Women In The Bayeux Tapestry

“ The belief that women were inherently inferior in intelligence, strength, and character was so persuasive that for men like Knox, a woman ruler was almost a contradiction in terms” (“Documents for Chapters 5&6”). In the 16th century, women were looked upon as a gender that should stay in the house and work, not have power and rule over a country. Discussing the govern of Queens during the 16th century, such as Mary Tudor, Lady Jane Grey, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I, allowed prejudices to be lessened but never completely be erased. No matter how these four notable ladies came into power, the accomplishments they overcame, achieved and wrote about proved to be great and substantial in making history as it is written today.

Women were also expected to maintain their social positivity and kindness by never speaking or listening to evil about other women. Men hearing these women speak evil would appear to “listen gladly” but ultimately “hold such women in small respect” and “esteem them so lightly as to despise their company” (177.) From the accounts held in The Courtier of women in the Renaissance, it can be said that women were almost considered to be “status symbols” during this time period. Some men aimed to treat women with courtesy and respect but never viewed them as true equals. Women were expected not to make a fuss, not to speak up too loudly, and to act positive and apolitical at every turn, resulting in a stifling lack of agency. As a whole, women were expected to be seen and not heard, ultimately having a scarce role in the era. Even still, misogyny and hatred was ubiquitous in this time period.

Since the Christian religion was a large and prominent force in the everyday life in the average person in the 17th and 18th century, the Bible was a large influence in how the woman was seen in society as it says, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church…” (Ephesians 5:22-23, 33). The Bible is that the woman was ruled by her husband, that she didn’t even have her own head, and cannot think for herself because it was expected by the very faith that she must submit to her husband. The Holy Book also says that the woman was created from the rib of the man, which it is known now as completely preposterous, so it implies that the woman is inferior to man because she was created from man, because heaven forbid that any evidence point towards that it is man that came from a woman.

No matter what a woman did or thought, she was still seen as the lesser of the sexes.

“Most women had little control over the direction their lives took. Once widowed, they had autonomy over considerable financial resources” (Bovey). Women were weak and men had control over their whole lives unless they were widowed. “Women didn’t have political rights, and they didn’t get to choose if they got married or had children. Women didn’t have an education and only if they inherited land they would have the same rights as men” (C N). This was the only case where women had the same rights as men. This rarely occurred because not very many women inherited land, men usually inherited it. Women generally didn’t have an education, so there was little chance for them to be better than men or in a higher power. They were not allowed to know what men did so they were always at A disadvantage. “Women had to obey men but a lot of times they were treated well. Women were treated by their social rank” (Women During the Middle Ages). Not only did men control women, but women were also defined by their social rank. How much money they had determined when they got married, there clothes, there husbands, and where they lived. “Poor women lived in small houses. Wealthy women had servants to do everything for them” (Women in the Middle

What was the predominant image of women and women’s place in medieval society? Actual historical events, such as the scandal and subsequent litigation revolving around Anna Buschler which Steven Ozment detail’s in the Burgermeisters Daughter, suggests something off a compromise between these two literary extremes. It is easy to say that life in the sixteenth century was surely no utopia for women but at least they had some rights.

Throughout Western thought to 1600, women are portrayed as second-class citizens, their roles in society were inferior to those of the dominant groups in society. Women during this time filled traditional roles of caretaking, birthing and manual labor. They were tools used in society in the form of property or as a source for bearing children, preferably boys. Women were compared to other luxurious items such as gold, and horses and often praised for their beauty. Although many texts portray women in these subordinate roles, some were referred by name but often times not. Overall women weren’t given access to many positions or resources in society due to the way they were perceived by those dominant in society.

First and foremost, in the Medieval Times many women did not have very many rights. Women were to abide by the rules given to them, and nothing

These sources supported male claims to superiority over women.” (Stuber 6). What influenced the misogynistic gender roles in the medieval was through earlier literature pieces such as the bible. The Wife of bath was a rebellious character during the medieval times, she broke through the implicit gender roles society had imposed on her at the time. The Wife of Bath’s mindset, preference, and actions were thought to be ahead of its time.

Women withstood a multitude of limitations in the medieval era. Due to the political, social, and religious restrictions women encountered, historians neglected to realize that they demonstrated agency. The female experience is something that has been overlooked until recently. Unfortunately, without the knowledge of how women found ways to exert their power, we are experiencing a deficit of knowledge in this period. Through the close examination of the primary sources: The Gospel of Mary, Dhouda’s Liber Manualis, and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the creative means of female force are displayed.

The gender views of European medieval society were largely built upon the views of Aristotle and others alike that degraded the status of women into a lower form of life, characterizing them as secondary to men. Many successive Christian intellects such as St. Augustine also contributed to establishing the idea of misogyny in the medieval views toward the female sexuality, which helped to create the gender stereotype that severely separated the role of men and women. One possible explanation for which created gender inequality in the society may be attributed to medieval education that regarded the Bible and Aristotle as unquestionable authority, as well as the limited

The Magna Carta expresses that ‘no free man is to be imprisoned’ and repeats the terms ‘free man’ throughout the clauses, yet fails to mention the word ‘femina’ Latin for woman, so we must presume that ‘free man’ also means free woman. However women could not sit in the juries, so they would have bee judged by men, which shoes the documents inbalance of equal rights towards th genders. Further more, the inequality goes further into the geners into the social hirachy of women, we can see that the elite were protected by themagna catrar…… QUOTE, however the document does not gibe us a valuable perception of the ordinary women.

In the late Middle Ages, women were forced under many disabilities. Society viewed women as “physically, intellectually, and morally inferior to men” (Bornstein 1). In the 1300’s when Dante wrote the Divine Comedy women did not play a key role in society outside the home. This was not solely excluding a certain sex because of who they were, but because of how society in history has viewed women. Many believed that women could not do a man’s job or fit to be in charge of a certain group. In the 1300’s, women were to be in charge of the household, take care of the children, make the food for the day, and be a loyal wife to their husbands. Through the 1300’s women had a desire to voice what they could achieve, so they started to speak out their

In the Middle Age literature, women are often presented or meant to come off as an unimportant character; which can also reflect on how the author wants the women character represent. Women are usually shunned, have no say or control in what they do; due to what men desire; like Ophelia and Gertrude did in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. But these female characters that I will discuss are women with power, control, and a voice. Majority of the female character’s appearances are made to represent wickedness, evil, or a seducer who challenges a man belief; and does not symbolize perfect women.

They had no right to own land or voice their opinions. The Prioress and the Wife at Bath are both examples of what women in society were not. The Prioress had no right to own land, yet she still found a loophole to maintain her estates by having the monk manage them. The Wife at Bath is outspoken, a quality that women were not supposed to possess. She spoke her mind out knows how to defend herself well.