Books@Stones event: The Secret Lives of Single Medieval Women

Join us on Thursday 24 July for the launch of The Secret Lives of Single Medieval Women: True Stories of Nuns, Maidens and Not-so-merry Widows Who Made Their Own Way In The Medieval World by Rosalie Gilbert.

Single women were a part of society in the Middle Ages, just as they are today, but you'd be forgiven for thinking that they that their lives were small and insignificant.

Single women could be young, unmarried girls under the age of 12 and in the care of their families. Single women could be of marriageable age but not yet wed. Adults working at home or in service or in the fields for the lords or daughters of knights, rich and eligible enjoying all the things that high society had to offer without the burden of running a household or motherhood. They might be beggars or travellers. Single women could be separated or divorced or widowed, perhaps working in a trade and enjoying a certain amount of freedom and autonomy. Single women could be women of religion, living within the cloisters as a stop gap until marriage, an educational opportunity or as an escape from the outside world. Some embraced the religious life, while others did not. Depending on her age and rank, these women had options, or not.

The much-anticipated next release from author, independent researcher, professional re-enactor and history enthusiast, Rosalie Gilbert, The Secret Lives of Single Medieval Women dips a toe into the world of unmarried women in the Middle Ages.

Rosalie Gilbert is passionate about living history, experimental archaeology and women in the Middle Ages, and is a lifetime member of the Friends of the Abbey Museum of Art & Archaeology and a long-standing member of the Queensland Living History Federation. She has a strong focus on education, especially on revealing the little-known lives of medieval women. She is committed to busting the myths that medieval women were illiterate, dirty, smelly, or sexually repressed through her living history displays, and engaging public talks and presentations.

Rosalie is the voice behind Rosalie's Medieval Woman, an online presence on several social media platforms focussing on 14th century women's lives; including historical tailoring tutorials and experimental archaeology trials and is the owner and curator of The Gilbert Collection, a medieval antiquities study collection which is available online with free access.

Her first non-fiction book, The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women (2020) was an international bestseller and has been translated into Russian, Polish, Japanese and is available through the Braille Library of Australia.

Rosalie lives in Brisbane, Australia with her rescue cat, Gummibear.