A Woman to Know profiles once-forgotten women from history. To support this work, become a paid subscriber — so many of you already do that! Thank you.

I’ve been laid up for two-plus weeks now with a debilitating lung infection — and while it’s never fun being sick, as a self-employed person it can be especially stressful. I’m about a year into freelancing, and this bout of illness was my first time feeling the pain of my own “sick day” system (which, let’s be honest, was more of a “suck it up and tough it out” system).

But now, I’m safely able to walk outside without a mask and — more importantly — sleep more than an hour without coughing so hard I lose my voice. Don’t take an easy breath for granted! I won’t be.

And I don’t take any of you paid subscribers for granted, either! Your support means a lot as I continue to research and create this newsletter. Thank you.

In the 12th century, the Mediterranean island of Sardinia was divided into four areas controlled by different “judges,” or law-making kings. When a rival family assassinated her brother, the ruling judge of Arborea, Eleanor — then a married woman in her 30s with two young sons — proclaimed herself his successor. 

Now with the power of a judicessa, or female judge, Eleanor could finally revise the Carta de Logu, her land’s ages-old legal code. She envisioned a more egalitarian Arborea, one that liberated serfs and gave daughters and sons equal right to inheritance.

Historians agree this Middle Ages-era document was quite remarkable for its time: in it, Eleanor declares sexual assault a crime to be levied with the strictest of punishments; women were allowed to own property; and people of different classes would be tried the same in court. 

She is perhaps the first ruler to legislate protections for bird species and other animals. She outlawed interfering with wild falcon nests and punished poachers and out-of-season hunters; in the 19th century, ornithologists named a species of falcon in her honor. 

Eleanor ruled for 20 years, eventually uniting Sardinia under Arborean rule. But in 1404, the plague devastated Sardinia, and Eleanor herself died of the dreaded disease. Her Carta de Logu remained the law of the land for another four hundred years.  

More on 🪶: 

• The wonder women of ornithology, BBC Wildlife 

• Eleanor of Arborea, Women in Law

• Eleanor of Arborea Lives Again, The Impression

• Eleonora’s Gift, Natural History Museum  

• The Lady Judge’s Bird, The Wild Episode

More from me: 

• I’m a big Karen Russell fan but her latest novel challenged me! I’m glad I stuck with it and made it to the end because there’s a lot of aesthetic to absorb: a Dust Bowl world of prairie witches and traveling WPA photographers and enchanted scarecrows. I promise, a helluva lot comes together in those last 200 pages.

• I’m so excited to be writing for The Malin Journal, the new publication from the gorgeous coworking space. I spent a day working at the SoHo space and it was magic. 

• I’m back hosting Your Money Briefing at The Wall Street Journal for the next two weeks. Tune in here to listen to our episodes on recession fears, tariff concerns and more.