Women in Early Medieval Society

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, although there were a few women who were writers, artists, religious leaders and even saints, the vast majority of women during the medieval period, whether they were upper class, merchant class or peasants, were expected to perform domestic functions with their chief duty being reproduction and the care of children. The author stresses that one of the key problems women faced in any situation was simply the belief of their inferiority derived from a strict adherence to religion in which women were overtly blamed for Eve's sin. The paper relates that the restrictions, which kept aristocratic women on their estates and merchant women in their shops, did not apply to peasant women who enjoyed greater freedom of movement; however, peasant women did not have real rights or opportunities to improve their status in any way because they were limited by a lack of education, which would have been deemed unnecessary, and a lack of money.

From the Paper:

"One of the key problems with evaluating women's position in medieval society is simply a lack of available information. Very little has survived in written form from the period and what does exist does not mention women very frequently. The job of the scholar is to read what little material is available and read and study between the lines of written documents and artistic renderings of the period to determine exactly what role women were playing in the society. Women had no independence of thought or idea, but once married or connected to a religious order, they could hold quasi-positions of leadership."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barber, Richard. The Penguin Guide to Medieval Europe. New York: PenguinBooks, 1984.
• Conway, Stephen. "Silent Voices: Women in the Middle Ages." 1991. http://www.subverbis.com/essays/medievalwomen.rtf.
• Delort, Robert. Life in the Middle Ages. Trans. Robert Allen. New York:Greenwich House, 1972.
• Gies, Frances and Joseph Gies. Life in a Medieval Village. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1990.
• Karras, Ruth Mazo."Women's Labors: Reproduction and Sex Work in Medieval Europe." Indiana University Press 15.4 (2004): 153-158.

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