Myths about Women in the Middle Ages. Regentesses and Troubadours, Pirates and Heretics

This book returns women to their place in the history of the Middle Ages – not as silent companions of men, but as participants in grand politics, religious authorities, mistresses, rebels, and heroines of their own stories. Medieval historian Anastasia Palamarchuk shows how women's destinies were shaped in a world where lineage, marriage, and status determined almost everything.
The Middle Ages are often viewed as "male" – a time of wars, kings, and monk-historians. But behind castle walls, at monastery grills, in city markets, and even on the decks of pirate ships were women without whom this era simply would not have been possible.

By embarking on an exciting journey into the world of medieval ladies, you will see the lives of wives and mothers, whose daily existence was inseparable from their family's reputation, the "invisible" peasant women, townsfolk, and those who gained influence beyond the church walls. You will meet women who ruled kingdoms, conducted negotiations, and held power when men went off to crusades. The author debunks outdated myths like "the right of the first night" and vividly describes the Middle Ages as it truly was – dangerous, beautiful, and remarkably feminine.