Ada Lovelace (d. 1852) lived a supremely Victorian aristocratic life: multiple estates, famous friends, and noble title? :check. Tragic illnesses that caused her to be bedridden and/or die young? : check. Relatives concerned with her propriety despite having an adventurous and spirited personality? : also, check. Called “The Enchantress of Number” by her friend and […]
Ada Lovelace – “The Enchantress of Numbers” Read More »
Sometimes, history is so weird I don’t even know where to begin. Strap in, people, because today’s post is about ideas Medieval people had about menstruation.The two illuminated manuscript illustrations both show graphic depictions of the wounds of Christ. And if you’re thinking that those pictures don’t immediately conjure up the side of Jesus, lanced
Medieval Menstruation and Jesus’s Wounds Read More »
Many Ancient and Medieval ideas about how the human body worked seem laughable now, but before the science of molecular biology developed, a lot of conclusions just had to be conjecture (fueled also by cultural and confirmation bias). And that’s why – well into the early modern era – many scientists believed that menstrual blood
Early Modern Medical Idea of the Female Vein Read More »
Readers of this post might remember a recent article illustrating the way menstrual blood and images of vaginas paralleled the wound in Christ’s side in Medieval culture. (I promise I am not making this up.) A few posts later, I showed that before Europe’s scientific revolution, anatomists thought that breast milk was menstrual blood that
Medieval Belief that Jesus was a Mother Read More »
This is an image of a lesser-known hero of the Early Modern period, the Dutch physician Johann Weyer (1515-1588). In an age of witch-hunts, when many women accused of consorting with the devil were tortured into confessing imaginary crimes, tried in law courts, and executed by burning, Weyer outspokenly wrote that such practices were inhumane,
Johann Weyer and Inhumane Treatment During Witch-Hunts Read More »
There is a tradition of misogynist scholarship which traces continuously from Ancient Greece to the early twentieth century. Legal, medical, philosophical, and theological arguements promoted the idea that women were inferior to men, and this was sincerely believed by many educated people. Yet this scholar pictured here — Henricus Cornelius Agrippa (1496-1535) — stood in
Contrasting Opinions of Henricus Cornelius Agrippa Read More »
Scientists are enabling us to save lives and hopefully prevent disaster in this COVID-19 pandemic — and coming up with big solutions to health problems is one of the main reasons their profession is so valuable. But for me there is another equally praiseworthy aspect: their contributions to unveiling the forces that shape our universe.
The First-Lady of Physics – Chien-Shiung Wu Read More »
This is the only depiction of Joan of Arc created in her own lifetime, and is a doodle out of the imagination of the illustrator made in 1429. In many ways — especially in her religious fervor and because she thought most women ought to behave conventionally — I find Joan’s personality grating. But the
Era Accurate Depiction of Joan of Arc Read More »
Doesn’t this coquettish figure just tempt you all over the place? The beauty of the noblewoman’s features here contrasts with the beast she is riding — as well it should, because this a 15th-century rendition of the Whore of Babylon from Christian mythology, as featured in _The Book of Revelations_. The sad thing about this
The Whore of Babylon and Women’s Problematic Sexuality Read More »
In this time of necessary lockdown, we pine for our horizons to be wider than they are now. Well might we receive the tale of Jeanne Baret (1740-1807), a woman with more chutzpah, curiosity, and mad resourcefulness than most of us can ever possess.Born a poor peasant in southern France, Jeanne finagled her way onto
The Tale of Jeanne Baret Read More »
Unfortunately, the history of rape has a long legacy, in Medieval Europe as well as other places. (tw) This illuminated manuscript illustrates the pillaging of a city and the mass violence against women that frequently overlapped such occasions. Then and now, to rape women meant to take control and show power.In the Late Middle Ages,
The Rapes of Southern French Dijon Read More »
Many who like history are drawn to a past that they can feel connected to. But some are drawn to the ways the past feels radically different. In the latter case, when faced with a totally alien world-view, we are constantly forced to recognize how powerful cultural ideals are in shaping the consciousness of human
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa Read More »
In the Central Middle Ages, before the witch-hunt craze of the 16th century, more men than women were accused of sorcery. However, the association of women resorting to unscrupulous and un-Christian ways to fly had become well entrenched by 1500 CE.In a manuscript called the _canon Episcopi_, which might have been written in the late
The Waldensians – Flying Witches Read More »
Don’t feel too badly for Saint Catherine of Siena, shown here besieged by demons in a work from 1500. In the Late Middle Ages, a number of female saints became well-known for their mystical visions. Some of these were heavenly, but other times they were not. Frequently, the visions conveyed an idea that female sexuality
Saint Catherine of Siena and Female Saint’s Mystical Visions Read More »
This sculpture by Paul Lancz from 2014 is one of the many public works of art always on display in the city of Montreal. Entitled “La Tendresse/ Tenderness,” it captures a ubiquitous display of affection between mother and child. This physical gesture of a mother kissing her baby has been a hallmark of affection uniting
The Importance of Maternal Kisses Read More »
Here lies the effigy of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine at Fontevraud Abbey. If Queen Eleanor were a Dungeons and Dragons character, she’d be like level fifty. At an imaginary dinner table of bad-ass women in history, Eleanor would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Cleopatra of Egypt, the Empress Irene of Byzantium, and Catherine the
Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine Read More »
When I think of Matthew Hopkins, self-styled “Witchfinder General,” I think about episodes in human history where we really went wrong. This image is from Hopkins’ 1647 book, _The Discovery of Witches_, and shows him overseeing the confessions of women naming their demonic familiars. Under Matthew Hopkins’ short career of three years, about 300 women
Witch Hunting Tools and Techniques Read More »
In Frank Herbert’s sci-fi _Dune_ series, the Bene Gesserit are amazing space-witches who have developed such mental control over their unconscious physiology that their powers seem superhuman. But Herbert’s ideas weren’t merely fiction: the person you see here is not a space witch, but she did figure out a technique of controlling elements of human
Patricia Cowings and the Autogenic-Feedback Training Exercise Read More »
Ah, how to frame the life of Qiu Jin, the feminist martial artist who was beheaded by the last Chinese dynastic government for insurrection in 1907? I think this quote by Jack London best captures her spirit: “I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a
Feminist Martial Artist Qiu Jin Read More »
This week, I’m looking at neglected women philosophers in history. This one featured here walked around naked and wrote poetry. You know, as one does.I introduce to you one Akka Mahadevi, who lived in southern India in the 12th century and was part of a religious movement called “Lingayatism.” This sect of Hinduism focused on
Akka Mahadevi and Lingayatism Read More »
