If you're anything like me two years ago, you likely have never seen this name before, although she is credited as being the first female playwright. 

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Born around 930 CE, she lived as a secular canoness at Gandersheim Abbey. During her lifetime she wrote two epic historical poems, eight legends, and six dramas. Not only is she considered the first female playwright, but also the first female historian, and the first person sine the Fall of Rome to write dramas in the Latin West. 

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In 1501, her works were rediscovered by the German humanist Conrad Celtis, along with the prefaces to her works. In her prefaces, Hrotsvitha tells her audience exactly why she writes, and more specifically, why she writes the way she does. She has seen what the existing literature has to say about women. She has seen how women are depicted in plays, such as those written by her stylistic model, Terence. She has heard it all and she wishes to defend her sex unsing the unique gifts she has been given. With everything she was she sent a mighty shout into the universe, and we are still hearing it echo today. 

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