Women's history

Portrait of the Bronte sisters

The Brontës: the unfortunate and unlikely tale of the world’s “greatest literary sisters”

Carved wall scene depicting Cleopatra at Dendera Temple

Cleopatra: what is the real legacy of the last pharaoh?

Portrait of Catherine Howard

11 facts about Catherine Howard

A decorative portrait of Elizabeth Woodville

5 quick-fire questions about medieval queens – answered

Harriet Tubman (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad: how one woman saved hundreds from hell

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, 1469. (Photo by Getty Images)

Everything you ever wanted to know about medieval queens, but were afraid to ask

Eleanor de Montfort, from a 13th-century manuscript. (Photo by Alamy)

At home with the medieval aristocracy

Colour portrait of Jane Austen

A brief guide to Jane Austen, plus 8 things you (probably) didn’t know about her

Portrait of Anne of Cleves

Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s most successful queen?

Phyllis Schlafly

The woman who opposed equality with men: Phyllis Schlafly and the real history behind Mrs. America

Taking of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Painting by Emile Signol (1804–1892), (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

Blog Medieval(ish) matters 11: Did women fight in the crusades? And why did people follow a goose to the Holy Land?

A 13th-century illumination showing the coronation of Foulques and Melisende. (Photo by Alamy)

Women and the crusades

Queen Emma and her sons, miniature in 'Encomium Emmae reginae', mid 11th century, British Library (Photo by Getty Images)

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #10: are women at the heart of the action in the Norman Conquest?

The coronation of Philippa of Hainault

How did Philippa of Hainault, wife of Edward III, become one of medieval England’s best-loved queens?

Two nannies stop for a chat while walking their charges in a London park, March 1916 (Photo by Getty Images)

Working mothers