About

Epistolæ is a collection of letters to and from women in the Middle Ages, from the 4th to the 13th century. The letters, written in Latin, are linked to the names of the women involved, with English translations and, where available, biographical sketches of the women and some description of the subject matter or the historic context of the letter.

The letters were originally collected and translated by Professor Joan Ferrante of Columbia University, mainly from printed sources. The Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (formerly the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning) has collaborated with Professor Ferrante to develop a free, online repository of the collection.

In 2022, Epistolæ was preserved as a static project and is now published by Columbia University Libraries. In addition to this site, archived and downloadable versions of the biographies and letters may be accessed through the Libraries' Academic Commons repository.

A few notes for readers not familiar with medieval letters: it was common practice for those women and men who engaged in correspondence to dictate their letters to secretaries who not only copied them but sometimes edited them before sending them, and letters were copied and collected by recipients as well as by senders. One can not, therefore, assume that the words are precisely those of the sender, but in general, unless an intentional deception was involved, they represent the views or intentions of the senders.

Names can be spelled in various ways; we attempt to give the most common variations.

Biblical references may not correspond to the text the reader is familiar with. Usually they refer to the Vulgate, but some writers cite other versions, other writers give an approximation as if it were an exact quotation.

Latin texts may be taken from older editions because of copyrights, but most of them do not differ substantially from later editions.