Hrotsvitha

Born around 935 and active in Saxony, she lived as a canoness at Gandersheim Abbey, a religious community where women could study and write. Her name also appears in several forms, including Hrotsvit, Hrotswitha, and Roswitha.

She wrote legends, historical poems, and six Latin plays, often reshaping classical dramatic forms for Christian themes. Because of that body of work, she is often described as the earliest known female dramatist in Western literature.

Her writing was rediscovered centuries later and helped secure her place in literary history. Even now, she stands out as a rare and vivid voice from the 10th century.