Women's Agency And Mobility In The Medieval And Early Modern Period

Women in the mid-1600s to mid-1700s underwent pivotal changes. While these changes would alter their roles in the colonies, certain aspects of their responsibilities remained the same.

“ 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.

All over the world, societal roles of women are different. This has not changed despite centuries of time passing. Roman and medieval women, though parts of different cultures and separated by distance, were very similar.

A woman in medieval times was not considered a person, but property. A woman would be forced to wear layers of drab clothing, the style determining their social class ranking. A woman of wealth would wear decadent gowns and women in poverty would wear plain spun dresses. Their goal in life was to find a husband, to give in to his whims and be the epitome of submission. Sometimes, peasant girls would be forced to take up a trade prior to marriage. After the marriage, she was forced to give up this trade, the skill she possessed, and either maintain the lifestyle as a housewife, or help her husband with his trade. In regards to whom a woman married, there was little to no choice in the matter. Often, girls were married to strange men, men they

Throughout the three literary periods: The Ancient World, The Middle Ages, and The Renaissance; women have been portrayed and treated in different ways. The Iliad by Homer is about the Trojan War fought by the Achaeans and Trojans which was over the capturing of the wife of King Menelaus, Helen of Troy, by Paris. In The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, it is about a group of 29 people who are all on a pilgrimage to Canterbury to worship St. Thomas’s shrine; however, as Chaucer describes all these types of people not many of them are very religious and the stories they tell show the perspective and portrayal of women in this time. In Francis Petrarch’s poetry Rhymes, he describes his love and admiration for a woman who doesn’t love him back, yet Petrarch still confesses his love for her through his poetry. Through these stories and poems, The Iliad, The Canterbury Tales, and Rhymes, from the three time periods, the role of women is a progression of how they were looked at and their role in that time period, by men.

This investigation strives to compare and contrast of the role of women during the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. The inquiry is significant because in order to understand the culture and ethics of the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages it is crucial to understand the importance of women. The issues that will be addressed include: the role of women in the Roman Empire, the role of women in the Middle Ages, and the similarities as well as the differences of the two major time periods. This investigation will focus on the time period of 27 BC to 1485 BC and the places investigated will include Europe, more specifically Rome. This will be accomplished through a detailed examination of the role of women in the

While Europeans in the Elizabethan Era were over the top and elaborate in many ways, marriage was not one of them. Regarded as a rite of passage, marriage lacked the festivities and passion to make it any more than what it was: a social requirement. From the extensive marriage contract process to the obvious pressure from their parents, youth hardly considered marriage lightly. After all, choosing the wrong spouse, or even choosing to not marry at all, could negatively impact one’s future severely. For the majority of the population, marriage was an expectation for means of improvement, not for love. Forget finding oneself infatuated with someone then marrying them or feeling like a goddess on your wedding day, because marriage was common, anticipated and carried out by reasons of sensibility. Even a bride’s wedding dress was chosen for practicality and eventually turned into part of her everyday wardrobe.

During medieval period visions played significant role in Christian women live, because many women inspired by their visions in different aspects of life. Through the visions, some women saw Crist, Virgin Marry, saints, and angels by them women were instructed on a various matter including religious matter. In the mystic literatures these women sacrificed their lives name of God as well as Jesus. Each woman motivated through their visions, as they dedicated their lives to God in a variety of ways. They devoted their lives to charitable causes such as helped needy like it was their duty. Women confessions their sin to God for forgiveness through praying with tears, meditating, and providing services to religious works. They

Marie de France lived in a time when social graces were paramount to a good reputation, lordships and to securing good marriages. A woman was considered less valuable if she lost her virginity; a wife was subjected to her feudal lord, father, brother or son after her husband’s death. According to Angela Sandison’s article “The Role of Women in the Middle Ages”, this was because in the Middle Ages the Church and the aristocracy controlled public opinion and the legal system. These authorities of the times believed a woman’s place was in a submissive role to a man. In The Lay of the Nightingale, we will see how this social and religious hierarchy will impact the behaviors of the three people involved.

During the Medieval time period that Canterbury Tales was written in, there was a general depiction of women that they weren’t even looked at as humans, but looked at as objects. Women were thought of as weak, untrustworthy, and even less intelligent beings than men. Chaucer did not necessarily agree with the general consensus of women during the time period. Now there are tales that go along with the general impression of women, but there are also signs that Chaucer looked at women for what they really are and he might have saw them as equal beings. Chaucer was a great mind and that mind was far past his time, as he went against the tide when he wrote and he was not afraid to write whatever came to his head. Canterbury tales can show us what women had to go through in medieval times, and through Chaucer’s tales we can see what he thought of how women were were perceived and treated.

The Renaissance was a large resurgence and what one could consider ‘reboot’ of culture. During the Renaissance, the amount of art and culture flourished. At the center of it all, was Florence. To some, Florence was the birthplace for the Renaissance. Flourishing markets, painters, architects, poets, and especially humanists, began their origins in the city and around it. As with most places and time periods in history, the Renaissance was full of economic discrepancies that caused the creation of class and the difference in political power. Or in other words: Those with the most money had the most power. To follow suit with most of history, women had

During the High Middle Ages, the population of Europe increased greatly which allowed trade to prosper and the Medieval Period climate to change. The political structure where knights and lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rent from lands and manors, were two of the ways society was organized in the High Middle Ages. Men during this time was seen as this prestige figure versus women, they are seen less. Women were taught to be a “good wife” to their husbands by cleaning, cooking home food, and taking care of the children. Once a woman is married, they would have restrictions on what to do and what they are expected to do in the house which is usually cooking and cleaning. Women, even those in privileged lifestyle, had little control over the route of their lives. Women in general, had arranged marriage by their families and this also goes for the husbands. Depending on the woman’s status, they had different responsibilities when it comes to being in the kitchen. Medieval women played an active role in this society. The three major groups of women that contributed a lot to the society are Royal/Noblewomen, Religious women (Nuns), and Peasants/Serfs women.

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.

Why were medieval women looked at with disdain, and why was their freedom restrained? This is a question perplexing many historians. What is known of Medieval women of the Middle Ages is very nebulous and self-contradictory. The traditional view for a long period of time was that women were very much reliant on men and rather helpless without the male-dominated political, clerical, and economic aspects of society. Women also seemed to be seductive creatures that did not have self-control, unlike men. However, these ideas proved to be biased, since most of the records kept at the time were written by men; therefore, not many women were able to share their point of view, since many of them were uneducated or did not have the opportunity to share their beliefs, especially because of the male-dominant society. As a result, society at this time, especially in Europe, was a misogynistic, anti-feminist community. During the middle ages, many works were written by men that evidently portrayed their anti-feminist perspectives; additionally, women in this society possessed virtually no independence and consequently were at the mercy of their husbands or male counterparts, as depicted in medieval works such as Sir Gawain and the Great Knight, “The Story of Sheikh Sam’an,” and The Canterbury Tales.

Women from the medieval times had clear roles. The women had strict rules to follow by. When it came to marriage, the wives had to submit to their husbands and follow their lead. Women were supposed to be cleaning, stay at home with the kids, cook, make clothes, etc. The women who steered away from these “typical” roles, made very interesting characters. The majority of gender expectations came from the church and biblical history. Since Eve was the cause for the fall of man, there were a lot of anti-feminist feelings. Women were held accountable for the majority of man’s suffering, and were consequently inferior and to be dominated by men. Purity, holiness, and chastity, were all presumptions of women from outstanding role models like the Virgin Mary.