Medieval and Renaissance France - Women's History

Adela of Normandy, Countess of Blois biography - a profile of the Countess of Blois, who functioned virtually as a queen given her husband's land and wealth.

Alix of France biography - profile of Alix of France, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and her first husband, Louis VII of France.

Wife of Louis VIII of France and mother of King Louis IX, Blanche of Castile was regent of France, was involved in a number of military ventures and served as an advisor to his son when he assumed power.

A Visigoth princess, she married a Frankish king, then revenged her murdered sister by starting a 40-year war with a rival kingdom. She fought for her son, grandsons and great-grandson, but was finally defeated and the kingdom lost to the rival family.

Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and England through her two marriages and ruler of her own territories by right of birth, was one of the most powerful women of the world in the twelfth century. This profile highlights her key contributions.

Biography of Constance of Castile, queen consort of Louis VII of France after his divorce from Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Wife of Lothair, King of Franks, rumor had her poisoning her son, Louis V, and thus bringing to an end the Carolingian dynasty. But the charge is likely false.

She worked her way up from servant to mistress to queen consort, and then ruled as her son's regent. She talked her husband into murdering his second wife, but that wife's sister, Brunhilde, queen of the neighboring kingdom, wanted revenge -- and so followed forty years of war. Fredegund is chiefly remembered for her assassinations and other cruelties.

Francis C. Lowell in 1896 compared Joan of Arc and Catherine of Siena, religious mystics who lived at about the same time.

Biography of Judith, daughter of king Charles the Bald, who married two Anglo Saxon kings and then a Count of Flanders.

A biography of Louise of Savoy, influential French royal who was the mother of a king of France, and served as regent for her son.

A biography of Marguerite of Navarre, Renaissance woman writer.

Marie of France biography - profile of the Countess of Champagne, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII of France, and her alleged connection to the medieval courts of love.

Summary of writings of Dhuoda, an educated woman of the ninth century, defending the religious basis of patriarchy as she instructs her son.

Poet in the ninth century. Translations, background and bibliography.

A fourteenth century prayer book of Jeanne d'Evreux, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's online exhibits.