The real women behind Europe's greatest legends

National icons aren't born, they're engineered, but how were medieval figures such as Joan of Arc and Isabella of Castile transformed into political symbols, their real lives obscured by centuries of mythmaking? In this episode of the History Extra podcast, Yanina Ramirez tells Danny Byrd about some of the women who have been elevated to such pedestals and how these legends are created, recreated, and repurposed for national mythologies. So I suppose what I should ask you is, was there a moment when you knew you had to write this book? I think in a funny way, everything I've written coalesces around three aspects.

Because of course, you know, I remember being brought up learning about, you know, Said and and this idea of the scholar exposing that their identities openly in their work, you know, being very candid, as opposed to trying to be the voice of empirical truth, but instead trying to say, you know, this is where I come at this from. And so right from the beginning of my academic career, I always remember trying to think, right, be courageous, say who you are, and then If the readers want to come along on the journey with you, then at least you're being transparent. So my identity really revolves around the fact that, A, I'm a woman, B, class comes into it, you know, immigrants, lower classes. Then you've got this idea of the fact that I'm Polish Irish, of Polish Irish heritage, growing up in in the UK, born in Dubai, funnily enough.

Weirdly. But married to a Spanish Scot and having a kind of very European sense of myself and my identity and and a very European upbringing. And then this idea as well of being Polish Irish, I I wasn't going to get away without a Catholic upbringing. So listen, what was I to do? There was nothing I could do.

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