The Lone Medievalist has initiated a project to illuminate the lives of individual medieval women through the medium of posters that highlight especially lesser-known figures of the Middle Ages. In choosing these individuals, we have attempted to think globally, equitably, and broadly. Certainly there are many more individuals than we can highlight who deserve to be in this project, but we hope that, by bringing attention to these women, we can help to make more visible some of those who have previously not been given the study they deserve.
For creative and practical (some of these women were not illustrated in their own time) reasons, we have chosen to illustrate these individuals artistically, rendering their images as historically accurate as possible within the limitations of our knowledge, research, and skill. In addition, we provide further information on each woman on this site (and accessed through the QR code on each poster). We would like to thank the artists whose work is exhibited on these posters. (If you are an artist interested in contributing, please contact Kisha Tracy.)
These posters are intended for the use of scholars of any type – academic or otherwise – who wish to educate themselves or others on the topic of Women in the Middle Ages. The digital copies are free for use, and print copies are available for purchase here.
Poster Set 1: Artist – Dayanna Knight
- Aud the Deep-Minded
- Saint Dymphna
- Eleanor Rykener
- Ḥamda bint Ziyād Al Muaddib
- Sogolon Condé
- Tomoe Gozen
Poster Set 2: Artist – Basil Arnould Price
- Fatima bint Muhammad Al-Fihriya Al-Qurashiya
- Freydís Eiríksdóttir
- Jeanne/Claude des Armoises
Poster Set 3 – Arts and Sciences: Artist – Johanna Pack
- ‘Arīb al-Ma’mūnīya
- Herrad of Landsberg
- Katherine of Sutton
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Trota of Salerno
Poster Set 4 – Queens: Artist – Grace O’Duffy
- Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia
- Amina, Queen of Nigeria
- Blanche of Castile
- Lady Xoc
- Olga of Kiev
Artist Biographies
- Dayanna Knight is an author and illustrator specializing in the Atlantic settlement of the Vikings. She is originally from the Central Valley and attended community college before earning her Bachelor’s in Anthropology at UC Berkeley. Her first book, Viking Nations, based on her doctoral research conducted at the University of Nottingham, has recently released in the US and is now widely available. Dr Knight is also the author of the Viking Coloring Book.
- Basil Arnould Price is currently pursuing a Ph.D in Medieval Studies as a Wolfson Scholar at the University of York. He holds an M.A from the University of York, and a B.A. from the University of Oregon, both in Medieval Studies. Additionally, he holds a B.A. in Studio Art, and a B.F.A. in Art and Technology, also from the University of Oregon. His dissertation “The Shadow Age: Genre and Place in the Post-Classical Íslendingasögur” brings the fourteenth and fifteenth-century Icelandic sagas in conversation with critical race and queer theories. He is also a founding member and editor for Kyngervi, a student journal that explores the marginal and marginalized in Medieval Scandinavia.
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Johanna Pack graduated with a Bachelor’s in Studio Art from California State University Sacramento. She works primarily in watercolor, though she experiments with other media and crafts. Currently, her artistic path primarily focuses on line and color. She lives with her husband and daughter in Sacramento, California.
- Grace O’Duffy