Have you ever heard about medieval mysticism or medieval heresies? Have you ever wondered about the particular role women played
in medieval spirituality? Do Hildegard of Bingen, Clare of Assisi, Marguerite Porete, the Cathar ladies or Isabel de Villena ring a bell? Have you ever felt like you wanted to know more about them? If your answer to any of these questions was yes, then this MOOC, <i>A Voice of their Own.
Women's Spirituality in the Middle Ages</i>, is what you were looking for. <i>A Voice of their Own</i> is much more than a course. It is an invitation to follow the path traced by the spiritual experiences of medieval women. It is a challenge that should you let it, will take you to places where you will see and hear things
that will astonish you. Here, you will find medieval women playing a major role in the spiritual transformations of the Middle Ages. founding monastic movements and orders, writing about their experiences, travelling the roads of Europe to spread their ideas, and creating spiritual landscapes as well as both material
and intangible architectures. In this MOOC, these women will speak to you from the past, and you will see that their voices still hold great validity in the present. We are Blanca Garí and Nuria Jornet, principal investigators of the project Spiritual Landscapes that lies behind the creation of this MOOC. Today, we are here among the old books and manuscripts of the library of the University of Barcelona
to present this course. Some of the books that surround us guard some of those voices of women that we want to rescue for you, which makes this the ideal starting point for <i>A Voice of Their Own</i>. Throughout this course, we will travel together through five thematic units composed of five compulsory and
two optional videos each. The first unit is an introductory module that will provide you with a general outline of women's spirituality in the Middle Ages. The topics introduced there, will be developed in-depth in the following units. Module 2, "The House of the Heart" deals with female monasticism in its different forms while dispelling
clichés about enclosure, the culture of nuns, their ability to manage the nunnery, both spiritually and materially, and their empowerment through different strategies and processes. In the optional videos, we will also discuss the relationship of nunneries with their sponsors and patrons, and the special role played by queens. Module 3, "The Space Within" focuses on the phenomenon of the great mystical writers, women who were considered sometimes saints and some others
heretics. We have chosen a selection of examples from all over Europe, Hildegard of Bingen, Hadewijch of Antwerp, the community of Helta, Marguerite Porete, and Julian of Norwich as well as Isabel de Villena and Bridget of Sweden
in the optional videos. These are some specific women, who authored works of extraordinary literary and spiritual value, and whose voices put into words ineffable experiences
translated into poems, letters, or text in prose. Module 4 discusses the always fascinating topic of women within heretical movements, or as we prefe to call them female spiritual dissidents:
Cathars, Waldensians, Beguins of Languedoc, Guglielmites. The videos will bring us closer to the way in which they thought and lived. We will also talk about their relationship with the ecclesiastical power and about the point of view of the most renowned and fierce opponents of these movements, the dreaded inquisitors. The optional videos in this unit will explain why many communities of Beguines ended up taking refuge within the boundaries of monastic life; but also why, despite prohibitions, lay spiritual movements kept emerging again and again well into the 16th century as we will see when we look into the case of the so-called <i>Alumbradas</i> in Castile. Finally, unit 5 will focus on the creation of both material and intangible spiritual landscapes by women. Some of the greatest European female monastic landscapes will pass before your eyes and we will also zoom-in for a close-up of specific monastic domains that showcase the territorial impact of female religiosity on urban
and rural environments. We will visualize monastic architectures and look around their innermost spaces to try and see and hear the gestures, voices and ideas that bind networks, the most connected form of landscape, together. We are convinced that both medieval men and women were indispensable actors of our past and creators of the great
Western spiritual tradition, which even today often remains unknown. We do know that this tradition, which was the result of a joint effort, can only be well understood, especially in the case of the Middle Ages, if we pay attention to women, and grasp the deep meaning of their contribution. More than 20 experts from 14 different leading institutions in seven different countries have contributed to the materials
offered in this MOOC, which no doubt makes it one of a kind. Well, it is now the time to start, to let ourselves be led by the voices of the past, to guide us through this female spiritual adventure. Join us and enjoy <i>A Voice of their Own</i>.
