Magnificent Women: Elite Female Agency and the Arts of Medieval Europe
Online
Evening Study Online
Dr Maeve O’Donnell-Morales
5 pre-recorded lectures with 5 live Zoom seminars at 18:30, over 5 weeks from Wednesday 6 January to Wednesday 3 February 2027.
£245
N.B Booking for this course will open in mid-July 2026.
Course description
In the year 1200, Eleanor of Aquitaine accompanied her granddaughter, Blanche of Castile, from Spain to France to marry the young French dauphin, Louis VIII. Together, these two remarkable women embodied a vast network of political and cultural links across the medieval world and between generations of rulers. Separately, they would become powerful figureheads and prolific patrons of the arts.
During their journey, the arts were likely discussed among other important subjects, in part because, as traditional art history tells us, culture was considered an appropriate domain for elite women and featured significantly in their education. However, much like their male counterparts, powerful and ambitious women also understood the role of art in communicating important political messages, in the construction of reputations and in the establishment of legacies.
Like Eleanor and Blanche, elite medieval women travelled extensively, often for the purpose of marriage, but also as a result of military conflict and as diplomats or pilgrims. Their strategic employment of works of art led to the transmission of styles and techniques and to the creation of many of the period’s great masterpieces. This course will examine these works and use them as the basis for an exploration of the multifaceted lives of elite women in the medieval period, and as case studies for a critical discussion of gender and agency.
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Lecturer's Biography
Dr Maeve O’Donnell-Morales completed her PhD at the Courtauld in 2018, writing a thesis on medieval altar furnishings and liturgical objects from the Iberian kingdom of Castile. Before moving to London for her PhD, Maeve completed her MA at Hunter College (CUNY) and her BA at New York University and worked for four years at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Following her PhD, Maeve curated an exhibition on the role of artists in the development of Marian theology at the Getty Museum (www.getty.edu/news/getty-museum-presents-visualizing-the-virgin-mary/ ). Returning to England, she became the art historian on a team investigating the development of cults of saints in medieval Iberia at the University of Bristol. She is currently at Teaching Fellow at the Courtauld and a Research Fellow at the University of Bristol and is completing several articles and designing courses on a variety of art history subjects.