Beginning the March – a Woman’s History Month endeavour
- Paula Lofting
- Mar 1
- 7 min read
Updated: Mar 24
21/03/2025
Its fantastic that a lot of what we know about the women of the 17th century comes from the diaries they left behind. There is plenty of information for the men in their lives, however we should consider ourselves blessed to have the writings of these women who gave us their stories for prosperity. They speak of courage, determination and resilience. The civil war that took place in the 17th was horrifically brutal, and women and children suffered terribly. Women were often left alone, desperately trying to keep their families safe, whilst their husbands were at war.
Join me as Cryssa Bassos tells us the story of Ann Fanshawe and Brilliana Harley.
Click this link to take yourself off on a journey you will want to know more about!
20/03/2025
Here is Helen Hollick with her post about witches. One of er characters has the power of healing and refers to herself as a 'white witch' and her spells are only for good.
Helen says, "To be frank, the blatant misogyny within the history of the Christian church has a lot to answer for where women are concerned. Particularly in the matter of witchcraft. Thousands of innocents suffered purely because they were old, lived on their own, had a knowledge of what we would, today, call ‘natural remedies’ and possibly had a goat for milk, and a cat to keep the mice away. Unless for the persecution of religious beliefs, it was rare for a man with these same ‘qualities’ to be tortured and cruelly executed. The familiar Hallowe-en figure of a woman in a pointy black hat, hook nose, bubbling cauldron and riding a broomstick stems from this perception of evil women out to commit malevolent mischief.
To read more, click this link and join us in the 18th century.
18/03/2025
And here's another great post from a fantastic article from Judith Arnopp about the very interesting noble woman and mother to King Henry VII. Such an amazing character, imagine having a baby at the age of 13! And that wasn't the only thing this woman had to endure in her lifetime. Come check her out here!
13/03/2025
Well I'm back, another week here on the Marching Through Time project and am catching up again. there's a lot to catch up on! We've had lots of great posts and 7 days for me to catch up on here.
Today, my lovely friend and fellow author Cathie Dunn, has written a great post about the very formidable Empress Matilda. which you can read here. I've always been team Stephen, but Empress Matilda's story is one of strength and resilience and you cannot fault her for that and I can't fault her for fighting for her inheritance,
So take it away Cathie.
12/03/2025
Several years ago, Char Newcombe wrote Men of the Cross bringing the times of the crusades to vivid life with her well-loved depiction of Richard Lionheart. As Anna has said, she creates characters that remained with you long after finishing the book. Obviously, tons of research goes into her work, and one of the women who feature is Joanna, born princess of England, and wed to William of Sicily while still a child. Today, Char gives us a bit more insight into the life of this medieval lady! so click the link here to see what Joanna was all about.
11/03/2025
Today I'm very excited to present you with an article about women in the 11thc century. I also use my characters, one high status and one low to compare their situations. There's also an excerpt from one of my novels, The Wolf Banner.
I hope you all enjoy. Here we go: Marching through history – in which Paula sheds some light on 11th century Anglo-Saxon women
10/03/2025
From St Margaret to Margaret of Denmark. Sharon has written an extraordinary amount of books, in which she breathes life into the women of the past. Extremely well-researched, I can only imagine how many hours she has spent poring over ancient documents to come up with her fascinating histories. Her post today is about Lady Macbeth–the real one. I hope you enjoy it! Check the post here.
08/03/2025
Today we meet with a lady called Aethelflaed, daughter of Alfred the Great and another of Annie Whitehead's women in the Marching Through Time project.
This awesome woman lived in the 8th and 9th centuries as the wife of the leader of Mercia, Aethelred. Aethelflaed was wed to him as a peacemaker to strengthen the alliance between Wessex and Mercia. When Aethelraed was taken ill, she took up the reins of her country on behalf of her husband and played a leading part in fighting off the Danes alongside her brother, Edward, King of Wessex.
Annie's story of Aethelflaed is a beautifully written fictionalised work of this woman's life. She wasn't a Queen, but she knew what it took to be one.
You can read about her here.
07/03/2025
Today over on Anna's March Through Time, we are going to meet an amazing woman called Poppa. This poor woman has been written out of history time and time again. And yet if not for her, the powerful medieval dukes of Normandy and subsequent kings of England would not have existed.
Well, many fans of history and historical fiction know the man she shared her life with: Rollo the Viking! But while Vikings, the popular TV series, gave him a major role with a focus on his marriage to Gisela, a king’s daughter. But what about his first wife, Poppa? With her children attributed to Gisela in the series, Poppa was – again – written out of history. How very dare they?
So the awesome Cathie Dunn is going to take you back to the land of the Northern Franks, known as Armorica before it became Normandy. So from here on in, click the link below, shut your eyes et voila! Take the floor, Cathie, and Poppa!
06/03/2025
Here we are with the lovely Annie Whitehead, one of my favourite authors.
She is chatting about the little known Queen Eanflæd who is from my favourite era, the Anglo-Saxons.
"As most of you know, various Anglo-Saxon tribes settled in Britain after the departure of the Romans. Not always a peaceful process, by the 7th century several Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had been established at the expense of the Celtic-Roman inhabitants. One such kingdom was Northumbria, home to various kings with names beginning with Osw… Today, Annie Whitehead gives us some insight into this distant world by introducing us to Eanflæd. I just love Annie’s books, even if they tend to make me cry. Few manage to marry the lyrical beauty of descriptive prose with intense action and engaging characters like Annie does! With that, I hand you over to Annie!"
To read more click here you won't want to miss this article!
05/03/2025
Now its the turn of Helen Hollick, awesome author of a multitude of books, including her acclaimed story about Harold. Today on Anna's blog, Helen discusses with us her interesting view of Arthur's queen, Gwenhwyfar, also known as Guinevere. Check the link here to read about Helen's British princess.
04/03/2025
Today on Marching Through History, out second day, the wonderful Alison Morton tells us about the interesting Galla, daughter of one Roman emperor, wife of a second and mother of an empress-regent.
The late fourth century was a complicated place to be, however, one woman, Galla, was to stand out. We don’t know when Galla was born, except it was after 370 CE. Responsibility for ruling the Roman Empire had been split and her father, Valentinian I, was emperor of the West from 364 to 375. To read more about this extraordinary lady click here and be prepared to transport back to Ancient Rome!
03/03/2025
So here we are, Day one of the great March Through History Project!
Over at Anna's blog we are kicking off our march through female history with a post by Nancy Jardine. Nancy has written several engaging (and very educational, if you don’t know much about the period) books about Celtic Britain, so it is no wonder she has chosen to introduce us to Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes. With that, I turn you over to Nancy.
Click the link below and meet our first lady of Ancient History!
01/03/2025
Over at my good friend, Anna Belfrage's website, some of us authors have got togther to walk through time, telling the story of women from ancient history to the 21st century.
Anna has invited such eminent authors such as Helen Hollick, Cathie Dunn, Annie Whitehead, Tony Riches and many more to talk about the women in their books.
It starts like this:
"History is like a wide, sweeping river, it’s source lost in a past so distant we know very little about it. Humankind rose on two legs in that long-ago past, hesitantly peering out over the endless expanses around them. The river of history was as yet a trickle, and these our ancestors have left scant traces: a solidified footstep, some bones.
Years, decades, centuries passed. That trickle was now a burbling stream, and we have vibrant cave paintings, implements and graves that tell us of people who, in some ways are so like us. They live, they dream, they die, a steady sequence of generations that flow from one age to the next.
As history expands from stream to river, individuals emerge from the depths. Most of these are men—blame it on patriarchal societies or predominantly male chroniclers. But just because we cannot list as many female as male historical figures does not mean there weren’t any. History wouldn’t exist without woman. Herstory would not exist without man. Our history is the result of all the men and women who came before us.
Central to human survival is the mother. No mother, no children. No children, no future generations. But women, in difference to most other mammals, are not fertile throughout their lives. It has been posited that the menopause has been fundamental to our species’ survival. When older women could no longer procreate, they could instead help their daughters ensure the survival of their children. An evolutionary quirk that likely also reflects the fact that human babies need many years before they can stand on their own two legs." To read more, click here.
I hope you will like join us in the Marching Through History Tour taking a ride back in time to meet some amazing women of the past!
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