Move over Maid Marian! Women in the Medieval English Forest
Professor Louise Wilkinson
Louise Wilkinson is Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Lincoln. Before moving to Lincoln, she was Professor of Medieval History at Canterbury Christ Church University. Louise is the author of various books and articles about women, children and families in thirteenth-century England, including The Household Roll of Eleanor de Montfort, Countess of Leicester and Pembroke, 1265, The Pipe Roll Society (Woodbridge, 2020) and Eleanor de Montfort: The Rebel Countess (London, 2012). She has appeared on three episodes of BBC Radio 4's In Our Time and featured in Melvyn Bragg's 2015 radio series on Magna Carta. She chairs the council of the Pipe Roll Society, a scholarly record society dedicated to the publication of medieval records, and co-edits Routledge’s Lives of Royal Women book series.
About the event
When we think of women in the medieval English forest, the figure most likely to spring to mind is Maid Marian, the love interest of Robin Hood. Disappointingly for medievalists, Marian was an early modern addition to the ballads of this legendary outlaw. Yet, the royal forest in thirteenth-century England was, in fact, home to a great many women from all social backgrounds, at least some of whom experienced just as eventful lives as the later literary heroine. Aristocratic, peasant and religious women all helped in their different ways to administer, manage and shape the landscape of the royal forest. Women frequently figure in forest records as vigorous participants in forest life. Some acted as forest officials, while others fell foul of forest law, committing offences, such as poaching venison and hunting without royal permission. In this talk, Louise Wilkinson will explore the roles open to women in the medieval English forest.