In The History of The Franks and The Lais, both Gregory and Marie de France focus a lot on the stories that are related to women. Also, according to them women’s status in the 12th centuries seems to elevate compared with the previous centuries. On one hand, women tend to have power, either regarding to economic or family, in their hands. Women in The History of The Franks own their own control over economic power in the family, and they can even become an inheritor or a superviosr on the behalves of their husbands. In Le Fresne, the rich men’s wife decideds everyting by herself without even telling her husband-- to abandon one of her twin daughters and to arrange her daughter’s marriage. On the other hand, they are free to love, which means …show more content…
As Gregory states that, “the Lady Brunhild is recognized to have inherited the cities of Bordeaux…, that is as a morninggift”( The History of The Franks IX: p.505). The Lady Brunhild is given a thing called morninggift and according to the same book a morninggift can be referred to as various forms of property, for example, male servants, cities, lands and tax revenue. At the same time, it is acknowledged by the King in the Treaty that Brunhild owns the absolute right to these properties-- she can manipulate them according to her own will. Meanwhile, Brunhild is also legal to inherit the properties of her husband once her husband dies. Therefore, women in that time period start to gain economic power, and this economic power indicates that these women’s position at home becomes increasingly significant. A similar example that exemplify women’s economic power it that Duke Amalo’s wife is sent away “to one of his other estates to look after his(husband’s) affairs.”( The History of The Franks IX: p.513) The lady is given the right to take charge over part of husband’s territories here, and she is like a helper of her husband. However, before that time period, women seldom have the right on their own, not to say intervening in family affairs. Nevertheless, Gregory brought in with these example to show that women begin to possess the right of property and the management of the home, …show more content…
When King Sigibert find that almost all his brothers’ wives are from lower social classes and cannot match them perfectly, he decides to “ask for the hand of Brunhild” because she is a princess and is “elgant in all that she did… chaste and decorous in her behaviour”( The History of The Franks IV: p.221) Undoubtly, King Sigibert expresses his understanding of marriage, which is a man should take a wife who can match him. In other words, he thinks that it is necessary to take the family backgrounds into account since people from higher social status seem to behave themselves more decently. It is true that Sigibert tends to care about this aspect, but in the whole book the more commom examples provided by Gregory are that poor women marry to the aristocrats, for instance, Marcovef, Merofled and Theudechild all get married to the King etc. The numerous examples at least demonstrates that this phenomenon is becoming prevelant in those days. And the prevalence of flexible marriage policy gives women, especially those with a humble beginning, a chance to love and marry with
During this time period women were not respected at all and were belittled by all med in their lives. Even though men don’t appreciate what women they still did as they were told. In particular, “Women have an astoundingly long list of responsibilities and duties – th...
Naivety as well as the longing to fit into society with a loving man and stable, well-to-do peasant family deceived an honorable woman. Bertrande de Rols’ young marriage had difficulties from the start. With the guidance from family, the Catholic Church and Basque customs, Bertrande attempted to follow the sixteenth-century expectations for women, but was misled by her own fear, loneliness and catastrophic past.
Throughout history, especially in the fifteenth century, it was extremely rare for a woman to choose her husband. The majority of marriages were planned by the head of the household, which was usually the father of the bride or groom. The purposes of these marriages were to gain power and social standings. This in turn also provided the chance for the heirs of the marriages to have possession of power, territory/land, and a set social standard for the family for all future heirs. This was more of a benefit for the men than the women, for the men could own territories and be the head of the household, women could not. Instead, a woman’s obligation was to fulfill their family’s jurisdiction in their future.
Thesis Statement: Men and women were in different social classes, women were expected to be in charge of running the household, the hardships of motherhood. The roles that men and women were expected to live up to would be called oppressive and offensive by today’s standards, but it was a very different world than the one we have become accustomed to in our time. Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the
Women during the medieval period had certain role with their husbands, depending on his social status. The wives were placed into a class according to their husband’s line of work or social status (Time Traveler’s 54). This social status may be favorable, but not all wives were able to make it into the elite social status. Once the woman was committed, and married to her husband, she was totally controlled by her husband. Even though the wife was able to maintain the same social status of the husband, she lost a lot of rights after she married. Women during the medieval period not only lost a lot of their rights, but also became somewhat of a slave to the husband in many ways.
It was also common for richer families to marry off their daughters sooner than poorer families. This was because poorer families needed as much help doing work as they could. Women had no choice in deciding who they got married to, and once married they would be controlled by their husband (Trueman, “Medieval Women”).
In the 14th century women were not allowed to own property. There was no possible way for women to receive property under their name. It would have either gone to her husband or father. Women were not even allowed to inherit property. If a woman’s husband died, the property would go to their son, not her. Even if she has enough money to buy
The movement for female right is one of the important social issue and it is ongoing reaction against the traditional male definition of woman. In most civilizations there was very unequal treatment between women and men with the expectation being that women should simply stay in the house and let the men support them. A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, and Trifles, by Susan Glaspell, are two well-known plays that give rise to discussions over male-female relationships. In both stories, they illustrate the similar perspectives on how men repress women in their marriages; men consider that women should obey them and their respective on their wives is oppressed showing the problems in two marriages that described in two plays. Therefore, in this essay, I will compare two similar but contrast stories; A Doll's House and Trifles, focusing on how they describe the problems in marriage related to women as victims of suppressed right.
Her chief arguing points and evidence relate to the constriction of female sexuality in comparison to male sexuality; women’s economic and political roles; women’s access to power, agency, and land; the cultural roles of women in shaping their society; and, finally, contemporary ideology about women. For her, the change in privacy and public life in the Renaissance escalated the modern division of the sexes, thus firmly making the woman into a beautiful
Women “were expected to bear children, stay home, cook and clean, and take care of the children” (Cobb 29). They were expected to be weak, timid, domestic, emotional, dependent, and pure. Women were taught to be physically and emotionally inferior in addition morally superior to men. During this time, women were ostracized for expressing characteristics and wants that contradicted those ideals. For women, the areas of influence are home and children, whereas men’s sphere includes work and the outside world” (Brannon 161).
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.
In this conclusion to the "marriage debate" Chaucer makes his case against courtly precept and social custom, as well as against the religious ideas expresses in medieval times. The case he makes establishes his own highly civilised and indeed Epicurean idea of "gentillesse" in general and in particular, in marriage.
Women in different societies around the world, during the Middle Ages, experienced different hardships and roles. These hardships and roles helped shape how they were viewed in their society. Some women were treated better and more equal than others. In Rome, Medieval England, and Viking society, women’s legal status, education, marriage and family roles were considered diverse, but also similar. In certain nation’s women have more or less power than women in other nations, but none equal to the power that women have in America today.
“Women could not vote, and they were not considered able to handle their own financial affairs. A women could not borrow money in their own name, and when she married, her finances were placed under the control of her husband” (786).
Many women in this period would engage in “arranged” marriages which were widely accepted and indeed, one of the most practiced forms of marrying at this time. Usually a marriage of convenience rather...