Interview with Alexandra Forsyth on Medieval French Dauphines

CONTENT WARNING: Please be aware that there are brief discussions of infant and child mortality in this episode.

In this episode Susannah Lyon-Whaley interviews Alexandra Forsyth on her fascinating research on the dauphines of late medieval France.

Guest Bio: Alexandra is a doctoral candidate in History at the University of Auckland. Her doctoral thesis examines the fertility, maternity, and childlessness of the ten Valois dauphines from 1350-1559. She is particularly interested in how the dauphines may have sought to enhance their fertility through the use of magical-medicinal and religious remedies. Alexandra holds a Master of Arts and BA (Hons) in History, both with First Class Honours. 

Alexandra is currently working as an Editorial Advisor for the Powers 1100-1550 section of Routledge Resources Online: Medieval Studies and has two forthcoming encyclopaedic entries on this platform, namely, Margaret of Scotland (1424-1445); Salic Law and French Royal Succession.

Alexandra’s recommended readings:

Translated primary source: The Trotula: An English Translation of the Medieval Compendium of Women’s Medicine. Translated and edited by Monica H. Green. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002. Book on the Conditions of Women was discussed. 

Susan Broomhall. The Identities of Catherine de' Medici. Leiden: Brill, 2021. 

Jennifer Evans. Aphrodisiacs, Fertility, and Medicine in Early Modern England. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2014.  

Kristen L. Geaman. Anne of Bohemia. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2022. 

Kristen L. Geaman, "Anne of Bohemia and Her Struggle to Conceive, Social History of Medicine." Social History of Medicine 29, 2 (2016): 224-244.  

Daphna Oren-Magidor. Infertility in Early Modern England. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 

Regina Toepfer. Infertility in Medieval and Early Modern Europe Premodern Views on Childlessness. Translated by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.