Jo Ann Mc Namara and Suzanne Wemple have argued that aristocratic women in the twelfth century were ‘confined to the role of the housekeeper’. Despite there being elements of truth to this statement, it can also be argued that this statement does not represent all of the aristocratic women of the twelfth century. It is correct to argue that there were limitations on a woman’s power during this period. However, there were women who were able to work round these limitations. This essay will look at the extent of truth in Mc Namara and Wemple’s statement.
In the book ‘Aristocratic Women in Medieval France’, Theodore Evergates writes that Jo Ann McNamara and Suzanne Wemple ‘concluded that before the twelfth century there were “no really effective
…show more content…
This is clear as men were influenced by ideas of scholars such as Aristotle who said: ‘the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the one rules and the other ruled’ and he believed that women should be ‘confined to the role of the wife’. The twelfth century was a period when Aristotle’s works were rediscovered due to the use of translation and his ideas became very influential in medieval Europe. He believed the idea that women should be ‘confined to the role of the wife’ which meant that their main purpose on earth was to please men by bearing them preferably a male heir and taking care of the children. This idea proved to have very negative impacts for some aristocratic women as according to Geoges Duby , women were either forced into live the rest of their life in a convent or sold off to marry into another family. Additionally, aristocratic women were becoming increasingly excluded from public life. Many men of this time believed that women’s virtue had to be protected from other men. This led to women being forced to reside in the inner chambers of castles, out of sight of other men. This over sexualisation of women reiterates the idea that men believed that women were created to please their sexual desire.3 It is clear from this that women were treated as property and were unable to decide the outcome of their own life and their main purpose was to serve men. Therefore, it can be argued that the statement that women of the twelfth century were ‘confined to the household’ is representative of aristocratic women of this
During the early modern period, despite Queen Elizabeth’s powerful rule in the mid-sixteenth century, women in England had very few social, economic, and legal rights. According to the British system of coverture, a married man and wife became one person under the law, thus, “all the legal rights and responsibilities a woman had when she was single transferred to her husband upon marriage” (McBride-Stetson 189). Additionally, once married, the entirety of a woman’s property and wages came under the husband’s control; thus, in essence, women became the responsibility and property of their husbands (McBride-Stetson 189). Shakespeare, through his writings, illustrates the early modern period’s obsession with maintaining the legal subordination of women through marriage. Shakespeare’s leading lady in The Taming of the Shrew severely contrasts her obedient and demure sister and, in doing so, transcends the gender roles appropriated to her and, thus, must be tamed. In contrast, Much Ado About Nothing’s Hero plays the role of the ideal early modern woman until the nature of her chastity comes into question. Despite the fundamental differences between the characters of these two women, the financial and object-based language used to describe women as well as the institution of marriage in The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing demonstrate the early modern period’s view of women as pieces of property.
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.
Adding to her discussion of the field’s origins, she begins this section with the conception of European ideals of women and their roles through the Bible and philosophers like, Augustine. She then discusses the Renaissance phenomenon of la querrelle des femmes when Boccaccio in 1380 reopened discussions of women’s virile spirits in frail bodies making them like men as highest compliment in De mulieribus Claris, and its follow up by Christine de Pizan. (20) These laws and many writers involved in this querelle show an early interest in trying to understand women in a society formed around religions based on male privileges, which she notes stemming from the dual stories of Creation in the Bible and church men like Tertullian. (15-16) Economically, women’s bodies most often occupy domestic based work roles, but, Wiesner argues their access to capital and consumption offers more interesting and bountiful historical
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” With that first line I am captured, thrown back into a world two hundred years old. The scene around me melts into a Regency-style ball room, elegant young ladies in long, ornate gowns waltzing on the arms of dashing gentlemen, sleek black chaises pulling up the cobblestone drive, portly musicians puffing at their instruments in the corner. And I am in the middle of it all, experiencing the lives of my ancestors with the turn of each page. This is my guilty pleasure, the Regency. However, the only way I have been able to learn about this grand era has been through novels and the internet- mediums that, while very depictive and revelatory, cannot provide me with all the information I seek. I want to know about more than just the dances and the social lives of the early nineteenth century aristocracy. I want to know about the lives and cultures of all the people: the peasants, the workers, the farmers, the merchants, the gentry, and the royalty. What did they eat? What were their laws, written and unwritten? How many were religious? What did they learn in school? How did they spend their money? What were their political views? There is only one way I could possibly learn all of this and more- by being taught, in a class.
Even now in the 21st century, the historical and political narrative of early modern Europe is still largely defined by generations of famous men who ‘held sway over the kingdoms,’ women during these times were dominated by men. Their roles in society were generally domestic responsibilities, such as caring for children, food preparation and cleaning. However, there were some women who were able to gain and exercise power, and provided a challenge to the stereotypical image of medieval women as being the oppressed and inferior gender. Therefore, the ability of Early Modern European women to gain and practice power ultimately depends
The achievement of gender equality is one of the most important movements for advancement of society. In the High Middle Ages, however, it was even more challenging to bring such sensitive debate. Christine de Pizan, a highly educated and religious woman, chose an unusual pathway for a woman in her era that she became a writer to support her family. Christine’s work, “The Treasure of the City of Ladies,” could be seen as feminist because she offered a broad view of how an ideal artisan’s wife should be.
19th-Century Women Works Cited Missing Women in the nineteenth century, for the most part, had to follow the common role presented to them by society. This role can be summed up by what historians call the “cult of domesticity”. The McGuffey Readers does a successful job at illustrating the women’s role in society. Women that took part in the overland trail, as described in “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey” had to try to follow these roles while facing many challenges that made it very difficult to do so. One of the most common expectations for women is that they are responsible for doing the chore of cleaning, whether it is cleaning the house, doing the laundry.
In the late Medieval and Renaissance time period, women had a strict standard to live up to. They should love their husbands, respect them, and obey their commands. The men in return fulfilled the women’s needs by supplying them with whatever they needed. The men and women lived with a mutual respect between themselves.
Cavallo, Sandra, and Lyndan Warner. Widowhood in medieval and early modern Europe. Harlow, Essex, UK: Longman, 1999.
The dominance towards men is remarkably unbelievable and how much women were forced to work verses the man. The research results that I have found shocked me and made me realize just how hard the women in the medieval times had it. Life of the medieval woman was not a comfortable place and was dictated by the church doctrine. In the churches eyes there were two types of ideas on women.
Sim, Alison. The Tudor Housewife. pp 3, 126. Wiesner, Merry E. “Women’s Defense of Their Public Role.” Women in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. pp 1-27.
During the 1800s, society believed there to be a defined difference in character among men and women. Women were viewed simply as passive wives and mothers, while men were viewed as individuals with many different roles and opportunities. For women, education was not expected past a certain point, and those who pushed the limits were looked down on for their ambition. Marriage was an absolute necessity, and a career that surpassed any duties as housewife was practically unheard of. Jane Austen, a female author of the time, lived and wrote within this particular period. Many of her novels centered around women, such as Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice, who were able to live independent lives while bravely defying the rules of society. The roles expected of women in the nineteenth century can be portrayed clearly by Jane Austen's female characters of Pride and Prejudice.
The autonomy or personal freedom of women wasn’t viewed as important in the Regency period, resulting in limited opportunities and choices for them. The expectations of females were that they would live with
In fulfilling this opinion of Alexander Pope, research is studied to define the women of his time. Women of the Eighteenth Century had standards to live by that developed an environment of constraint and manipulation. The severity of a woman’s behavior around the Eighteenth Century is expressed in many conduct manuals of this era; the purpose of a manual is to teach a woman how to follow methods in order to be the desire of a man (Jones 14). The frivolous qualities that females seemed to exude so easily were learned through lessons such as the conduct manuals but a...
To place this assumption into retrospect, in Shakespeare time, from the 1558 to the 1600s, England society was ruled by Queen Elizabeth. Although a women took ownership of the country, in Elizabethan’s society married women and minor girls were entirely in the power of their husband and guardianship of their father. None the less, even after Elizabeth I took the throne, she was expected to wed and “have her rights to rule limited or completely take up by her husband” (Wagner, 21). Women living in a society built upon Renaissance beliefs were only m...