Today on the GWA Podcast is the brilliant medievalist and bestselling author, Professor Janina Ramirez. Currently based at Oxford University, Ramirez, while being one of Britain's most acclaimed academics and professors, has an extraordinary gift for bringing to life stories from the past – especially the Middle Ages – to a wide range of readers. Her books include: Legenda: the Real Women behind the Myths that Shaped Europe, Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages through the Women Written out of It, The Private Lives of Saints, and more. She has fronted TV documentaries on the vikings, kings, saints and sinners, and more recently on the Bayeux Tapestry. And the reason I love her work so much is that she brings to life, in the most effervescent and brilliant ways, the world of women in the Middle Ages. Including the woman we are discussing today – the 12th century German nun, theologian, writer and composer, Hildegard of Bingen. One of the first women visionaries of the medieval period, Hildegard became world famous for her prophetic visions. She lived for 81 years and her output was huge, penning three major theological works, a play, two medical treatises, and more than 300 letters. She founded two monasteries, corresponded with popes, kings, queens, and emperors, and even invented her own language. She has long been revered as a saint and was eventually canonised by Pope Benedict in 2012. And I can't wait to find out more! THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: www.famm.com/en/ www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Tory Pope Co-produced with Molly Lafosse Music by Ben Wetherfield