Linda Olson
Linda Olson has been researching, writing and teaching in the fields of medieval literature and history for many years. Her publications include a number of articles on Latin manuscripts and two co-authored books: Voices in Dialogue: Reading Women in the Middle Ages (University of Notre Dame Press, 2005), and Opening Up Middle English Manuscripts: Literary and Visual Approaches (2012). She holds degrees in English and Classics (B.A. and M.A.) from the University of Victoria, Canada, and a doctorate in English and Related Literature (D.Phil.) from the University of York, England.
Middle Ages
Forbidden Fruit: Male-Female Relations in the Medieval Cloister
Medieval monks and nuns lived by rules that demanded three vows: chastity, obedience and poverty. Problems arose with all three at times, and oft...
Middle Ages
Women and Romances: Medieval Women and their Books
With its intertwined episodes and challenging hurdles, romance literature of the Middle Ages gave birth to modern romance novels, but it was not exactly...
Middle Ages
Making a Women’s Manuscript: Medieval Women and their Books II
Although many manuscripts survive from the Middle Ages, there are comparatively few that reveal certain signs of female participation in their production. One of...
Middle Ages
Coping with the Pen: Women Writers of the Middle Ages
The lives of most medieval women were not easy, particularly in the tumultuous the first few centuries of the medieval period. Such women enjoyed...
Middle Ages
Medieval English Books for Children: Reading to Succeed
Many parents in medieval England were as concerned about teaching their children to read and write as parents are today. Literacy was not as...
Middle Ages
Medieval Manuscripts
Strictly speaking, any handwritten document is a manuscript – the Latin manuscriptus literally means "written" (scriptus) "by hand" (manu). So charters and scrolls, fragments...