Dr Janina Ramirez: 'An Introduction to the Medieval Period'

by Lucy Smith

On 16th November, PGS was privileged to welcome the academic, BBC presenter, medievalist and cultural historian Dr Janina Ramirez. Having enjoyed Janina’s broadcasting for the greater part of a decade, seeing her speak at the 2017 Hay Festival of Literature was high on my agenda and her talk on Julian of Norwich did not disappoint. Ms Burden and I had the opportunity to speak to Janina afterwards over a book signing, and first broached the subject of a visit to PGS to give a talk.

Ms Smith meets Janina at the Hay Festival of Literature 2017

18 months after our first meeting, Janina arrived at PGS to speak to an audience of around 100 pupils and staff. The brief we had discussed beforehand was “A general introduction to the medieval period aimed at pupils studying English Literature, History, Art and PRS”- a broad remit perhaps, but, as Janina pointed out, the boundaries we now draw between discrete subjects and disciplines in a modern curriculum simply wouldn’t have existed in the medieval world.

Whilst some historical figures are universally recognisable to a contemporary audience….

Janina spoke about a whole cast of medieval characters, including Julian of Norwich, the subject of the 2017 talk at Hay and Janina’s book Julian of Norwich: A Very Brief History (2016). It is easy to see why Julian has captured imaginations for over 600 years. Her late 14 century work Revelations of Divine Love bears the honour of being the first book written by a woman in English, and contains some beautiful and beloved wisdom that is still treasured by many (indeed, as Janina pointed out, it is worth bearing in mind that “All will be well” in today’s turbulent times). Julian’s life too is a subject of much fascination: living at a time of enormous social, religious and political upheaval, against the back drop of the Black Death, and following a serious illness which led to a series of sixteen mystical revelations, Julian elected to become an anchoress in order to meditate on her experiences. She was given the last rites, gave up all worldly possessions and was bricked into the walls of St Julian’s Church in Norwich (from which she took her name), where she spent the remainder of her life- possibly as much as another four decades- contemplating her visions.

…the same cannot always be said about those from the medieval period.

Janina also considered the important discoveries that we can still make today through working in an investigative context with art and artefacts. One example of this was a manuscript over 500 years old that was discovered in 2012 at the National Library of Wales, having been donated some 90 years earlier. In the manuscript there is an image of Henry VII in the foreground, but it is the background, which had gone unnoticed, that makes the image so significant: a weeping boy with his head buried in mourning across a bed, now thought to be the earliest painting of Henry VIII, aged 11 crying at the death of his mother.

Another example from more recent history focused on the Abstract Expressionist drip paintings of Jackson Pollock. Pollock’s body of work has been subject to a vast number of forgeries amounting to a fraud industry worth tens of millions of pounds. Janina highlighted that through the use of modern technology analysing genuine works at a microscopic level experts have been able to establish a common pattern in the drips and splashes as a result of Pollock’s alcoholic shakes, forming an inimitable fingerprint that belongs uniquely the artist.

Janina is the author of three published books- the non-fiction books The Private Lives of the Saints and Julian of Norwich-  A Very Brief History, as well as the children’s mystery fiction book Riddle of the Runes.

Question topics for Janina ranged from life as an academic, her work in the media, and the messages contained in the runes of the Franks Casket. Janina’s passion for the Arts shone through and staff and pupils were all greatly enthused by her talk. We are grateful to Dr Ramirez for giving up her time to come and speak to us and hope to welcome her back to Portsmouth in the near future.

Follow Janina on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrJaninaRamirez

Listen to Janina’s podcast series The Art Detective: https://www.historyhit.com/podcasts/the-art-detective/