Illumination from a Book of Hours, use of Paris, ms. Widener 8, f. 81r, 1499, Free Library of Philadelphia.

Our weekly installment on Boccaccio’s De Mulieribus Claris continues with Sappho, one of the greatest female poets of all time. Said to have been born around 630 BC, Sappho came from the city of Eresos on the…

July 22 is the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, one of the most known women from the Gospels. The epithet of "Magdalene" is derived from the town of Magdala, on the Sea of Galilee,…

Un piccolo passo per un uomo, un grande balzo per l'umanità. Dopo aver sognato un tale traguardo per millenni, l'umanità ha mosso i primi passi sulla superficie lunare esattamente 50 anni fa, il 20 luglio…

"Capricorn and Unicorn", illumination from the manuscript "La Fleur des histoires de Jean Mansel", ms. Ms-5087 réserve, f. 237v, 1454, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris.

Back to our Women's Wednesday! Our guest this time is Tanaquil, Roman queen of Etruscan descent. Married to Lucumo (whose name meant "king" in Etruscan), Tanaquil believed her husband would make a good leader; for this reason, she…

July 15, 1381: the English priest John Ball is hanged, drawn, and quartered because of his preachings. John Ball was born in Hertfordshire around 1338. He later moved to Kent and Essex because of the Black Death,…

Illumination from the manuscript "La Fleur des histoires de Jean Mansel", ms. Ms-5087 réserve, f. 16r, 1454, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris.

This week’s Women’s Wednesday stars Rhea Silvia, the woman who gave birth to arguably the most famous siblings in Roman history: Romulus and Remus. Also known as Ilia, our Mulier Clara lived in fame long before…

Illumination from a Book of Hours, use of Rouen, ms. Latin 1167, f. 132r, 15th century, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Paris.