Margaret Of Navarre And Catherine Parr

Judith Sargent Murray’s On the Equality of the Sexes reveals the struggles women had in the 17th-18th centuries when it came to equal education opportunities. Women were expected to become people of domestication while men had many opportunities to expand their minds and be ambitious, and be leaders. Women were expected to focus on taking care of their family, not to have minds of their own. They wanted change.

An understanding of the educational background of women is necessary in discovering the female oppression of the Renaissance. Education was more than an issue of gender, especially in consideration of the consequences of wealth as well. Yet their oppression stems from their decision in whether or not they should study the liberal arts. Often was the case that women faced social stigmas and societal pressures from family members and learned men of the society for turning away from typically female activities. Lucrezia Marinella writes in her Exhortation, “Therefore, she who devotes her mind to learning – a domain that does

A woman’s alternative would be becoming a nun, giving up all social freedoms and dedicating your life to serving the poor and God. Women who were subject to this life received a much more thorough education than other women, in order to properly learn religious concepts and theory. Otherwise, a woman’s education was limited to basic reading abilities paired with instruction on how to do homely activities. A woman of this time period had utterly no voice in politics. Law was man’s law. The life of these women were controlled by the men who surround them, their opinions meaning little to nothing. The life of a woman in medieval times was bleak and varied little. Romantic literature was on the rise, full of damsels in distress that only further perpetuated negative stereotypes of women during these times. These romances were full of helpless women in situations only a man could get them out of, or else they would be doomed. Despite this cultural oppression of women in this time period, some strong female characters were erected in medieval romances. A perfect example of an abnormally strong and independent female main character would be Enide from Erec and Enide written by Chrétien de

Women during this time had many restrictions in terms of not being able to vote, gain education and receive inheritance money. Regardless of their social position, they were never allowed to vote. The majority of women never attended school unless their family was considerably wealthy. Reading, writing, dance and skills like needlework were taught through husbands or parish priests. Many women however, remained illiterate. Women could neither inherit their father’s titles. All titles were passed from father to son or brother to brother.

Focusing on the lives of women, they were not allowed such freedoms like we have in modern times. Education is something that these women were not granted a lot of access to. This is pointed out in the very beginning of the novel. One of the characters mentions, “You cannot read, Anna.” (Brooks, 1). Women were expected to be housewives, they would not need that much education to do that. It seems, though, that women in the book were able to learn a lot through experiences. They had no need of a proper education to be able to survive day to day. Going off the information I have learned and the information presented in this book, I believe that the author was able to properly portray the life of women in the seventeenth century.

In the Middle Ages from 476 CE- 14th century almost all of the power of women was determined by biblical references. The average woman in a rural area had the duty of making clothes from wool, cleaning, cooking, and taking care of children. The women in town often were tasked in purchasing and trading goods and the normal housekeeping. In extreme cases women were known as witches. Other women became nuns and got involved in spiritual matters. In the year 1000 traditional marriage that involved getting married for financial reasons became less common. Although the parents still assisted in choosing the spouse it was becoming freer to choose who to marry. The woman was essentially owned by a male guardian almost like a child. However, if a rich widowed woman decided she did not want or have another guardian available, she was able to have her own name. During the Middle Ages many rich women were able to participate in things such as art, music or writing. It was rare for a woman not that well off to be able to purchase the tools or have the education to do art, music, or writing. All the rules developed depended on how

The education women received during the romantic era was very different to today. Professor of English at the Arizona State University and author of six books on literature by women, Devoney Looser, explains how women during this time received very little schooling, were taught different materials than men, and were taught in schools that were specifically for their gender (Looser 1). In these schools, they were not taught politics, economics, or classical studies as those topics were specifically for men; instead they would learn art, music, and sewing. Upper-class women and middle-class women were taught how to be proper wives and mothers by learning how to do domestic tasks, such as sewing and needlework (Looser 1). Women who were not

Although, this technically would not be possible, as men believed a woman’s education inferior and would not have the chance.. Women were limited to being a wife, mother, peasant, or a nun. With only a couple of options women were further considered a tool, and thus, unable to record events, let alone write. The amount of women who would even have the chance to learn to read, would have been rendered drastically, due to 90% of women in Medieval Europe lived in rural areas, and for that reason would be participating in farm work. The 10% who did live in towns, wouldn't technically be have knowledge on reading or writing.

     In this paper I will discuss the popular views concerning women’s nature and status in society and how this affected their education. I will mention what women learned and how; what kinds of institutions were accessible to what types of women. Men’s education will be briefly mentioned in places. My main concern though, is not education in general. Through this paper I shall attempt to explain how Catholicism made it easier for women to acquire an education, but at the same time present the restrictions it imposed upon them.

Girls received less education than boys during the renaissance .Some girls did become well educated in the classics, and some also became apprentices. Many more were educated mainly in practical matters at home. The object of education In the Renaissance was religious schooling and schooling in the high culture (classic). Regarding the content of education, to religion and the classic of the Renaissance, the reformation added the vernacular (mother tongue).

This will simultaneously aid in gaining perspective regarding the norms women were expected to abide by in relation to the position that women in these texts hold. To begin with, throughout time, women have generally been viewed as the inferior gender. According to Mavis E. Mate, author of Women in Medieval English Society, “Women, of all social classes, were depicted not only as weaker physically, but weaker rationally and morally… On the other hand, the material well being of women was clearly determined by their social class” (Mate 2). This quote supports not only the fact that women were seen as less than men, but also that the class systems played a determining factor in the lifestyle and opportunities they were exposed to.

A Spaniard named Juan Luis Vivès published The Teaching of the various kinds of Knowledge (De tradendis disciplinis) in 1523. Vivès encouraged teaching in the vernacular, but only if the tutors know the language marvelously well “For unless he makes use of the right and proper expressions in the mother-tongue, he will certainly mislead the boys, and the error thus imbibed will accompany them persistently as they grow up, and as men” (Elyot xxvi). The Teaching of the various kinds of Knowledge differed from The Book Named the Governour in that it was primarily for those who would become lawyers, soldiers, clergymen, and statesmen. While these professions are primarily held by men, Vivès wasn’t opposed to women learning. He just believed women should be limited to domestic skills and management, music, and subjects which promote piety, chastity, and obedience instead of learning history, grammar, and logic; while this applied mostly to aristocratic women, women on the lower end of society could still read and write both Latin and Greek and knew of classic authors and culture (“The “Education” of a Prince

History remembers King Henry VIII and his many wives. Very few remember his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. She was known as being quite beautiful and a great queen. Despite how poorly treated she was Catherine remained strong. The beloved Catherine of Aragon was the most remarkable queen due to the way she led her kingdom.

Another aspect of the Middle Ages worth raising were the roles of men and women. Women had little-to-no purpose in the Middle Ages except for taking care of the children and doing field work. They weren’t allowed to leave the house, even for aristocratic women, and they had to follow their husbands wholeheartedly or else they would be beaten, or worse,

There were virtually no girls taught in early medieval England. If taught anything at all, the girls would nearly always be sent to a nunnery. There were a few exceptions of a girl being put in a legitimate school, but the parents would have needed to be extremely wealthy and powerful. On top of that, the girl would still only be taught a few select courses (Havlidis, 2015). More often than not, if a family was wealthy enough to have schooling for their daughter they would just hire a personal tutor or pass on their own education to her (Trueman, 2015). Private schools, as in a school at someone’s home ran by that home-owner, would allow girls in more and more, especially near the end of the middle-ages when women’s education was starting to become more and more accepted (Havlidis, 2015).