When students enter a first year medieval course, they are often filled with excitement at the prospect of studying the history that inspired their beloved pieces of popular culture. This excitement is one of the things that can make both learning and teaching medieval history so enjoyable. However, the students’ eagerness can sometimes be a double edged sword. A large majority of students entering university have not studied medieval history or culture beyond the short introduction incorporated into the grade four curriculum. Therefore, the large majority of students come into an introductory medieval course armed with various misconceptions about the time period. One such misconception is the role of women in medieval society. For many, the past is associated with misogyny and oppression of the female gender. While women were theologically and philosophically considered to be an inferior gender during the Middle Ages, their plight was not as bleak as many believe. Society may have placed certain limits on women, but a number of them found ways of circumventing, negotiating or breaking these in order to claim agency.
But how do instructors, in one semester, break through the misconceptions students have been building for years? This blog proposes that instructors use a very recognizable piece of the popular culture,Game of Thrones, as a tool to introduce the various ways medieval women interacted with their society. Though the political landscape of Westeros is patriarchal, the series includes a wide variety of female characters who achieve agency in different ways. There are warrior women, women who command armies, as well as the women who occupy the domestic space students will be familiar with. It may be easier for students to relate new information about medieval society to the familiar world presented in Martin’s popular series.
A good way to draw parallels between Game of Thrones and medieval women is to directly compare a literary character with a historical figure. For example, Sansa Stark is an excellent example of the stereotypical image of the medieval women. She is only a young girl when a marriage agreement for her and Prince Joffrey is made between her father and the king in order to unite the Starks and Baratheons. Later, she is married to Tyrion Lannister in an attempt for the Lannisters to control the north, the lands she inherited. This isn’t a wholly inaccurate view of medieval women. Often marriages were arranged based on the commodities attached to the two participating parties. More often than not, these marriages were not arranged by the participants themselves. The instructor may wish to begin a discussion by showing the clip below where Tywin Lannister discusses Tyrion’s betrothal to Sansa.
After the clip is watched, the class could discuss how Sansa – as well as Cersei – are represented in this clip (as objects), and the motivations for marriage. The instructor could then offer a historical example of a political marriage such as Margaret Beaufort’s marriage to Edmund Tudor. There is a very good biographical essay on Margaret Beaufort by Michael Jones in The Women of the Counsins’ War. The beginning of the essay discusses why Margaret’s betrothal to John de la Pol was dissolved: her title would have given him too much access to a claim on the throne. Instead, she was married to the king’s half-brother Edmund Tudor. This example shows how women were attached to their inheritance and how important this was in determining a marriage. It also shows the darker side of arranged marriages. Sansa suffers at the hands of both Joffrey, who enjoys tormenting her, and her second husband Ramsey Bolton who rapes her on their wedding night. Margaret also suffered rape at the hands of her husband as Edmund Tudor consummated the marriage when she was only twelve and Jones argues that this trauma affected her the rest of her life (2013). However, it should be stressed that this was not the norm in a medieval marriage and, in fact, medieval manners dictated that a husband should wait until their wife was at a proper age (fourteen) before consummating the marriage.
There are also many examples of happy marriages in both “Game of Thrones” and medieval history. Though Catelyn was originally betrothed to Brandon Stark, she marries his brother, Eddard, after Brandon’s death. They were strangers, but the show makes it clear that this union turned into a loving relationship. This was certainly possible in medieval marriages as well. Also, not all medieval marriages were made for political reasons. Margaret’s own family, the Beauforts, were founded from the bastard children of a love affair between John of Gaunt and his governess, Katherine Swynford. After his first wife died, John of Gaunt took Katherine as his wife and legitimized their children. This is only one example of many love matches, but this particular marriage is described in Jones’ essay, and so would make a ready comparison.
Margaret Beaufort is also a good example of a woman who does not have much agency herself, but finds it through her male family members (in her case, her son, who became King Henry VII). In this regard, she can easily be compared to Catelyn Stark, mentioned above. For the most part, Catelyn does not venture outside of the role of wife and mother (and when she does so it is to protect or seek justice for her children), but she often offers advice to her husband Ned. Once Ned is executed and her son Robb is declared King of the North, Catelyn leaves her home to travel with him as adviser. This is very similar to the role Margaret Beaufort played in Henry VII’s court. Catelyn’s advice is not always be heeded in the show, but this only further displays her intelligence. When the men in her life do not listen to her, it often ends badly for them.
Like medieval history, HBO’s series also includes a number of women who act as military leaders, commanding armies. Daenerys Targaryen is one of the most notable females in the Game of Thrones universe. Exiled from Westeros as a child after her father’s throne is usurped, Daenerys grows up to win the loyalty of a small group of Dothraki warriors and later purchases and takes command of an army of Unsullied, slave mercenaries. The power she commands over her followers and army is demonstrated in the clip below:
This clip can serve as a starting point for discussion. The instructor may ask “How is Daenerys portrayed?”, “What do Daenerys’ followers think of her?” etc.
There are a number of medieval women who can be compared to Daenerys. The most famous example, and one students will likely know, is Joan of Arc. She is worth noting because of her humble birth. The majority of women discussed in this blog are of noble birth, but it is important to note that common women could claim agency as well. Two women students may or may not recognize are Empress Matilda and Margaret of Anjou .
Matilda was named heir to England, but this was ignored and her cousin, Stephen took the throne instead. This led to the civil war known as the Anarchy where Matilda fought for her and her son’s rights. Margaret of Anjou had to muster an army on her son’s behalf when Richard Duke of York had himself named heir in Prince Edward’s stead. For years, both Matilda and Margaret fought for their titles. BBC has a series entitled “She Wolves: England’s early Queens,” which includes episodes discussing both Matilda and Margaret. Once again, small clips from these documentaries can be used to compare and contrast Martin’s women with the real medieval figures.
Something worth mentioning is the way medieval women who commanded armies were often slandered with terms like “she-wolf” or called unfeminine and unnatural. Nancy Bradley Warren is the author of an interesting article that discusses both Margaret of Anjou and Joan of Arc entitled “French Women and English Men: Joan of Arc, Margaret of Anjou, and Christine de Pizan.” Bradley Warren argues that, along with Christine de Pizan’s writings, Joan of Arc and her exploits instilled a newfound fear among men about emasculation at the hands of women (2004). Though this kind of language isn’t applied to Daenerys, it is applied to other females in Westeros who take a much more active role in military matters.
Brienne of Tarth is a good example of one of Martin’s warrior women who suffers slander because of her “manly” actions. The clip where the audience is first introduced to Brienne shows how uneasy the majority of men are with having a warrior women in their midst.
This can be compared to a variety of primary documents that discuss warrior women. One such document is an excerpt from Memoirs of Ramon Muntaner that tells of a women at Perelada who dresses in armour and defeats a French Knight much to the amusement of the King and the prince (found in The Crusdes: A Reader, edited by S.J Allen adn Emilie Amt). Another primary source worth reading would be from the History of the Danes which has a passage describing the “skilled female warrior” Ladgerda, the wife of Ragnar Lodbrok (found in The Viking Age: A Reader edited by Angus A. Somerville and R. Andrew McDonald).
The popularity of “Game of Thrones” makes it a valuable teaching tool. Because of its familiarity, it can be used as a touchstone to help students remember what they have learned. Even students who haven’t watched/read the series will be able to participate through any readings or clips shown (the clips selected in this blog generally do not need any background of the series to be useful to the topic). The topic of women in the Middle Ages is a large one to cover and one that contains nuances depending on the time period and the region being discussed. This blog is simply meant to offer an introduction into the topic and a fun, interactive way to break down any misconceptions about medieval women students may enter the class with. Hopefully this initial discussion will prompt interest in or lessons on women in medieval laws, the different views of medieval women between cultures, women writers, etc. George R.R. Martin’s world is an intriguing one, but our own medieval history offers figures just as exciting, if not more. Hopefully students will fall just as in love with Medieval history and culture as they are with “Game of Thrones.”
The Digital Citadel 