In search of the learned women of the past

Before the 19th century anyone who did not have knowledge of Latin was a second class citizen amongst the educated classes. The received opinion is that it was rare for women to write in Latin and that therefore women were marginalised and disempowered. But a new book, "Women Latin Poets", by Professor Jane Stevenson of Aberdeen University claims that far more women read and composed in Latin than has previously been acknowledged. She talks to Martha Kearney about her quest to find the learned women of the past, a search which took her to 12 countries from Cumbria to the Vatican. Dr Helen Morales, lecturer in Classics at Cambridge University, also gives her thoughts on Stevenson's research.