Compiled by E. Quigley and licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0.

Below are charts compiled from data collected on eleven world chronicles, arranged chronologically from Eusebius-Jerome (AD 378) to Bede’s De temporum ratione chronicle (AD 725). For a complete list of the termination dates of these chronicles, see our Data page.

Chart 1: Breakdown of characters in the chronicles by gender

Chart 1 shows that late antique and early medieval Latin chronicles were overwhelmingly male-dominated. Across the datasets, men (M) consistently comprised 80–99% of characters, whereas women (F) accounted for less than 10%. Characters of unknown gender (X) and mixed gender groups (V) were also underrepresented compared to men.

Chart 2: Distribution of female characters in the chronicles

Chart 2 focuses specifically on female characters in the chronicles, showing that there was no clear increase or decrease in representation of women over time. Instead, chronicle style emerges as a key factor. More descriptive chronicles included high numbers of women, while briefer chronicles contained few.

For example, Cassiodorus – essentially a consular list – features only 0.79% women, reflecting both its brevity and its focus on an office held only by men. By contrast, Sulpicius Severus and Fredegar, both more detailed and narrative in style, featured significant more female characters. Sulpicius Severus is among the earliest chronicles analysed, and Fredegar one of the latest, further emphasising the absence of a chronological trend.

For a more detailed discussion of the broader statistical patterns, check out our chapter, ‘Female Voices in Universal History’, in The Oxford Handbook of Universal History Writing.