Medieval Women Writers (online)

Six-week course for beginners. Online.
Mondays: 13, 20, 27 January, 3, 10, 17 February 2025. 18.00 – 19.30.

Discover some of the medieval period’s daring, influential and hidden women writers on this six-week online course.

Despite misconceptions that women in the Middle Ages were mostly illiterate, much of the period’s most startling and exciting literary works were penned by them. Join three writers and experts in the field, Dr Mary Wellesley, Dr Victoria Symons and Dr Cathryn Charnell-White, as they introduce you to women of the time and their work. From an anonymous writer who disguised her name in code, to the Welsh poet writing about love, sex and sexual violence, each week you’ll get to know famous figures such as Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich as well as lesser-known authors whose work is just coming to recognition hundreds of years later.

Read the full course outline to see details about the course including practical information and the full programme of topics and writers to be explored each week. No previous skills or knowledge is required.

Sessions will take place via Microsoft Teams and you will be sent a joining link prior to the first session. Your contact information will be used to share session recordings and course materials via Teams.

Tutors

Dr Mary Wellesley (Weeks 1, 3, 4, 5)
Dr Mary Wellesley is an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research and an Associate Member of Oxford University’s English Faculty. After completing her PhD, she worked in the British Library’s department of Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts. Her first book, Hidden Hands: the Lives of Manuscripts and Their Makers was published by Quercus in the UK in October 2021, and by Basic Books in the US as The Gilded Page: The Secret Lives of Manuscripts at the same time. It was chosen as one of the history books of the year by the Sunday Times and BBC History Magazine. Alongside her academic publications, Mary writes widely for a general audience and is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books and the New York Review of Books, amongst others. She is the co-host of three hit podcast series on medieval literature produced by the London Review of Books. 

Dr Victoria Symons (Week 2)
Dr Victoria Symons is a medievalist specialising in Old English literature, medical practices and runic writing. She holds an honorary lectureship at University College London, having taught Old and Middle English language and literature for more than a decade at a variety of institutions. She is the author and editor of books including The Tale of Beowulf (2022), Runes and Roman Letters in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts (2017) and Stasis in the Medieval West (2017). Her wider publications include numerous articles, chapters, translations and blogposts for both academic and general audiences, with notable ventures ranging from co-editing The Riddle Ages blog to working on a Beowulf-inspired videogame project. Although her first love will always be runes, her current research centres on childbirth and domestic remedies in both Old and Middle English contexts. 

Dr Cathryn Charnell-White (Week 6)
Dr Cathryn Charnell-White is a Reader in the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies at the University of Aberystwyth. Her publications include the first comprehensive anthology of Welsh-language women’s poetry up to 1800, Beirdd Ceridwen (2005) and new editions of forgotten works by women in Honno’s Welsh Classics series, e.g. Pererinion & Storïau Hen Ferch (2008). She has published extensively on women’s literature and literary culture, literary negotiations of gender, self-identity, regional and national identity, and Britishness in a ‘four nations’ context, as well as literary networks in Wales and beyond.