The Ascent of Woman: Power

SYNOPSIS

Dr Amanda Foreman turns her attention to the history-making women who held direct power, emerging from outside of the traditionally male-dominated dynasties, religions and intellectual movements to shape the face of the world as it is today. Among the female pioneers highlighted are 5th century Byzantine co-regent Empress Theodora, who transformed from prostitute and street-performer to ruler, the visionary 12th-century German preacher, Hildegard of Bingen, and Mughal Empress Nur Jahan who, as the charismatic chief consort to the 15th-century emperor Jahangir, is thought to have shaped the visual aesthetic of India that persists to the modern day. She also profiles women who changed the dynamics of their respective cultures, such as Christine Pizan, the pioneering medieval Italian-French writer who championed women's rights, and Roxelana, the former Polish slave who became the legitimate wife of the 15th-century Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and changed the structure of sexual dynamics in the Ottoman Court.

Host: Dr Amanda Foreman