Published Romford Recorder, Barking and Dagenham Post and Ilford Recorder January 2025
Could medieval Barking have been a hotbed of feminism? The thought had not occurred to me until my recent visit to an exhibition at the British Library. The “Medieval Women” exhibition is fascinating. It also holds important lessons for today.
Barking Abbey was built in the 7th Century for St. Ethelburga, a woman of royal ancestry. There followed a succession of notable abbesses until the Abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. They included several saints, former queens, and the daughters of kings.
A clue to what may have then attracted women to a nunnery lies in the story of Saint Wulfhilda. She became Abbess of Barking during the 10th century. King Edgar ‘the Peaceful’ fell in love with the young Wulfhilda, but she spurned his advances, presents and offers of marriage. Eventually Edgar laid a trap. On arriving she “found his fervour so alarming that she fled, leaving her sleeve in his hand, and escaping through the drains”.
In short, in those deeply religious times, a nunnery probably offered the only way out for women wanting to escape a lifetime of domestic drudgery, and possibly much worse. Within the relatively safe confines of a nunnery women were able to thrive.
The exhibition features many examples of women from the medieval period whose works and achievements have been unfairly overlooked. Scholars, printers, artists, doctors and writers on medicine, musicians, prolific letter writers, and much beside. There is a cornucopia of beautiful, illuminated manuscripts.
One exhibit that caught my eye was the account kept by the cellaress of Barking in the 15th century recording the nuns’ food and money allowances. Another was the mortuary roll (1225-30) which paid tribute to Lucy, the first Prioress of Castle Hedingham. Messengers took the roll to 122 religious houses, including Barking, each of which added their message in Lucy’s memory.
The road to women’s equal opportunity has been long and rocky. The US has recently seen the reverse of hard-won rights. The situation for women in Afghanistan is desperate. The actions of the new regime in Syria are awaited with apprehension.
For me the exhibition underlined the tragedy of the countless people who have been thwarted from achieving their potential through unreason and prejudice, whether based on sex, colour, or whatever.
The exhibition closes on 2 March.
Paul Kaufman.
Chairperson East London Humanists.
