2. Middle Ages Women

4. The general attitude towards women in Medieval times, was that they were inferior to men. Generally, women were taught that they should be meek and obedient to their fathers and husbands, though this did not prevent some women from becoming among the most respected Christian saints and scholars, or in some rare cases, from changing history (like Joan of Arc). In the day-to-day reality of things, Medieval women had a lot of responsibility and were not at all inferior to men in terms of daily effort. Most worked and did not stay at home, contrary to some modern beliefs. Many toiled alongside their families in the fields, and some were employed in workshops or were trades-women. Women sometimes had the responsibility of running large estates, due to the death of a husband (widows were permitted to hold land, and a woman with a lot of land was just as powerful and influential as a man with the same property). They settled local disputes and arranged estate finances. They even took equal responsibility in defending castles or manors from invaders.

13. The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic tribunal for discovery and punishment of heresy, which was marked by the severity of questioning and punishment and lack of rights afforded to the accused. Initially a tribunal would open at a location and an edict of grace would be published calling upon those who are conscious of heresy to confess; after a period of grace, the tribunal officers could make accusations. Punishments included confinement to dungeons, physical abuse and torture. In the beginning, the Inquisition dealt only with Christian heretics and did not interfere with the affairs of Jews but in 1242, the Inquisition condemned the Talmud and burned thousands of volumes. In 1288, the first mass burning of Jews on the stake took place in France.

20. Instruments Some instruments used in medieval music are: The flute was once made of wood rather than silver or other metal, and could be made as a side-blown or end-blown instrument. The recorder, on the other hand, has more or less retained its past form. The pan flute, was popular in medieval times, and is possibly of Hellenic origin. This instrument's pipes were made of wood, and were graduated in length to produce different pitches. Other Medieval instruments: lute, mandora, gittern, psaltery, the dulcimers, The hurdy-gurdy (a mechanical violin using a rosined wooden wheel attached to a crank to "bow" its strings). Instruments without sound boxes such as the Jew's harp were also popular in the time. Early versions of the organ, fiddle (or vielle), and trombone (called the sackbut) existed as well.

23. Women as Performers Women were active performers of secular music. Many women performed as amateurs, either in the home or in courtly or urban settings. Boccaccio's Decameron identifies women singing and dancing, along with their male companions, as do many of the courtly romances of the twelfth and thirteenth-centuries. Women were also active as menestrelles and jongleuresses. Performers themselves, they traveled as part of small groups of entertainers, and were often wives or daughters to male minstrels. In some instances, however, women had independent roles; they were granted permission to participate in the Guild of Minstrels in Paris from 1321 to the seventeenth century. Women as Patrons The lands that Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) brought to her marriages, first to Louis VII of France and then to Henry II of England, made her one of the most politically influential figures of her day, but her cultural endeavors had an equally profound impact on European civilization. Eleanor's efforts at the court of Poitiers shaped a culture centered on courtly love and chivalric behavior; her sponsorship contributed to the success of the troubadours and to the spread of the Arthurian legends. Other noblewomen may have had a less dramatic impact on musical culture, but they often had musicians in their personal retinue and so helped to shape the prevailing musical style. Indeed, because women often married far from home, they served as a kind of cultural network for importing and mingling new ideas, styles and tastes with the established norms of their husband's court.

24. RELIGION

25. Religion Pilgrimages Pilgrimages were an important part of religious life in the Middle Ages. Many people took journeys to visit holy shrines such as the Church of St. James at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the Canterbury cathedral in England, and sites in Jerusalem and Rome. The Catholic Church was the only church in Europe during the Middle Ages, and it had its own laws and large coffers. Church leaders such as bishops and archbishops sat on the king's council and played leading roles in government. Bishops, who were often wealthy and came from noble families, ruled over groups of parishes called "diocese." Parish priests, on the other hand, came from humbler backgrounds and often had little education. Monks and Nuns Monasteries in the Middle Ages were based on the rules set down by St. Benedict in the sixth century. The monks became known as Benedictines and took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to their leaders. They were required to perform manual labor and were forbidden to own property, leave the monastery, or become entangled in the concerns of society. Daily tasks were often carried out in silence. Monks and their female counterparts, nuns, who lived in convents, provided for the less-fortunate members of the community. Monasteries and nunneries were safe havens for pilgrims and other travelers.

26. Women in Medieval religion THE NUNNERIES Many women chose to dedicate themselves to the Church. Some nuns were dedicated at young ages by their families. However, nuns could enter convent at any stage in life. In many cases, it was a question of true piety, and God became these women's lives. In other cases, monasticism was an escape from a life of shadows and insecurity, childbearing and degradation, and seeing a potential they were taught they did not have go unfulfilled forever. In denying marriage and dedicating their lives to the Church, women were able to preserve both their minds and their bodies. The Church became an asylum where men had access to education -- and if men, why not women? Few women who devoted their lives to the Church ever learned how to write. Priests did not see the need for nuns to write. The life of a nun was based on routine and regularity. The most austere orders of nuns spared themselves no hardship observed in male religious houses. At 2 a.m., the nuns would rise for Mass. At 6 a.m. they would rise for the day and say Prime. Tierce, sext, none, vespers, and Compline followed throughout the day. In winter, when it got dark earlier, nuns retired to bed at 7 p.m.; in the summer, at 8 p.m.

27. THE BEGUINES In the 13th Century a female religious movement swept across northern Europe. The Beguines were not nuns, and they were not under the command of a male abbot or priest. They were lay women who adopted a nun-like lifestyle voluntarily. Less expensive than the dowry paid for a nun, a true bride of Christ, the Beguine houses were able to accomodate women from the middle and lower classes of society. Beguines supported themselves by weaving, doing housework, and the like. Members of the order were free to leave and even to marry.

28. Noble Lady & Peasant Women: Two different lives

29. Household The noble lady played an important part in the efficiency of running the estate of her husband. She made sure everything ran smoothly, from the provisioning of the keep to the defense of the estate while her husband was absent. The management position held by many noble women wasn't a visible one in comparison with the men in her family. The peasant woman did have a very visible role to play in her household, but, she too was affected by the negative view of women. She worked very hard to help support the family, kept the house, cooked, did the wash, made the cloth and clothes, milked the cows, tended the fire, cared for the children, and basically took care of any other task her husband did not have the time for, and she often earned extra income outside of the home. There were numerous opportunities available to the peasant woman to make money, including the making and selling of cheese, butter, and ale.

30. Perfect Lady or Evil? The other view of women, generally affected the nobility and was just as damaging to the noble lady as the negative view. Troubadour poetry, often represented noble women as "perfect" lady, and made it even more difficult for noble women to compete with men. The peasant woman knew she was viewed as evil and, because she knew that she was not, went about her business of surviving.

31. Mature age The peasant woman usually worked as either a wage laborer (haymaking, thatching, reaping, or as a washer woman) or a live-in servant (engage in child care, clothes washing, and any other odd job desired by her employer). When the peasant woman married, she became mistress of the house and took up her position as a wife. The noble lady , however, had no place in the world if she did not marry or enter a nunnery. Society dictated that it was her responsibility to marry and bear as many children as possible, and if she choose not to, then she had to enclose herself. Some noble girls were forced to join a nunnery in order to prevent them from claiming inheritance rights, and others were given to the convent to prevent them from needing a huge dowry. This alternative was an important one for the noble and often offered the lady more freedom and power than marriage could provide. Looking at the position of the noble woman in the working world, the peasant woman worked harder physically, but the role of the noble lady was much more stressful mentally.

32. Family The women usually had no say in who was chosen to be her husband because her marriage was arranged by her parents or guardians for social, political, or economic gain. The peasant woman's marriage could be remarkably different. Some peasants were allowed to marry for personal reasons. The noble lady also lacked the opportunities that the peasant had as a single woman. In most circumstances, a noble woman was more likely to play the role of a birther rather than that of a mother and, although she had more freedom than a peasant who reared her own children, the noble also lost the chance to experience the unconditional love of her children. Because she did not breast feed and forfeited the important contraceptive effect that could have prevented closely spaced subsequent pregnancies, which possibly caused more of her children to die in infancy, or even led to her own demise. The peasant that breast fed had fewer children, and likely experienced a closer bond with her children than that of the noble lady.

33. Noble women The noble lady had money, good food, expensive clothes and possessions, a high status in society, lived in a castle or a manor, and was sometimes viewed as the savior of men. She also had few, if any, good personal relationships, was forced into a convent or a marriage in which she had no say, was in charge of a large household but rarely received recognition for her work, had to keep up appearances by wearing uncomfortable clothes and behaving in a manner befitting her station in life, and when her husband died she usually lost her status in society.

34. Peasant Women The peasant woman had less money and food than the noble, she wore plain, homemade clothes, had a low status in society, lived in a small hut or longhouse, and was often viewed as the debaser of men. She also had many good personal relationships, had some say in who she married, took care of a small, normally appreciative household, had the opportunity to increase her wealth through work, had fewer children than the noble, was less likely to die in childbirth because she bore fewer children, and when her husband died she lost many possessions, but generally had the chance to regain all that she had lost without remarrying.