#the lady of kingdoms

[suzannahnatters]

all RIGHT:

Why You're Writing Medieval (and Medieval-Coded) Women Wrong: A RANT

(Or, For the Love of God, People, Stop Pretending Victorian Style Gender Roles Applied to All of History)

This is a problem I see alllll over the place - I'll be reading a medieval-coded book and the women will be told they aren't allowed to fight or learn or work, that they are only supposed to get married, keep house and have babies, &c &c.

If I point this out ppl will be like "yes but there was misogyny back then! women were treated terribly!" and OK. Stop right there.

By & large, what we as a culture think of as misogyny & patriarchy is the expression prevalent in Victorian times - not medieval. (And NO, this is not me blaming Victorians for their theme park version of "medieval history". This is me blaming 21st century people for being ignorant & refusing to do their homework).

Yes, there was misogyny in medieval times, but 1) in many ways it was actually markedly less severe than Victorian misogyny, tyvm - and 2) it was of a quite different type. (Disclaimer: I am speaking specifically of Frankish, Western European medieval women rather than those in other parts of the world. This applies to a lesser extent in Byzantium and I am still learning about women in the medieval Islamic world.)

So, here are the 2 vital things to remember about women when writing medieval or medieval-coded societies

FIRST. Where in Victorian times the primary axes of prejudice were gender and race - so that a male labourer had more rights than a female of the higher classes, and a middle class white man would be treated with more respect than an African or Indian dignitary - In medieval times, the primary axis of prejudice was, overwhelmingly, class. Thus, Frankish crusader knights arguably felt more solidarity with their Muslim opponents of knightly status, than they did their own peasants. Faith and age were also medieval axes of prejudice - children and young people were exploited ruthlessly, sent into war or marriage at 15 (boys) or 12 (girls). Gender was less important.

What this meant was that a medieval woman could expect - indeed demand - to be treated more or less the same way the men of her class were. Where no ancient legal obstacle existed, such as Salic law, a king's daughter could and did expect to rule, even after marriage.

Women of the knightly class could & did arm & fight - something that required a MASSIVE outlay of money, which was obviously at their discretion & disposal. See: Sichelgaita, Isabel de Conches, the unnamed women fighting in armour as knights during the Third Crusade, as recorded by Muslim chroniclers.

Tolkien's Eowyn is a great example of this medieval attitude to class trumping race: complaining that she's being told not to fight, she stresses her class: "I am of the house of Eorl & not a serving woman". She claims her rights, not as a woman, but as a member of the warrior class and the ruling family. Similarly in Renaissance Venice a doge protested the practice which saw 80% of noble women locked into convents for life: if these had been men they would have been "born to command & govern the world". Their class ought to have exempted them from discrimination on the basis of sex.

So, tip #1 for writing medieval women: remember that their class always outweighed their gender. They might be subordinate to the men within their own class, but not to those below.

SECOND. Whereas Victorians saw women's highest calling as marriage & children - the "angel in the house" ennobling & improving their men on a spiritual but rarely practical level - Medievals by contrast prized virginity/celibacy above marriage, seeing it as a way for women to transcend their sex. Often as nuns, saints, mystics; sometimes as warriors, queens, & ladies; always as businesswomen & merchants, women could & did forge their own paths in life

When Elizabeth I claimed to have "the heart & stomach of a king" & adopted the persona of the virgin queen, this was the norm she appealed to. Women could do things; they just had to prove they were Not Like Other Girls. By Elizabeth's time things were already changing: it was the Reformation that switched the ideal to marriage, & the Enlightenment that divorced femininity from reason, aggression & public life.

For more on this topic, read Katherine Hager's article "Endowed With Manly Courage: Medieval Perceptions of Women in Combat" on women who transcended gender to occupy a liminal space as warrior/virgin/saint.

So, tip #2: remember that for medieval women, wife and mother wasn't the ideal, virgin saint was the ideal. By proving yourself "not like other girls" you could gain significant autonomy & freedom.

Finally a bonus tip: if writing about medieval women, be sure to read writing on women's issues from the time so as to understand the terms in which these women spoke about & defended their ambitions. Start with Christine de Pisan.

I learned all this doing the reading for WATCHERS OF OUTREMER, my series of historical fantasy novels set in the medieval crusader states, which were dominated by strong medieval women! Book 5, THE HOUSE OF MOURNING (forthcoming 2023) will focus, to a greater extent than any other novel I've ever yet read or written, on the experience of women during the crusades - as warriors, captives, and political leaders. I can't wait to share it with you all!

[sandraghart]

HER!

| More artworks |

[shellshooked]

so about that lotr x zelda au...

[1-8oo-wtfbro]

“the blue spirit? do u mean lee from the tea shop’s secret boyfriend? we see him coming in the window at the craziest times of night.”

“i wonder if his uncle knows”

[caitmayart]

You’re telling me there’s TWO OF THEM NOW?!?!

[keylimesiren]

crack idea no one asked for:

yona ends up being to zelda what sidon is to link, and zelda and link agonize together over their shared confusing feelings and wonder if all zora royalty are just Like This

[spacemanspiff0fficial]

They always say if u love smth then let it go 😔 as a long-standing Sidon girlie I was struggling w coming to grips I fear (which ended up not being all that hard to do bc Lady Yona is so cute I love her.......)

Before that happened I did manage to snap some photos mid-fish domestic. In case I had one last fighting chance

[hopiufame]

Anyway I just finished the water temple and this was the best part:

Mipha i miss u

[archi-pelago]

TOTK related content ahead lmao

Zonai AU where Link just fuckin turns into a goat. oops divine power causes issues

spoilerish content sorta:

[kenneduck]

Here’s Sidon with his wife and boyfriend! 💕

[conceiteddemon]

Been playing Tears of the Kingdom

[chillasscactus]

“link and zelda live together and share a bed” this and “zelda kicked link out of his own house” that………..no one wants consider the possibility that link is a rat bastard landlord who rents his cottagecore loft studio airbnb to the princess of hyrule…

[myststone]

YES RIJU YES

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Eighth Heroine

[id-f87]

Sorry Sidon fans you lost big time

Edit bc people can't be normal: I actually like Yona I just thought this would be funny

[hyruleairbnb]

A very tiny Zora cryptid Collection

Very spooky ⬇️

It's not just her head the rest of her is in the water don't worry ❤️

[mebis-art-dump]

faint familiarity