On March 6, 2024, the 1st Session of the 2024 Medieval Studies Seminar will take place online, via Zoom.

Dedicated to the theme “Women’s religiosity: practices and contexts”, this session will be led by Filomena Andrade (CEHR- UCP / IEM – FCSH-UNL).

With a degree in History from the Faculdade de Letras (UL) and a master’s and doctorate in Medieval History from the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas (UNL), Filomena Andrade is a professor at Universidade Aberta, a researcher integrated into the Center for Religious History Studies (CEHR- UCP) and contributing member of the Institute of Medieval Studies (IEM – FCSH-UNL).

Author of several studies on Franciscan worldview in medieval Portuguese society, especially its feminine aspect, she has also collaborated on inventory projects and treatment of monastic documentation and studies on women.

In this 1st Session we will try to answer some questions that address the place of women in the Middle Ages who, like men, live in a world in which the sacred is a constant and guides their entire lives.

Women are, as we know, almost invisible in medieval documentation, but their practices and devotions left a trace and it is therefore possible to fit them into the society of that period.

Rich or poor, commoners or queens, they all have devotions and practices that make them subjects of their own religiosity.

We ask ourselves: does a woman take on a different religious attitude than a man? What, then, are their practices and their paths? In what context do they develop and even, at times, serve as a model for the entire Church?