Leoba

Available for over a year

The return of the major series which rediscovers the Anglo-Saxons through vivid portraits of thirty individuals - women as well as men, famous and humble - written and presented by leading historians, archaeologists and enthusiasts in the field. 21.Leoba Barbara Yorke tells the story of Leoba, the 8th century British-born nun who became a pioneering abbess in Germany, filling a role more typically held by men. Leoba is the best-recorded of all the early Ango-Saxon women whose lives were changed and inspired by Christianity, and while she may be largely forgotten in Britain, she is still worshipped as a saint in Catholic areas of Germany today. Barbara Yorke's Essay is a timely reflection on the power of such abbesses, who lived at a time before the church began to deny such power to women. Producer: Beaty Rubens.