Show Notes
Weird Medieval Guys is back! And it's gone woke!!!!!!
We all know medieval women didn't have it so good. Endlessly discriminated against in law, demeaned in culture and ignored in the histories. So, did anyone take issue with that? Turns out, yes! This week Olivia and Aran take you through the cultural milieu that produced Christine de Pizan, the poet / political scientist / gender polemnicist who revolutionized fourteenth-century debate and was (maybe?) the world's first feminist.
Also discussed: the origins of the wage gap, the medieval Yoko Ono, and whether losers will listen to this episode before getting mad about it on the internet!
Further reading: Joan Kelly, "Early Feminist Theory and the "Querelle des Femmes", 1400-1789" https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173479 Fiona Tolhurst, "Geoffrey and Gender: the Works of Geoffrey of Monmouth as Medieval “Feminism”", in A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmouth, eds. Georgia Henley and Joshua Byron Smith https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.1163/j.ctv2gjwzx0.20.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default%3Ab0f9ab96223431831c1834f0de4f492d&ab_segments=0%2FSYC-7052%2Fcontrol&origin=&initiator=search-results&acceptTC=1 An English translation of Christine de Pizan's Book of the City of Ladies https://www.docdroid.net/file/download/lFahHSo/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies-by-christine-de-pizan-earl-jeffrey-richards-transl-z-liborg-pdf.pdf
More from Weird Medieval Guys
As we all know, everyone in the middle ages lived and died in the muck. What's worse, they had no idea that being caked in shit and smelling terrible was bad. Or did they? Maybe instead they all just smelled like a mild curry...
"PEOPLE OF CAIRO, YOU LISTEN TO ME. GO INTO THE TREASURY, AND PUT YOUR HAND IN THE CASH REGISTER FOR NO REASON. THAT MONEY IS YOUR MONEY AS OF RIGHT NOW." al-Umari, attributed to Mansa Musa, 14th century
The movies are back, or so they say. But what makes a good medieval movie? Historical accuracy? Satisfying storytelling? The quality of the tassels? To find out, Aran, Olivia and Joe Mason reviewed five movies. Some of them were good, some of them were interesting, and some of them were Braveheart. Films reviewed: Braveheart (1995) The Northman (2022) The Green Knight (2021) The Kingdom of Heaven (2005) A Knight's Tale (2001)