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14. 900-1200 Women Crusaders and Stabilizers   

During the Crusades, women did not sit idly by but took action on the battle field along side their male counterparts. In addition, they stepped into various roles of power. Though not talked about, these women's impact on the results of the crusades is undeniable. 
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PictureMatilda of Tuscany, Wikimedia Commons
Threatened by the growing and vibrant Islamic Empire, between 1095 and 1291 CE, the Latin Christian Church based in Rome joined the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople to lead a series of religious wars known as the Crusades. Armies faced off in the Levant, home to many sites revered in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religions. There were nine Crusades to the Holy Lands during this period, though most historians tend to highlight the first three or four because they were the most significant. As is typical in the study of wars, most scholars focus their attention on the actions of men in their roles as religious or political leaders and as soldiers. However, women took part in the Crusades in a variety of ways, including as leaders and even as soldiers. ​
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The Crusades

In theory, when Pope Urban II issued a call to arms for the First Crusade in 1095, no one expected women to make the trip. Church leaders appealed to women with wealth to fund expeditions and new military orders. By the Second Crusade, some male authorities actively discouraged women from participating, saying that women would hinder the armies on campaign. However, as going on Crusade offered distinct spiritual benefits to those who went, it had to be open to any devout Christian. In this sense, the Crusades were a kind of super-pilgrimage and women had been taking part in pilgrimage for centuries in Europe. The other thing paving the way for women’s participation was the importance of noble lineage. Noblewomen looked to their own ancestors for inspiration and hoped to leave a legacy to their descendants.  Furthermore, medieval society was thought to be represented by three orders: Those who pray, meaning the clergy; those who fight, meaning the nobility; and those who work, meaning everyone else. If being noble meant being willing to fight, then noblewomen had to have a place in that order.
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Dozens of women went on Crusades, and it would be impossible to list them all. Matilda of Tuscany never got to go on an official Crusade, but she paved the way for women who did. Matilda had a reputation for military leadership before the Crusades began. She had long been a loyal defender of Pope Gregory VII who had a conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor. Initially, church and civil law prohibited anyone but a secular male warrior from taking up arms. However, for a just cause, anyone could fight and pretty quickly fighting monks emerged. And, like many daughters of feudal lords, Matilda had been trained in strategy even if she never personally wielded a weapon. Sources say she was a brilliant strategist and that she was passionate about defending holy causes. Matilda was prepared to lead forces against the Turks as early as 1074, when they defeated a Byzantine army at Manzikert. However, when the first Crusade was announced in 1095, Matilda was still wrangling with the Holy Roman Emperor and his supporters.

PictureEleanor of Aquitaine, History Extra
Most of the crusaders traveling from Western Europe to the Holy Lands had to pass through the Byzantine capital Constantinople.  Though she was only a child during the First Crusade, Anna Comnena’s historical account is the only source from a Byzantine perspective. Anna was the daughter of Emperor Alexios I Comnenos and she wrote a history of his reign after she, herself, had retired to a monastery in the 1140s. She based her history on eyewitness accounts from members of court and veterans, but she also had access to the Imperial archives. Her work, known as the Alexiad, describes the tension at court over the influx of heavily armed crusaders passing through Byzantine lands. She describes both the Latins and the Turks as “barbarians” and states outright that her father did not trust any of them very much even though he hoped the Franks and Latins would help keep his Empire intact.

One of the most famous women to go on Crusade is Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was the sole heiress to the territory of Aquitaine in southwestern France and was married to the French prince Louis when she was only thirteen or fourteen. In 1147, Eleanor and her husband, who was by then the king of France, together joined the Second Crusade. Louis knelt in the cathedral to “take the cross”, as it was called, and inspire the faithful of France to join the fight. Eleanor then knelt beside him to take the cross in the name of Aquitaine, to call on those loyal to her family. She also inspired numerous noblewomen to take the cross to accompany their husbands and brothers. The entire entourage was said to be glorious.

However, as the army slowly made its way down the coast towards Antioch, disaster struck. Torrential rains swept away equipment, men, and horses. The terrain was brutal, and supplies ran low. Worse yet, the vanguard under the leadership of Eleanor and two of her noble vassals set up camp farther ahead than Louis and the rest of the army expected them to. The army was unable to catch up before night fell. Turkish forces took advantage of the gap between Eleanor and Louis’ forces, attacking the exhausted army when Eleanor’s guard was too far away to send supplies. After that defeat, the royal couple and what was left of their army returned to the coast to try and find enough ships to carry on with the Crusade. They eventually arrived at Antioch, which at the time was under the rule of Eleanor’s uncle. Relieved to be among familiar faces and customs, Eleanor seemed happy to settle in for a while, but Louis became jealous and impatient. He forced her to come to Jerusalem with her troops. She did but refused to participate any longer in the war. The Second Crusade ended in humiliation for Louis, and they had their marriage annulled not long after they returned to France. Eleanor’s reputation after the Crusade was a poor one, as many blamed her leadership for the loss.

Eleanor regained her lands and married the grandson of Henry I of England, Henry Plantagenet, count of Anjou and duke of Normandy. They had eight children all of whom would be married into political marriages to secure peace and power. Eleanor earned the title “grandmother of Europe” as so many of her descendants ruled. Although they had many children, her new husband was not faithful to her. She instigated a revolt by her sons against her husband. The revolt failed and she was held in captivity until her husband died. 

Her son, Richard the Lionheart, became king, and Eleanor played a greater political role than ever before. When he led a Crusade to the Holy Land she kept his kingdom running smoothly and put his brothers in place when they tried to take his crown. He was captured and mommy Eleanor came to save him, collecting his ransom and personally returning him to England. Richard’s brother John succeeded him and almost every one of his successes could be traced back to his mother. Other women, nuns, of the time described her as “beautiful and just, imposing and modest, humble and elegant… who surpassed almost all the queens of the world.”
Picture
Tombs of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II Plantagenet, flickr
Picture​Melisende of Jerusalem's coronation, World History Encyclopedia
Women Crusaders: When it came to the crusades, did women actually participate in combat? It seems that some did. Christian male writers debated whether or not women should fight in the Crusades and very few of them broached the topic as it related to combat. One Greek historian from the First Crusade wrote of women among the warriors, noting that they rode on horseback “in the manner of men, not on coverlets side-saddle but unashamedly astride, and bearing lances and weapons as men do.”  Islamic sources also confirmed that women were among the combatants. The twelfth century historians Imad ad-Din and Baha ad-Din reported that a noblewoman arrived by sea in 1189 with an escort of 500 knights. She led her army on raids against the Turkish camps. Both historians also wrote of women in armor, wielding weapons, who were not discovered until their armor was removed after death. Baha further commented on the women who would stand on the walls of the city, firing arrows down on their enemies. It could be that Christian writers had mixed feelings about women in combat and preferred to focus on their other activities while on Crusade.

Women, children, and men too old to fight accompanied the armies and sought to make themselves useful and worthy of the spiritual benefits that came with participation. They brought water and food to the warriors, offering encouragement and prayers. They dug ditches and cleared rubble. Albert of Aachen reported in 1099 that women helped weave the material need to build a siege engine. It is pretty clear there were also some prostitutes in the mix. But most women—whether Christian or Muslim--were associated with the absolutely vital food preparation, laundry, and care for the sick and wounded. During the Second Crusade, Louis of France relied on a woman named Hersenda, who was identified in other sources as a medical practitioner in Paris. So much medical knowledge passed from Islamic practitioners to Christians that European medicine grew in leaps and bounds. Trota of Salerno practiced medicine in the south of Italy in the twelfth century; she is often regarded as the first gynecologist.

From the male Christian point of view, women who ruled were as dicey a proposition as were women who fought. This led to very mixed and contradictory accounts of the women who helped stabilize the Latin States. Alice of Antioch, for example, would gain a reputation as an evil and greedy usurper for trying to take over the principality of Antioch. Her husband of four years was killed in 1130 and their daughter, his heir, was only an infant. Alice had a lot of support among her vassals, but her father, Baldwin II of Jerusalem, wanted a male regent to run Antioch until the baby Constance grew up. He sent forces to remove Alice from power and she retreated to Latakia and Jabala, cities she had received as dowry upon her marriage.  From there, Alice consolidated support and went on to make two more attempts to take over Antioch. During all this time, Alice created the tools of government, appointing a constable and other offices, setting up a scriptorium to handle her decrees and alliances, and establishing a clear court culture. It was all for nothing. Alice finally admitted defeat when Raymond of Poitiers arrived and was chosen as Constance’s consort. Once the heir had a male partner to cement her claim to the principality, all of Alice’s supporters shifted to what seemed like a more stable option.

​At the end of the First Crusade, victorious Christian leaders claimed rulership of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and surrounding territories. We call these the Crusader States or the Latin States. These states were regularly involved in continued fighting, however, as the Latins tried to claim more territory and the Islamic leaders sought to reclaim what had been taken.  Many male leaders on both sides died in this ongoing conflict, and women became essential for stability in the region.  Even leaders from kingdoms that had never recognized a woman’s claim to rule, such as France, supported the right of daughters to inherit their father’s titles. The frequent loss of male guardians also meant that women needed to serves regents and feudal lords. Finally, marital alliances created ties between people from the West and Christian leaders among the Greeks, Syrians, and other areas within the Levant. On top of all of this, the existence of stable Latin states made pilgrimage to the Holy Land easier and encouraged even more women to come.


​Melisende of Jerusalem, Alice’s sister, had a different fate and much more support for her claim on Jerusalem. Baldwin II had married Melisende to Fulk, the Count of Anjou. Upon Baldwin’s death, Fulk and Melisende ascended to the throne. Together, they resisted one of Alice’s attempts on Antioch and it was Fulk who chose Raymond to marry Constance. However, at Melisende’s request, Fulk agreed to stay out of Alice’s business going forward.
​
​In 1143, Fulk died and Melisende remained on the throne. It was under her leadership that the Crusader state of Edessa fell. She sent word to the pope and inspired the call that launched the Second Crusade. In 1150, Melisende had to fight her own son, Baldwin III, to hold onto Jerusalem. She used many of the same tactics Alice had tried, and ultimately had settle for serving as a regent while Baldwin was still young or away on campaign.  Melisende is remembered fondly in the chronicles, however, unlike Alice. This is perhaps due to her involvement in the Second Crusade.

PictureSybyalla of Jerusalem, Getty Images
The family drama would continue into the next generation of the royal family. Melisende’s son, Count Almaric of Jaffa was married to Agnes of Courtenay, a Frankish Countess born in Edessa. Almaric was not initially meant to take the throne in Jerusalem but after Baldwin III died, he became king. At that point, High Court of Jerusalem in 1161 rejected Agnes as queen. Since Edessa had fallen to Turkish forces, Agnes was no longer politically useful. The High Court forced Alaric to annul their marriage, though they agreed to recognize the Agnes’ children as legitimate heirs. The children, Baldwin the IV and Sibyalla, were raised in separate courts. When Baldwin took the throne, his mother joined him in Jerusalem and accompanied him on military campaigns. She did this in part because he had leprosy and was losing his eyesight. Baldwin trusted his mother and even appointed her to the task of choosing the Latin patriarch in Jerusalem. Furthermore, since he had no heirs of his own, Baldwin oversaw the second marriage of his sister Sibyalla. A rival had paired her with someone else in order to undermine Baldwin, but Sibyalla’s first husband died when she was pregnant with her first child. She joined her brother and mother at Jerusalem.

As time passed, Sibyalla’s brother, Baldwin, grew to distrust her and her husband. He named Sibyalla’s son as his heir and appointed a regent to rule while the child was young. Baldwin died and then the child died soon after. Sibyalla swiftly claimed the throne for herself. Sibyalla ruled Jerusalem alongside her husband. In theory, they ruled from 1186 to 1190.  However, the Third Crusade began under their reign and they lost the city of Jerusalem in 1187. The chaos among the Latin rulers was not lost on Islamic leaders and Saladin, a Kurdish leader, took advantage. Sibyalla died of illness in Acre while it was under siege. Though the early queens of the Latin states had brought stability, the last generation was just as enmeshed in politics as the noblemen.

The women of the Islamic world in the age of Crusades left a similarly impressive legacy. The Seljuk Turks and the later Ottomans were descended from a central Asian federation of Turkish tribes. Their pre-Islamic epic stories included many heroic women and, even after they accepted Islam, they kept up a tradition of unveiled women attending ceremonies along with men. They were culturally very different from many Arabic and Persian Muslims, who tended to keep women and men separate and expected women to remain veiled outside their homes. Nevertheless, when it came to defending their homes from invaders, Muslim women from across the cultural spectrum stepped up.  The Frankish writer Guibert noted at Antioch in 1097 that women rode onto the battlefield with the men, often carrying stores of arrows and quivers. Another chronicle reported that two women attempted to interfere with the crusaders’ siege machine but were crushed in the attempt.

Sadly, most accounts of the fates of Muslim and Jewish women in the Holy Lands are descriptions of the wholesale slaughter of women and men, or of the enslavement of young women. War is cruel and local women suffered tremendously. However, when the Latins stayed to occupy the territory after the First Crusade, non-noble men were said to have taken Syrian, Armenian, and even Muslim as wives and the Latin church approved as long as those women agreed to convert to Christianity. Such marital alliances helped to stabilize the region just like the royal and noble marriages had done.

There are fewer tales of women who ruled during this era of Islamic history, but there were certainly prominent women in the Levant. Zumurrud of Damascus was a noblewoman and a contemporary of Melisende of Jerusalem. Zumurrud was the mother of the lord of Damascus, Isma’il.  When her son proved to be a cruel and greedy ruler, she had him assassinated and put his corpse on display. Zumurrud already had a reputation for running the territory behind the scenes, and now she was the kingmaker. She placed another of her sons on the throne after ruling as regent for a couple of years. Zumurrud was one of the only Muslim women to have received an oath of loyalty from her people and rule with the blessing of the Caliph. She went on to marry the Turkic atabeg Zengi, who himself was the bane of the Latin kings and queens of Jerusalem.  Like Melisende, Zumurrud was a patron of the arts and religion—while Melisende had paid to expand the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Zumurrud built the Madrasa Khatuniyya in Damascus. Other noblewomen among the Turks and Kurds were known to have played prominent roles, but sadly many of their names have been lost.

So, did the women who went on the Crusades help to shape the Middle East after the wars were over? Did they break the rules, or did they fulfill their proper calling? Did their presence among the Crusaders help achieve success or cause more problems? And how did women in positions of authority compare to male rulers—were they forces of stability or just as likely as men were to start trouble?

Draw your own conclusions

Learn how to teach with inquiry.
Picture
Radegund, Wikimedia Commons
Picture
Death of Brunhild, Public Domain
What was "women's work" in the Middle Ages?
In this inquiry, students bust myths about the types of work women did and, using primary and secondary material, uncover that women did a whole variety of work. 

​Coming soon!
Did monarchies provide a stronger path to power for women?
Examining the lives of queen regents who ruled in monarchies, students will examine how stable their power was.
How did nunneries expand and limit women's opportunities in the Middle Ages?
File Size: 734 kb
File Type: pdf
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Was Joan of Arc a Heretic?
In this inquiry, students examine the life and primary material related to Joan of Arc. She was tried and executed at the stake by the English after their trial found her to be a heretic, but was she?
Was Joan of Arc a heretic?
File Size: 858 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Lesson Plans from Other Organizations
  • This website, Women in World History has primary source based lesson plans on women's history in a whole range of topics. Some are free while others have a cost.
  • The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media has produced recommendations for teaching women's history with primary sources and provided a collection of sources for world history. Check them out! 
  • The Stanford History Education Group has a number of lesson plans about women in World History.

Bibliography

Asbridge, Thomas. “Alice of Antioch: A Case Study of Female Power in the 12th c.” In The Experience of Crusading. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
 
Cassagnes-Brouquet, Sophie & Michèle Greer. “In the service of the Just War: Matilda of Tuscany.” Clio, No. 39, Gendered laws of war (2014)
 
Hodgson, Natasha R. Women, Crusading and the Holy Land in Historical Narrative. Boydell Press, 2007.
 
Kostick, Conor. The Social Structure of the First Crusade. Brill, 2008.

Miles, Rosalind. The Women’s History of the World. London, UK: Harper Collins Publishers, 1988.

​​Strayer, R. and Nelson, E., Ways Of The World. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016.

Primary AUTHOR:

Dr. Nancy Locklin-Sofer

Primary Reviewer:

Dr. Katherine Koh
Sara Stone and Lauren Cole

Consulting Team

Editors

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Kelsie Brook Eckert, Project Director
Coordinator of Social Studies Education at Plymouth State University

Dr. Nancy Locklin-Sofer, Consultant
Professor of History at Maryville College. 

Chloe Gardner, Consultant
PhD Candidate in Religious Studies at Edinburgh University

Dr. Whitney Howarth, Consultant
Former Professor of History at Plymouth State University

Jacqui Nelson, Consultant
Teaching Lecturer of Military History at Plymouth State University

​Maria Concepcion Marquez Sandoval
PhD Candidate in History at Arizona University
 

Reviewers

Ancient:
Dr. Kristin Heineman
Professor of History at Colorado State University
Dr. Bonnie Rock-McCutcheon
Professor of History at Wilson College
Sarah Stone
PhD Candidate in Religious Studies at Edinburgh University
Medieval:
Dr. Katherine Koh
Professor of History at La Sierra University
Dr. Jonathan Couser
Professor of History at Plymouth State University
Dr. Shahla Haeri
Professor of History at Boston University 
Lauren Cole
PhD Candidate in History at Northwestern University
Remedial Herstory Editors. "14. 900-1200 WOMEN CRUSADERS AND STABILIZERS ​" The Remedial Herstory Project. November 1, 2022. www.remedialherstory.com.​
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​Jeff Eckert, Barbara Tischler, Brooke Sullivan, Christian Bourdo, Kent Heckel, Jenna Koloski, Nancy Heckel, Megan Torrey-Payne, Leah Tanger, Mark Bryer, Nicole Woulfe, Alicia Guitierrez-Romine, Katya Miller, Michelle Stonis, Jessica Freire, Laura Holiday, Jacqui Nelson, Annabelle Blevins Pifer, Dawn Cyr, Megan Gary, and Melissa Adams.
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    • All Episodes
    • Season 1 >
      • Episodes 1-10 >
        • S1E1 Our Story
        • S1E2 His Story Her Story
        • S1E3 Heroes and Sheroes
        • S1E4 Herstory's Complicated Suffrage
        • S1E5 His Sphere Her Sphere
        • S1E6 Fast Girls and 1936 Olympics
        • S1E7 Standards and Her Voice
        • S1E8 Rape and Civil Rights
        • S1E9 Textbooks and Crossdressing Spies
        • S1E10 It's not about feminism
      • Episodes 11-20 >
        • S1E11 Equal Pay and Ida Tarbell
        • S1E12 Equal Rights Amendment
        • S1E13 Culture Wars and the Frontier PART 1
        • S1E14 Culture Wars and the Frontier PART 2
        • S1E15 Women's Historians and Primary Sources
        • S1E16 Education and Nuns
        • S1E17 Blanks and Goddess Worship
        • S1E18 Thanksgiving and Other
        • S1E19 Feminist Pedagogy and the Triangle Fire
        • S1E20 Mrs. So and so, Peggy Eaton, and the Trail of Tears
      • Episodes 21-30 >
        • S1E21 First Ladies and Holiday Parties
        • S1E22 Sarah, Mary, and Virginity
        • S1E23 Hiding and Jackie O
        • S1E24 Well Behaved Women and Early Christianity
        • S1E25 Muslim Women and their History
        • S1E26 Written Out Alice Paul
        • S1E27 Blocked and Kamala Harris
        • S1E28 Clandestine Work and Virginia Hall
        • S1E29 Didn't Get There, Maggie Hassan and the Fabulous Five
        • S1E30 White Supremacy and the Black Panthers
      • Episodes 31-40 >
        • S1E31 Thematic Instruction and Indigenous Women
        • S1E32 Racism and Women in the Mexican American War
        • S1E33 Covid Crisis and Republican Motherhood
        • S1E34 Burned Records and Black Women's Clubs
        • S1E35 JSTOR and Reconstruction
        • S1E36 Somebody's Wife and Hawaiian Missionary Wives
        • S1E37 Taboo = Menstruation
        • S1E38 What's her name? Health, Religion and Mary Baker Eddy PART 1
        • S1E39 What's her name? Health, Religion and Mary Baker Eddy PART 1
        • S1E40 Controversial and Reproductive Justice PART 1
      • Episodes 41-50 >
        • S1E41 Controversial and Reproductive Justice PART 2
        • S1E42 Sexual Assault and the Founding of Rome
        • S1E43 Sexist Historians and Gudrid the Viking
        • S1E44 Byzantine Intersectionality
        • S1E45 Murder and Queens
        • S1E46 Hindu Goddesses and the Third Gender
        • S1E47 Women's Founding Documents
        • S1E48 Women and Bletchley Park
        • S1E49 Unknown Jewish Resistance Fighters
        • S1E50 End of Year ONE!
    • Season 2 >
      • Empresses, Monarchs, and Politicians >
        • S2E1 Let's Make HERSTORY!
        • S2E2 Empresses, Monarchs, and Politicians: How did women rise to power in the Ancient world? >
          • Women Explorers and Pioneers >
            • S2E29: Women Explorers and Pioneers: Who was the real Lady Lindy?
            • S2E30: What is the heroine's journey of women in the west? ​With Meredith Eliassen
            • S2E31: What is the lost history of the Statue of Freedom? with Katya Miller
            • S2E32: Why did women explore the White Mountains? With Dr. Marcia Schmidt Blaine
            • S2E33: How are native women telling their own stories? with Dr. Ferina King
        • S2E3 How did female sexuality lead to the rise and fall of Chinese empresses? with Dr. Cony Marquez
        • S2E4 How did medieval women rise and why were they erased? ​With Shelley Puhak
        • S2E5 Did English Queens Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn have agency? with Chloe Gardner
        • S2E6 Is Elizabeth a turning point in World History? with Deb Hunter
        • S2E7 How did Maria Theresa transform modern Europe? With Dr. Barbara Stollber-Rilinger
        • S2E8 Were Paul and Burns the turning point in women's suffrage? With Dr. Sidney Bland
        • S2E9 Were the First Ladies just wives? ​With the First Ladies Man
        • S2E10: How did ER use her position and influence to sway public opinion and influence politics? ​With Dr. Christy Regenhardt
        • S2E11: Why was women’s fight for low level offices needed? ​With Dr. Elizabeth Katz
        • S2E12 Should We Believe Anita Hill? With the Hashtag History Podcast
      • Women Social Reformers >
        • S2E13: Women in Social Reform: Should temperance have been intersectional?
        • S2E14: Why are material culture artifacts reshaping our understanding of women's history? With Dr. Amy Forss
        • S2E15: Did 19th institutionalizing and deinstitutionalizing healthcare make it safer? with Dr. Martha Libster
        • S2E16: Why are the interconnections between women and their social reform movements important? With Dr. DeAnna Beachley
        • S2E17: Did WWII really bring women into the workforce? ​With Dr. Dorothy Cobble
        • S2E18: How have unwell women been treated in healthcare? ​With Dr. Elinor Cleghorn
        • S2E19: How did MADD impact the culture of drunk driving?
      • Women and War >
        • S2E20: Women and War: How are Army Rangers still changing the game?
        • S2E21: Should we remember Augustus for his war on women? ​With Dr. Barry Strauss
        • S2E22: Were French women willing participants or collateral damage in imperialism? with Dr. Jack Gronau
        • S2E23: Was Joan of Arc a heretic? ​With Jacqui Nelson
        • S2E24: What changes did the upper class ladies of SC face as a result of the Civil War? with Annabelle Blevins Pifer
        • S2E25: Were Soviets more open to gender equality? ​With Jacqui Nelson
        • S2E26: Why Womanpower in the Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948? with Tanya Roth
        • S2E27: What role did women play in the Vietnam War? with Dr. Barbara Tischler
        • S2E28: Why were women drawn into the Anti-Vietnam Movement with Dr. Jessica Frazier
      • Women in World Religions >
        • S2E34: Women and World Religions: How did Confucianism’s enduring impact affect women in China?
        • S2E35: What precedent is there for female Islamic leaders? with Dr. Shahla Haeri
        • S2E36: Were Islamic Queens successful? with Dr. Shahla Haeri
        • S2E37: Is there space for female Islamic leaders today? with Dr. Shahla Haeri​
        • S2E38: Were Protestant women just wives and mothers? with Caroline Taylor
      • Women in Queer History >
        • S2E39: Queer Women in History: How did one woman legalize gay marriage?
        • S2E40: Was Title IX just about sports? with Sara Fitzgerald
        • S2E41: Was Hildegard de Bingen gay? with Lauren Cole
        • S2E42: What crimes were women accused of in the 17th and 18th Century? with Dr. Shannon Duffy
        • S2E43: How should we define female friendships in the 19th century? with Dr. Alison Efford
        • S2E44: Were gay bars a religious experience for gay people before Stonewall? with Dr. Marie Cartier
      • Women and Business >
        • S2E45: Women and Business: Do We still have far to go? With Ally Orr
        • S2E46: How did 16th century English women manage businesses? with Dr. Katherine Koh
        • S2E47: How did free women of color carve out space as entrepreneurs in Louisiana? with Dr. Evelyn Wilson
        • S2E48: Who were the NH women in the suffrage movement? with Elizabeth DuBrulle
        • S2E49: What gave Elizabeth Arden her business prowess? with Shelby Robert
        • S2E50: End of Year Two
        • BONUS DOBBS v. JACKSON WOMEN'S HEALTH
    • S3E1: Mahsa "Jani" Amini and the Women of Iran
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    • Learning Overview
    • World History >
      • 1. to 15,000 BCE Pre-History
      • 2. to 15,000 BCE Goddesses
      • 3. 10,000 BCE Agricultural Revolution
      • 4. 4,000-1,000 BCE City States
      • 5. 800-400 BCE Rome's Founding Myths
      • 6. 800-300 BCE Asian Philosophies
      • 7. 100 BCE - 100 CE Roman Empire
      • 8. 100 BCE - 100 CE Han Empire
      • 9. 0 CE Monotheism
      • 10. 100-500 Silk Roads
      • 11. 300-900 Age of Queens
      • 12. 700-1200 Islam
      • 13. 1000-1500 Feudalism
      • 14. 900-1200 Crusades
      • 15. 1200-1400 Mongols
      • 16. 1300-1500 Renaissance and Ottomans
      • 17. 1000-1600 New Worlds
      • 18. 1000-1600 Explorers
      • 19. 1450-1600 Reformation
      • 20. 1500-1600 Encounters
      • 21. 1500-1600 Slave Trade
      • 22. 1700-1850 Enlightenment
      • 23. 1600-1850 Asia
      • 24. 1850-1950 Industrial Revolution
      • 25. 1850-1950 Imperialism
      • 26. 1900-1950 World Wars
      • 27. 1950-1990 Decolonization
    • US History >
      • 1. Early North American Women
      • 2. Women's Cultural Encounters
      • 3. Women's Colonial Life
      • 4. American Revolution
      • 5. Republican Motherhood
      • 6. Women and the Trail of Tears
      • 7. Women in the Abolition Movement
      • 8. Women and the West
      • 9. Women in the Civil War
      • 10. Women and Reconstruction
      • 11. The Rise of NAWSA and NACWC
      • 12. Women and Expansion
      • 13. Women and Industrialization
      • 14. Progressive Women
      • 15. Women and World War I
      • 16. Final Push for Woman Suffrage
      • 17. The New Woman
      • 18. Women and the Great Depression
      • 19. Women and World War II
      • 20. Post-War Women
      • 21. Women and the Civil Rights Movement
      • 22. Women and the Cold War
      • 23. Reproductive Justice
      • 24. The Feminist Era
      • 25. Modern Women
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