In today’s society, marriage and family life are considered the center of our societal make-up. Everything that we do in life is affected by our familial relationships. That being true, is it any surprise that the same could be said of the families of the Middle Ages? In fact, in a way marriage and family life was even more important then. A person’s family affected every instance of an individual’s life. Coming from a good family, with a reputable reputation for breeding, greatly improved a woman’s chances of a good marriage. For men, choosing a wife from a good family meant making proper legal ties which would perpetuate the fortunes of, and in certain instances improve, his line. However, as important as marriage was to life in the Middle Ages, very little documentation has been discovered from which we can learn about this important institution. What records are available come through the filter of those with a particular view of how things should have been, not necessarily how they actually were.
While tracing the actual history of marriage is complicated; tracing the history of the married lives of women through their own perspective in nearly impossible. The information there is on the lives of women come through the filter of men, particularly members of local clergy and the aristocracy. In this paper I have teased out some of the available information on marriage and family life from the medieval woman’s perspective. As I have mentioned previously, the center of life in the Middle Ages was one’s marriage and family. This was especially true for women. From birth, a young woman’s sole use to her father was contained in her potential as a breed-able wife. For this reason, a young woman’s prized virtue was her virginity, whi...
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This book offers up an easy to follow explanation of women's lives in the Middle Ages including information on the different social levels and their lives at home.
Houts, Elisabeth M. C.. Medieval memories: men, women and the past, 700-1300. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001.
Jewell, Helen M.. Women in medieval England. Manchester: Manchester University Press ;, 1996.
Lucas, Angela M.. Women in the Middle Ages: religion, marriage, and letters. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983.
This book goes into detail about life as a wife during the Middle Ages- Not specific to Italy, let alone Venice.
Power, Eileen, and M. M. Postan. Medieval women. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
Offers a quick overview of the mindset toward women in the Middle Ages.
Skinner, Patricia. Women in Medieval Italian society 500-1200. Harlow, England: Pearson Education, 2001.
The work begins with Section I, ‘The Background’ which consists of a general overview in medieval women’s social and religious history. The first section delineates the basic societal framework for Western European women in the High Middle Ages and outlines the cultural forces at work in shaping their lives. The second part of this section reviews the changes in religious consciousness concerning sacramental practices and fasting, from the Church Fathers to the late medieval hagiographers. It should be noted here that although more careful attention is given to the practice of ‘fasting,’ especially in the latter portion of the work which I will be examining in more detail, the ‘feasting’ in question more generally denotes the ‘love feast’ of the Eucharist than the fe...
Thiebaux, Marcelle. The Writings of Medieval Women: An Anthology. New York: Garland Publishing. 1994. Print.
One of the aspects of the Middle Ages which is explored by numerous scholars today is that of the antifeminist stereotypes which pervaded literature and cultural mores during the period. In an era governed by men, the fact that women were treated as inferior is unsurprising; archetypal visions of femininity fit neatly into medieval history. However, most people would like to believe that such pigeonholing has been left in the past, allowing for more liberated times in which women are portrayed realistically and as the equals of men.
Bloch, R. Howard. Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1991.
Lambert, Tim. “EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.” localhistories.org. 2008. Web. 26 March 2011. .
The woman of the Middle Ages tended to be pawns of men in religion, politics and economics (Gies). "Although a woman could
(1)Life in the Middle Ages: Appearance vs. Reality. English Department: St. John’s College High School. stjohns-chs.org.
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is written in an entertaining and adventurous spirit, but serves a higher purpose by illustrating the century’s view of courtly love. Hundreds, if not thousands, of other pieces of literature written in the same century prevail to commemorate the coupling of breathtaking princesses with lionhearted knights after going through unimaginable adventures, but only a slight few examine the viability of such courtly love and the related dilemmas that always succeed. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that women desire most their husband’s love, Overall, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” shows that the meaning of true love does not stay consistent, whether between singular or separate communities and remains timeless as the depictions of love from this 14th century tale still hold true today.
Bott, Robin. "The Wife of Bath and the Revelour: Power Struggles and Failure in a Marriage of Peers." Medieval Perspectives 6 (1991): 154-161.
During the Middle Ages and Renaissance period marriage and love were idealized, divine and celebrated. Weddings were large events that included the entire families of both the groom and the bride. Reality was different; women were viewed as being fickle, inferior to men and a possession of men. Women had very little, if any, choice in who they would marry. Marriages were arranged so that both families would benefit in gaining wealth or power. Even though the ruler of England for over 4 decades was female, women were still not respected. Women were kept at home and not allowed to take place in public events. In Shakespeare’s Richard III, male and female relationships are displayed as deeply cynical and are based on lies, lust and political gain.
Shawna Herzog, History 101-1, Class Lecture: 11.2 Society in the Middle Ages, 27 March 2014.
To solidify his thesis, the author explains how life was like during these times, how major events developed and how important roles took their place in history during the medieval age.
Michael Pierre, Martha Prosper. The Human Story: Europe in the Middle Ages. New Jersey: Silver Burdett Press Inc., 1988.
The first source, Christine de Pizan’s book ‘The Treasure of The City of Ladies’ contains a handful of sections on how differing demographics of women, elderly, young, property owning, should behave in order to cultivate a virtuous character and play the role of mediator between conflicting parties. It should be mentioned that this is definitely a prescriptive source, not an accurate portrayal of what was actually happening at the time, simply an ideal of what the author wanted to be happening and potentially observed. The document addresses women of middle and lower class in how they should be forging relations with both other women and men as a demographic. It has been contended that medieval shared “striking” similarities in experiences with class despite other cultural differences. Christine herself was a famous intellectual in the 13th c...
“Love and Marriage.” Life in Elizabethan England. Elizabethan.org, 25 March 2008. Web. 3 March 2014.