Women's Roles in the Middle AgesInformation about women in this truly fascinating period from 500 to 1500 is in great demand and has been a challenge for historians to uncover. Bardsley has mined a wide range of primary sources, from noblewomen's writing, court rolls, chivalric literature, laws and legal documents, to archeology and artwork. This fresh survey provides readers with an excellent understanding of how women high and low fared in terms of religion, work, family, law, culture, and politics and public life. Even though medieval women were divided by social class, religion, age, marital status, place and period, they were all subject to an overarching patriarchal structure and sometimes could transcend their inferior status. Numerous examples of these exceptional women and their words are included. |
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... early Middle Ages , as their numbers were augmented by former slaves and by free peasants who were unable to make a living by wage labor and thus committed them- selves and their descendents to serfdom in exchange for the security of a ...
... early centuries of Christianity , yet many of these early freedoms were already curtailed , or about to be , by the end of the early Middle Ages . The High Middle Ages Compared with the era from 500 to 1000 , the high Middle Ages ( 1000 ...
... early Middle Ages had meant that members of the nobility could easily control their local church , monastery , or nun- nery , the church of the high Middle Ages was stronger and eager to shake off noble influence . In the early Middle Ages ...
Contents
Medieval Women | 1 |
Women and Religion | 27 |
Women and Work | 59 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown