Lincoln Research helps inform Major New British Library Exhibition on Medieval Women

Louise Wilkinson, Professor of Medieval Studies, and Paula Del Val Vales, a doctoral student in History and fellow member of the Medieval Studies Research Group at Lincoln, are delighted to have contributed to the major new international exhibition, ‘Medieval Women: In Their Own Words’, which runs from Friday 25 October to Sunday 2 March 2025 at the British Library.

This exciting new exhibition charts the experiences of medieval women in Europe from 1100 to 1500, looking at the challenges they faced and their achievements at all levels of society. Featuring a wonderful range of more than 140 documents, manuscripts and objects, the exhibition examines the struggles of figures like Joan of Arc, Margery Kempe, the Empress Matilda in England and Queen Melisende of Jerusalem.

Wilkinson, an historian of medieval women, served on the exhibition’s specialist advisory group and authored a chapter for the exhibition catalogue on ‘Power and Politics’, while her PhD student Paula Del Val Vales (co-supervised with Dr Antonella Liuzzo Scorpo) authored a piece on ‘Eleanor of Castile’s Final Journey’. This followed the successful completion of Del Val Vales’ six-month internship at the British Library on their earlier ‘Medieval and Renaissance Women’s Manuscripts’ digitization project.

The exhibition runs from Friday 25 October to Sunday 2 March 2025.

Story submitted by Louise Wilkinson
lwilkinson@lincoln.ac.uk