Exploring Women in the High Middle Ages: An Iberian Perspective

MSCA Fellow Marija Blašković, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

This video introduces the first tool produced within the "FEMIber" project (2022-present): an open-access website that provides structured information on every woman mentioned in the anonymous Crónica de Castilla (ca. 1300, Castile-León). This research and educational tool offers filtered and free-text search options to explore medieval women from multiple perspectives.

Video

Further Reading

Femiber Database

Rochwert-Zuili, Patricia. n.d. Crónica de Castilla : Édition et présentation. Paris: e-Spania Books.

Pepin, Paulette Lyn. María de Molina, Queen and Regent: Life and Rule in Castile-León, 1259–1321. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2016. 

Pick, Lucy K. “Gender in the Early Spanish Chronicles: From John of Biclar to Pelayo of Oviedo.” La corónica 32, 3 (2004): 227–248. 

Rochwert-Zuili, Patricia. “De Sancie à Bérengère.” e-Spania 1, 2006. DOI: https://doi.org/10.40

Discussion Questions

  • How can we enhance the visibility of lesser-known and anonymous women? Considering this work includes women from England, via Europe and Türkiye, to Baghdad, can this approach shed light on some underlying patterns, biases, etc.? 
  • How can these datasets be improved and how can the criteria be applied to other works?

Cite

Blašković, Marija. “Exploring Women in the High Middle Ages: An Iberian Perspective,”Middle Ages for Educators, October 9, 2024. Accessed [date]. https://middleagesforeducators.princeton.edu/exploring-women-high-middle-ages-iberian-perspective