Illuminating Women in the Medieval World (Getty Publications –)

If you are interested in the role women played in art history, this is a must. The reproductions of the illuminations are superb, as you would expect from a Getty publication, and the whole book is a delight to hold, to peruse and to study. If you think it might be one of those scholarly works that is impenetrable, it isn't! It is accessible to everyone be they academics, or just have an interest but want to know more.

This is a simply wonderful book which examines the role of women in the male-dominated and highly religious medieval world, telling the story through fabulous illuminated manuscripts drawn from the Getty Museum's manuscript collection. These manuscripts come from across Europe and the Mediterranean and the they are exquisite. They illustrate the varying roles of women - the positive roles of wife, mother, nun and the negative images such as the Whore of Babylon and Eve. They also reflect noblewomen with some power and influence who could deploy their social and political skills either overtly or through more subtle actions as well as images of women of lower social status attending to work in agricultural activities (idealised of course - there is no sign of poverty or squalor). In particular, the life of the Virgin Mary, the ultimate female role model in medieval society, figures prominently in many of the manuscripts, together with the lives of other saints and figures from the Hebrew bible such as Judith & Holofernese, although some figures more contemporary with the painters of these manuscripts also appear.I was fortunate to receive an ebook version of the book via NetGalley but it will be on my Christmas list this year.

The role and position of women in the medieval world was not a subject I was particular knowledgeable about, like most people I had read biographies and historical novels of certain Queens of the period but beyond that my knowledge of this subject was somewhat lacking.As stated in the book although women formed an integral part of medieval society, records substantiating this are relatively few. Therefore it was with much anticipation that I began reading this informative and scholarly work that showed the importance and many nuanced ways that they contributed to medieval society.This book can easily be read in one sitting and comprises over one hundred illuminations from Europe and Ethiopia showing the varied abilities of women in text and also image.The power and influence of religion is an omnipresent theme in a world where the Church was, as is now, male dominated and where the formal education of women was frowned upon. There is much allusion to biblical heroines and saints as to the correct conduct to be followed as religion seemingly permeated all aspects of society.The illuminated manuscripts are a source of fascination in themselves and coupled with the accompanying text certainly made for a very enlightening afternoon read.

A beautiful and informative book about women in the mediaeval world I read this on Kindle so didn't have access to colour plates but will be buying the boat for the plates because even in black and white they are amazingly detailed I've read a great deal about mediaeval men and women but this book brings across just how strong these women were and they had the same hopes and dreams that we do today it completely relevant even now I would recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in art or history or women in general absolutely wonderful book I cannot recommend it enough also my congratulations to the offer she's done a wonderful job at reading these women alive so vividlyI received an advance copy for in exchange for a fair and honest review from Netflix