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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... fact that their members typically came from lower social ranks than nuns and the fact that the church was ambivalent about Beguines meant that they struggled for enough money to keep going . The church's ambivalence about Beguines ...
... fact , scenes of women beating men were often considered humorous in medieval litera- ture and art . In the late medieval play of the building of Noah's ark , for in- stance , the wife of Noah is sometimes depicted as an obstreperous ...
... fact , after he reached his majority in 1145 , she continued to hold onto authority for the next seven years , and only gradually yielded to pressure from her son to allow him to participate in power . Guardianship over their children ...
Contents
Medieval Women | 1 |
Women and Religion | 27 |
Women and Work | 59 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown