12th-century writers

Akka Mahadevi (c.1130–1160) was one of the early female poets of the Kannada literature and a prominent person in the Lingayatism sect of Hinduism in the 12th century. Her 430 extant Vachana poems (a form of spontaneous mystical poems), and the two short writings called Mantrogopya and the Yogangatrividhi are considered her most notable contribution to Kannada literature. She composed fewer poems than other saints of the movement. The term Akka ("elder Sister") is an honorific given to her by great Lingayat saints such as Basavanna, Siddharama and Allamaprabhu and an indication of her high place in the spiritual discussions held at the "Anubhava Mantapa". She is seen as an inspirational woman in Kannada literature and in the history of Karnataka. She considered the god Shiva ('Chenna Mallikarjuna') as her husband, (traditionally understood as the 'madhura bhava' or 'madhurya' form of devotion).

Hildegard of Bingen (German: Hildegard von Bingen; Latin: Hildegardis Bingensis; 1098 – 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, and polymath of the High Middle Ages. She is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, as well as the most recorded in modern history. She has been considered by many in Europe to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.

The poet Ava (c. 1060 – 7 February 1127), also known as Frau Ava, Ava of Göttweig or Ava of Melk, was the first named female writer in any genre in the German language. She is the author of five poems which focused on Christian themes of salvation and the second coming of Christ. Her work on the lives of John the Baptist and Jesus, according to Sarah Westphal-Wihl, "has been praised as the first German epic". She is known for her simple rhyming couplets written in the vernacular, making complex biblical teachings accessible to the people of her time.

Li Qingzhao (Chinese: 李清照; pinyin: Lǐ Qīngzhào; Wade–Giles: Li Ch'ing-chao; 1084 – c. 1155, – c.), pseudonym Householder of Yi'an (易安居士), was a Chinese poet and essayist during the Song dynasty. She is considered one of the greatest poets in Chinese history.

Anna Komnene (Greek: Ἄννα Κομνηνή, Ánna Komnēnḗ; 1 December 1083 – 1150s), commonly Latinized as Anna Comnena, was a Byzantine princess and author of the Alexiad, an account of the reign of her father, the Byzantine emperor, Alexios I Komnenos. The Alexiad is the most important primary source of Byzantine history of the late 11th and early 12th centuries. Although she is best known as the author of the Alexiad, Anna played an important part in the politics of the time and attempted to depose her brother, John II Komnenos, as emperor and seize the throne herself.

Tibors de Sarenom (French Tiburge; c. 1130 – aft. 1198) is the earliest attestable trobairitz, active during the classical period of medieval Occitan literature at the height of the popularity of the troubadours.

Herrad of Landsberg (Latin: Herrada Landsbergensis; c. 1130 – July 25, 1195) was a 12th-century Alsatian nun and abbess of Hohenburg Abbey in the Vosges mountains. She was known as the author of the pictorial encyclopedia Hortus deliciarum (The Garden of Delights).

Maria de Ventadorn (or Ventedorn) (French: Marie de Ventadour) was a patron of troubadour poetry at the end of the 12th century.

Mahsati Ganjavi (Persian: مهستی گنجوی‎), (born c. 1089 in Ganja – died after 1159) was a 12th-century Persian poet. Mahsati (مهستی) is a compound of two Persian words "Mah/Maah" (Moon) and "Sati" (Lady). The word appears in the works of Sanai, Nizami, Attar, Rumi, and Saadi,. As an eminent poet, she was composer of quatrains (ruba'is).

Amīr ash-Shu‘arā’ Abū Abdullāh Muḥammad b. ‘Abd al-Malik Mu‘izzī (also written Mu'ezzi) (born Nishapur 1048/9) was a Persian poet. He ranks as one of the great masters of the Persian panegyric form known as qasideh.