Sunday, September 25, 2022

Women's News From the 1400s

 

1.       1438 – In the year 1438, Margery Kempe, an author, is touted as having written the very first autobiography in English. The exact date of her birth and death are not known but it is believed her book was written in 1438 just prior to her death. Excerpts of the book are rumored to have been published in the early 1500s, but the book was not published in its entirety until it was re-discovered in 1936.  A statue of Margery Kempe was erected in 2020 at the entrance of a medieval bridge in Oroso, Northern Spain.

2.       1492 – (Spain) ‘Queen Isabella the 1st’ gave approval, and financed the exploratory voyage made by Christopher Columbus in the year 1492. When he returned to her with Indians he had kidnapped for slaves, as a gift to the Queen, she ordered him to immediately return them and release them to their rightful freedom.  During her 30 year reign, from 1474-1504 Queen Isabella reorganized her countries system of government. Spain’s crime rate went down and the debt left incurred by King Henry IV was relieved. While she was against slavery, she did have her prejudices when it came to religion, and expelled the Jews from Spain that refused to convert to Christianity.

This is an excerpt from the book, "Women's History: Trivia, Firsts, & Musings by Paula C. Henderson https://amzn.to/3C2WWN2

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