Middle Ages. A time when women had few rights.
I'm Ken Follett, author of two novels playing there.
"The pillars of the Earth" and "Infinite World".
In the books, women defy the odds of a hard and inconvenient world.
Women's role in the Middle Ages is underestimated.
They are regarded as oppressed.
But many women had power and influence.
My heroes are inspired by real people.
Some, like Jeanne d'Arc, stated army in battle.
Some wrote books that challenged the authorities.
Some were pioneers in medicine.
Some wrote about music, nature and even sex.
Some became saints, others paid a high price -
- for their free thinking
In the 1100s, the Catholic Church dominated the lives of people.
Beautiful cathedrals praised God's glory.
Monuments over the power of the presidency.
It is difficult to exaggerate the influence of the church in the Middle Ages.
It required control over everything in life.
From birth to death and so to heaven and hell.
Get Protested, but no one could escape the power of the Catholic Church.
Monks, priests, bishops and the pope ruled the church.
They held women out of power.
But one outstanding woman became prominent in the church -
- where she challenged men in their area.
It was the German nun Hildegard of Bingen.
She was a composer, author, researcher, doctor. She could do everything.
It was unique at the time.
Hildegard was a prophet and afflicted with horrible visions.
Her story is about power -
- religious fanatism, conspiracy -
- and six.
The cards were against the women.
But Hildegard pioneered everyone. Monks, popes and emperors.
Her story is amazing. One could not find it.
Hildegard grew up at the Rhine river in Germany -
- like 10th child in a noble family. But her childhood was short.
Before she was 12, she was sent to the monastery Disibodenberg.
It was run by monks, but there was a small remote part to the nuns.
It became Hildegard's home.
Life in a medieval nunnery is like a prison.
But a nun could become powerful and influential -
If she was smart and played her cards right like Hildegard.
In the monastery Hildegard learned Latin and studied theology.
She received education that was not common among women.
She studied herbal medicine and used it on the abbey of the monastery.
Here are the ruins of the Disibodenberg monastery -
- where Hildegard got his education
There were over 40 monks and a few well-separated nuns.
Hildegard was curious and did not want to stay in.
She used this exit to get out of the garden.
She always left her room and tried to work in the garden.
She tried to learn everything she could to help -
- as a rescuer or doctor. She was curious and wanted to learn.
Abbots, Jutta of Sponheim -
- carefully watched his nuns. Also the ambitious Hildegard.
Jutta liked the idea of self-denial.
She wrapped herself in chains, she ate very little.
Today we say anorexic.
It was a very strict bargaining.
She refused the joy of life.
Jutta taught himself to submit to God.
As long as she ruled, Hildegard had to dampen his ambitions.
Hildegard became friends with one of the novices, Richardis of Stade -
- a well-educated nun from a rich and influential family.
Obviously Hildegard was taken care of by the young woman.
We do not know exactly how.
Some will assume that it was a lesbian relationship.
I think you can see it as a kind of crush.
They became crazy over the narrow spaces in the remote monastery.
Hildegard trusted Richardis that she, ever since childhood -
- had religious views At times in connection with illness.
Hildegard described his experiences.
"Heaven opened and a strong light penetrated my brain."
"Not a burning but a hot flame".
"As the sun warms all that its rays touch."
Over time, Hildegard's eyes became stronger.
She wanted to tell the whole world about them.
The moment came when Jutta of Sponheim died of his fever.
Hildegard was appointed to Juttas successor.
She was now absentee in Disibodenberg's nuns.
Hildegard had a sense of a new authority.
For the first time in her life she decided on the nuns.
But now the first time she would be able to tell about her visions.
Not only talk but also write about them.
It was her most important task and strongest wish at that time.
But women did not.
The Catholic Church's traditions were against Hildegard.
The doctrine of the Church forbade women to preach.
The Christian church has always been against women. Women there -
- accomplished something in the Middle Ages, had to be skilled dealers.
They must have been very clever -
- the women who got a position as an abbess or a predecessor.
And that's the kind of women I like to write about.
Hildegard was absent but had to obey Abbot Cuno -
- the clergy's chief executive.
In 1138, Hildegard, her confidential Richardis -
- and her secretary, the monk Vollmer, to meet the abbot.
The church had forbidden women to write about religion.
Hildegard claimed that her case was different.
Her visions came directly from God. It was a duty to write them down.
Describe his views.
It was her way through doors that were closed to other women.
It gave her an entrance to the higher theological world -
- which was forbidden for women. They were held on arm's length.
Cuno was on duty.
But when she said that a nun who looked so would lure a pilgrimage -
- and donations to the monastery, abbot contributed to it.
Hildegard dictated 26 religious views -
- to Vollmer, which translated them into Latin.
Books "Scivias" contained over 150,000 words.
Hildegard saw the universe ruler on an iron-colored mountain.
She described the cosmos, angels -
- and Adam's and Eve's fall.
After that, Hildegard expanded the scope of his writing.
She wrote about music, medicine, nature and the human body -
- including six. A forbidden subject for nuns.
There are some very vibrant, actually incredibly vibrant -
- descriptions of the love act
- and the sexual behavior of men and women.
She used a live imagery: "The threser dunk his semen".
There is considerable knowledge of what men and women do.
She writes about female orgasm, and people ask how she knows.
It all over -
- because there is no more vivid description than her.
A colorful copy of Hildegard's book "Scivias" -
- survived in a vault in a German monastery.
It is a statement of creation, redemption and salvation.
Hildegard had his own theology.
The use of a living language and of pictures -
- made her a good teacher about the church.
The pioneer Hildegard had become the monastery's main attraction.
A female prophet who attracted pilgrimages and donations.
It was time for Hildegard to leave Disibodenberg.
She wanted her own monastery independent of monks.
She found a suitable place on Rupertsberg -
- in the strategic city of Bingen nearby.
Then she came on a collision course with abbot Cuno.
This is the last room that Hildegard lived in.
The monastery had grown from three people to 15, 16, 17 and 18.
She did not have to move because there was no room.
She wanted her own.
She would decide what she would do and when.
Abbot Cuno told Hildegard that she should not move.
Hildegard got sick and could not move.
Strong visions suggested she would not be quick -
- before she was allowed to start her own independent monastery.
The abbot was out of control -
- and agreed that Hildegard and the nuns had to leave the monastery.
The new monastery was on the Rhine. A main road in Germany.
They moved to Rupertsberg -
- located in Bingen, and from there Hildegard got his name.
There she started a fairly modern monastery.
The monastery in Rupertsberg no longer exists -
- but in the monastery of Eibingen she retains her memory -
- and her many music compositions.
She was the first composer of Christianity, named by name.
It is a diligent work. About 77 songs.
They are of high quality and the music is pretty beautiful.
Hildegard's music has just become hugely popular.
A CD with her music became a bestseller.
It appeals to people -
- who wants something clean, ethereal and uncompromised.
They find it at Hildegard.
She became one of Christianity's most influential women.
She wrote to kings in England and to Emperor Barbarossa -
- she wrote to the pope and to local bishops.
I want to believe that everybody knew Hildegard.
Hildegard's eyes, books and music lured novels from the nobility -
- and with them big charges.
Hildegard had achieved his independence.
She even broke Saint Benedict's clothing rules -
- what another abbess complained about.
"It is said that forever, your virgins bear crowns of gold thread."
"And they decorate their fingers with gold rings."
"Even though the great leaders of the Church forbid that kind of thing."
But Hildegard had enough power to ignore such criticism.
The women carried sweeping dresses.
And besides, they had long hair.
Hildegard had his own theories. Her women were virgin.
They were not obsessed with the marriage, as she perceived.
Therefore they could have sweeping dresses and long hair.
But the professional success was destroyed by personal disappointments.
Richardis was appointed Abbey in a monastery north.
Hildegard made sure.
Richardis was the only one we know she had strong feelings for.
And Richardis left her monastery.
We say tragedy, Hildegard said that it was the way God chose.
But for us today it seems very sad.
Hildegard became 81 years old. A tall age then.
Her bones are preserved.
But it's the books about medicine, music and theology that makes her -
- popular today, and that got her canonized in 2012.
Hildegard of Bingen rose against popes and emperors.
She wrote about religion, science and even sex.
Some call her "the Iron Age of the Middle Ages".
In the 11th century Hildegard worked within the Catholic Church.
Despite her intelligence, she did not challenge religious orthodoxy.
120 years after Hildegard's death -
- At the end of the 13th century, another brave woman just made it.
Marguerite Porete believed the church should change.
Her message sent her on a collision course with the church hierarchy.
She was asked for the medieval counterpart to the KGB.
Inquisition.
In my book "Infinite World" is there a nun, caris -
- inspired by the courage of Marguerite Porete.
Marguerite was a free soul and a brave writer -
- who were prepared to sacrifice everything. Also his life.
It was in 1300.
Women generally did not write about religious things.
But Marguerite Porete broke the conventions.
Marguerite Porete is known as a mysterious French woman -
- wrote about his views.
Much more we do not know about her background.
It was not something that the women talked about. They should talk about God.
And Marguerite talks about his visions. That's what we know about her.
We also know that Marguerite wrote a book about religion -
- which created a conflict with the church.
The title was "The simple soul of the soul".
The book is a spiritual handbook -
- to those who want to follow the seven steps she calls it.
The goal of the souls is perfect to unite with God.
Her path of salvation challenged the basic rule of the church.
The book contained a controversial message.
You do not need the church to get close to God.
It was a dangerous message early in the 1300s.
A radical, revolutionary assertion.
Marguerite was so sure in his case -
- that she made copies of her book, which was easier said than done
Books were not written on paper in the Middle Ages, but on parchment -
- made from skins of sheep and calves.
You do not get many big pages from a sheep.
So that's expensive.
Once you have the sheets -
- it is a time consuming process to produce ink.
And even the writing... This seems to be printed -
- because it is so beautifully written.
But it takes a long time.
Each book was a work of art.
And they were very expensive.
Marguerite sent copies to influential priests.
Among them, the ultraconservative bishop Guy de Colmieu.
He was frightened by the heretic elements he saw in it.
Especially that a pure soul does not need God's sacraments.
Marguerite was summoned to Bishop de Colmieus Palace in Cambrai -
- to hear his opinion about the book.
He thought the book was heretic and burned it.
The bishop is upset, he is shocked.
Where does that woman dare to claim greater religious authority than him?
In the legal sense, she had her first warning.
The initiation process was then two steps.
First time warning and maybe bid practice.
The second time you go to deep water.
Marguerite came for the inquisition.
The biggest and most scary organization of the time.
The inquisition's job was to find and punish heretics.
Being accused of heresy was like being accused of terrorism today.
It was seen not only as a threat to Christianity -
- but against the basic rules of the political authority.
Heresy was a crime against the king.
The inquisition had some scary torture instruments.
They were kept hidden and were shown to the accused just before.
Marguerite saw a cruel instrument called the "pear".
Made of bronze, screws and iron.
The oral, vaginal or anal pear was led into the body -
- and caused unthinkable injuries and pain.
The oral pear was put into the mouth of the cousin.
For most, the threat of a medieval heretic case -
- To close their mouths forever.
She was ordered to stop writing or lodging for court.
Would I choose to stop writing or being executed?
I would stop writing
But Marguerite continued to write.
She even added another 17 chapters.
It is an unthinkable courage.
She is in danger of death, but she still writes.
Marguerite went further. She read it in front of an audience.
It was not written in Latin, but in French, so everyone could understand.
There was growing dissatisfaction with the priesthood -
- so the message that the church is not necessary for salvation went home.
All that is needed is one's own love for God.
This is the most interesting thing.
She believed in the power and the righteous in her ideas.
The inquisition was merciless.
But Marguerite was unwavering.
She knew what was waiting.
When she retrieved the book, she acted in the legal sense of heresy.
The fact that she continued shows that she holds her ideas.
She knew very well what the risk she ran.
In 1308, several years after she was instructed to quit writing -
- Marguerite was arrested for heresy.
When it happened, the bishop sent in Cambrai -
- Marguerite and her book for an inquisition in Paris.
It is the Dominican Inquisitor William of Paris.
He asks if it is the book that the bishop of Cambrai has condemned.
She answers "yes".
"Is that the book you should not keep working on?" "Yes".
In the legal sense, Marguerite confessed heresy.
That was the second time.
Marguerite understood that she should be sentenced to death.
The only chance was to divorce the book.
But she did not.
In 1308, she was thrown into jail.
Nevertheless, she refused to give up her opinions.
What an incredible inner strength of that woman.
We do not have to agree with her, but we must admire her.
And we can only admire the poetry she created.
It is one of the most beautiful in French medieval literature.
Marguerite refused to testify to his judges -
- even though she knew what it meant.
In 1310 she became guilty of heresy -
- and sentenced to fire on the fire.
Witnesses described her as calm and worthy as she went to his death.
It affected many of those who looked at.
According to sources, many tears were in the eyes -
- when they saw her die on the fire.
Marguerite was one of the first -
- medieval reformers that were executed to write.
After her death, her book was copied to several languages.
They killed Marguerite, but not her job.
Her book survived. You can buy it today.
Contemporary researchers study it.
"The single soul's mirror". What a good title.
Marguerite Porete was one of the great women of the Middle Ages.
In 1429, 100 years after Marguerite's execution -
- a soldier returns home from the battle.
Another kind of warrior.
One of the most successful fighting of the late Middle Ages.
Not a man, but a young virgin.
Jeanne d'Arc.
Jeanne was a simple peasant girl led by divine visions.
She blew the French court.
And led the French army to victory -
- which laid the foundations of a united France.
For her courage she paid the highest price.
Taken to catch and burned by the Englishmen and their allies.
This is the legend of Jeanne d'Arc. Chilled as hell and weekend.
But that's not the whole story -
- as new historical research suggests.
Jeanne d'Arc is the middle-aged most famous woman.
Even today, politicians talk about her with awe.
But new research shows that the life of the Middle Ages superstars -
- may have been carefully staged by the secretive French court
Jeanne d'Arc was born in 1412 -
- in the small village of Domremy in eastern France.
The pious daughter of a farmer and treasurer -
- had nothing in her background that suggested that she -
- one day should lead the French army.
Professor Larissa Taylor is one of the leading experts in Jeanne d'Arc.
Jeanne d'Arc was a boy boy as a child.
There is no evidence of it, but she was always a bit special.
She went to church a little too often, went on pilgrimage and was drilled.
The children said, "Come and dance with us, join the magic tree."
Jeanne was more serious than that.
Teenager Jeanne meant that God -
- wanted her to save France
Divine visions said -
that she should leave the city and save her country
France had been in war for almost 90 years and lost half of the country.
Soldiers ravaged in the area where she lived.
In the midst of this chaos, young Jeanne was convinced of -
- that the key to saving the land was the young Karl.
He was a throne, but was challenged by his rivals.
He was confused about himself.
The throne was just not so active, rather inactive.
He had only a few loyal supporters.
He had no money and could not start a war.
Jeanne wanted him to be crowned as king in France.
She told a nobleman about his visions.
He was impressed and sent her to friends at the court.
The journey took ten days to the castle in Chinon -
- where the discouraged faithful dwelling lived in isolation.
His men lacked the will to fight -
- against the English who sieged Orleans.
He could have given up, but his mother-in-law, Yolande of Aragon -
- was determined to turn Karls luck.
She was secretive so we do not know much.
Her way of working was to pull in different threads.
She had a network of spies in France and the rest of Europe.
She needed someone who inspired the superstition of faithfulness -
- and his soldiers on the battlefield.
In a prophecy, sometimes added to the Prophet Marie d'Avignon -
- was said that a virgin in armor would defeat the English in a battle.
Earlier candidates for the role of jomfru Wars had been rejected.
Jeanne was different.
She was completely convinced of her divine mission -
- to break England's iron bomb around France.
Most historians believe -
- that Yolande was looking for a galaxy figure for the army.
One who had to go to Karl and scare the Englishmen.
Only in 1429 was Jeanne tested for his orthodoxy and chastity -
- in preparation for the meeting with the throne.
It was a crucial moment.
But when she came to the court, another sat on the throne.
The court wanted to see about Jeanne's visionary powers -
- would reveal the fraud for her
The throne was not sitting on the throne, but a piece away on one side.
Jeanne did not fool, but identified the throne.
The present mourned over her visionary capacity.
According to legend, it was her first miracle.
But not everything was what it looked like.
According to legend, this was the case -
- Jeanne d'Arc designated the throne in a crowd.
But it was not.
She had already met him.
They secretly met with only a few advisors.
So she was presented to the court here -
- and it was miraculously successful to appoint him.
A good example of medieval political stewardship.
Younger of Aragon had found in Jeanne one that could -
- participate in her pr-tricks and link the French court.
Jeanne's true task was to invade the battlefield.
Yolande left nothing to chance.
My theory is that Jeanne was trained in secret.
It had not used anything if the English knew -
that this girl should scare them
She was trained in riding, fencing, carrying a tab and armor.
It was a hard workout.
The strategically located city of Orleans was their first goal.
Orleans had been loyal to France -
- even though it had been besieged by the English for six months.
The French troops were on their way -
- but Yolande meant they lacked the will to defeat the Englishmen.
When people heard about Jeanne they became overjoyed.
No one knew how long they could hold out.
On May 7 and 8, they decided to attack.
Jeanne's courage and radiance inspired the French army.
For the first time for years, the English were defensive.
Then the disaster occurred.
She was hit by an arrow in her shoulder close to her throat.
Some say that the arrow penetrated 15 centimeters.
The English soldiers broke out in jubilation.
That was what they had been waiting for. That scary girl was gone.
The French were demoralized. They should fight with her.
Then Jeanne performed a new miracle.
She returned to the battlefield.
She gathered all her strength and seemed to resurrect from the dead.
It all changed at Orleans.
She returned from the dead. The French soldiers gained new powers.
The stronger French defeated the Englishmen at Orleans.
The first victory for decades.
Thanks to Jeanne's miraculous return.
A real miracle. Unless her injury was staged.
The interesting thing is what actually happened.
Could she have survived such an injury? I do not think.
Either she got a superficial injury and they used it to bluff -
- or it was also planned.
Jeanne said in writing, "Tomorrow blood will flow from my breast."
It was a common trick in medieval warfare.
After 90 years of war and under the leadership of Jeanne d'Arc -
- France got a victory against England and their allies.
The first in a series of French wins -
- when city-by-door opened its doors -
- for the giant giant and the forces of France.
On July 17, 1429, the throne was crowned as the king of France -
- in the refurbished city of Reims.
For Yolandes part, the assignment was completed.
But Jeanne had unfortunately other ideas.
Convinced of his divine mission -
- Did Jeanne want to free the French capital. Paris.
For Yolande and King Karl -
- was it the wrong strategy at the wrong time.
She did not understand the political situation.
Paris could not be taken without help from within.
The king interrupted the siege of Paris after two days and major losses.
It was that Jeanne's shine began to diminish.
On May 23, 1430 -
- Jeanne was caught outside the city of Compiègne.
Karl and Yolande did not try to buy Jeanne free.
The French court did not raise a finger to help.
They did not need Jeanne anymore.
She was taken to the English-controlled city of Rouen.
She was thrown into a dungeon -
- and charged with the trial of French priests allied with England.
Eventually, she was accused and convicted of wearing men's clothes -
- which was regarded as heresy in the Middle Ages.
After five months of jail, Jeanne was weak.
She was executed.
The charges gave her the chance to save her life -
if she admitted some of the charges she was charged with.
She was taken to one of the largest churches in Rouen.
What happened to Jeanne at this place?
She was led to this, formerly a cemetery.
The place was crowded with people. The rear could not hear her.
The bullet was ready and she was offered to repent of her sins. So she did.
So far, Jeanne avoided a execution.
But her torturers did not finish her.
They put her in an ice cold prison cell.
In order to avoid the death penalty, she should admit not to wear men's clothes.
But the jailer made a trap. He made some warm clothes, men's clothes.
If she took it on, her destiny was decided.
In desperation, Jeanne chose to dress her clothes.
She was the last time, the virgin warrior.
30 May 1431 -
- a desperate Jeanne was led to his execution in Rouen.
Today, a cross and a modern church reminds of the incident.
So it's here that the story gets its terrible end.
The girl who led Jeanne to execution came to the square -
- at eight o'clock on the morning of May 30, 1431
Jeanne prayed and cried.
But she was led up to a big scooter -
- so all 800 people on the square could see that she died that day.
And that she was human and that she was a woman.
Her clothes were shown when it was burned -
- so no one would doubt she really died.
After about eight hours, she died. Plenty of inhaled smoke.
Then they burned the body completely so nobody could take a relic.
Then the robbers took her ashes and threw it in the Seine.
Jeanne d'Arc was a wonderful woman -
- but the peasant girl became a victim of a political power game.
When it became clear that she had her own ideas...
... could she be sacrificed.
When Jeanne died as a 19-year-old, the legend of Jeanne d'Arc was born.
The most famous woman in the Middle Ages.
One of the most famous women throughout the ages.
Jeanne d'Arc is one of three women who shows that even in the Middle Ages -
Could a woman become a force to count on?
Nonnen Hildegard, who surrendered the priests.
The author Marguerite, who died for his book.
Jeanne d'Arc, who fought for the idea of a united France.
Three women who opposed conventions -
- and inspired people for hundreds of years thereafter.
Texts: Lars Steen Olsen www.sdimedia.com