Maidens or Monsters?: Tales of Amazons, Goddesses, Queens and Temptresses in Medieval Manuscripts

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An illustrated collection of exceptional female figures in myth and legend.

In the Middle Ages, some of the most popular and well-loved stories were about female saints, classical heroines, and the female protagonists of romance cycles. The portrayal of these characters conformed to societal attitudes toward women, which changed with the prevailing views of the times.

Chantry Westwell has used her profound knowledge of the British Library’s unrivaled Medieval, Renaissance, and Asian illuminated manuscripts collections to explore some of literature’s most enduring and multilayered stories, together with a deep history of the books and chronicles in which they were preserved.

Alongside the heroines of medieval romance, such as Guinevere, and those of Persian epic poetry, such as Layla and Shirin, you will also find the distorted histories of Cleopatra and Olympias from European chronicles and the famous women of classical literature such as Helen of Troy.