Of Six Mediæval Women; To Which Is Added A Note on Mediæval Gardens

Of Six Mediæval Women; To Which Is Added A Note on Mediæval Gardens is by Alice Kemp-Welch. The book says it is obvious that before passing judgment upon the standard of life of the mediæval woman, we must endeavour to arrive at the truth by thinking and living in imagination on the same plane, as near as may be, as she did. The text says it is largely owing to certain stories in the Middle Ages that the women of those times have been defamed.

Mahaut was religious, artistic, and literary, and being artistic, she made her favourite castle at Hesdin, and the town around its walls, a centre of art life. Mahaut, being religious and living in an age when the frenzy for crusading had subsided and when architecture was the ruling passion, expended her zeal in building religious houses and hospitals. The text says the only warm, bright place was the chimney corner, and here, as near as might be to the blazing logs, the long days of winter were spent in chess-playing, broidery, lute-playing, and love-making.