surviving testimonies offer remarkable insight into their contributions to medieval social and economic life, culture and politics, their skillful management of households and convents, and the vibrancy of female religious culture.

This exhibition features manuscripts, documents, early printed books, paintings, coins, textiles, and objects related to women from medieval Europe. It also features unique items from the British Library’s collections alongside major loans from the Louvre, the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and other institutions.

Highlight objects include:
• Never before displayed outside France, an original letter from Joan of Arc to the citizens of Riom in 1429, requesting that they provide her with military aid, which contains the earliest known example of Joan’s signature
• The Book of the Queen, by Christine de Pizan, the first professional woman author in Europe, compiled circa 1410 – 1414
• Cross of Sybilla of Flanders, a 12th–century ivory carving on loan from the Louvre in Paris. Sybilla acted as regent while her husband fought in the Crusades, then went on Crusade herself, separated from her husband and joined a convent in Bethany.
• A birthing girdle from the early 15th century, inscribed with prayers and charms that promise a quick and painless delivery
• The book Beḥinat Olam Mantua, published between 1476 and 1480 by Estellina Conat, she was the first recorded woman to print a book in Hebrew and it was the first recorded book printed by a woman under her own name
• The Book of Margery Kempe, probably written around 1438, the only surviving copy of the earliest known autobiography in English, which chronicles her life as a female mystic
• The oldest surviving Valentine’s Day letter in the English language, sent by Margery Brews in 1477
• The largest hoard of medieval gold coins ever discovered in Britain, probably representing the fundraising efforts of Margaret of Anjou, who led the Lancastrian side in the Wars of the Roses on behalf of her husband, King Henry VI of England.