Women were not treated as equal to men in the middle ages, and were limited in many ways. This lecture will consider the evidence of the Welsh laws and the status of roles of women in medieval Wales. While women had few rights, the lecture will consider what women could do, and how the laws reveal much about Welsh society then, in particular the treatment of women who broke the rules in terms of secret relationships.

Speaker: Dr Sara Elin Roberts – Council Member and Editor of the Transactions

Sara Elin Roberts is a historian specialising in the law, literature and culture of Wales and the March from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. She has is one of the editors of the work of Dafydd ap Gwilym. She has published widely on various aspects of medieval history and literature, including her monograph The Legal Triads of Medieval Wales. Her latest book, The Growth of Law in Medieval Wales will be published by Boydell in June.

Dr Stephen Roberts, Member of Council in the chair