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Women's History Lecture by Dr. Lizabeth Johnson | OLLI at UNM
1. Goddesses and queens: women’s religious and political power
in ancient Europe
Map of the ancient Mediterranean, from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1.
2. “On account of lightness of mind”: social and cultural views of
women in ancient Europe
Female fertility figurine, Mesopotamia, c. 6000 BCE, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Hunter-gatherer societies as
egalitarian
• Settled agricultural societies as
patriarchal
• Patrilinear, patrilocal
• Women’s sexuality in need of control and
direction
• Urbanization and militarization of
society
• Women tended to have higher status in
less urbanized societies, such as Celtic,
Norse, and Germanic
• Specialization of crafts or
appropriation of female industries by
men
• Mycenaean conquest of Minoan Greek
centers and royal (male) appropriation of
fabric industry (female)
3. “On account of lightness of mind”: social and cultural views of
women in ancient Europe
Running Spartan girl, c. 500 BCE, British Museum.
• Ancient Greece
• Sparta, laws dating to 8th (?) century
BCE
• Lycurgus
• Female citizens encouraged to
exercise; strong body would
produce strong children
• Women as managers of
household in men’s absence
• By mid-5th century, Spartan
women could inherit/own
property, including horses
• Aristotle’s complaint (c. 350) that
Spartan women owned 2/5 of
Sparta’s lands
• No real concept of adultery
4. “On account of lightness of mind”: social and cultural
views of women in ancient Europe
• Ancient Greece
• Gortyn (Crete), laws in 5th century inscription, but possibly from 7th century
BCE
• Women as managers of household in men’s absence
• Women could inherit and own property
• Daughters received slightly less than sons
• In divorce, wife took her own property and half the produce of the
household
• If a father/husband/son violated regulations regarding children’s property,
control passed to mother/wife
• Married female slave could own property and take it with her upon
divorce
• Patrōïōkos—female heir
• Adultery and rape punishable by fine
5. “On account of lightness of mind”: social and cultural
views of women in ancient Europe
• Ancient Greece
• Athens, law codes from 7th to 5th centuries BCE
• Kyrios—male guardian (father/husband/son/male relative)
• Daughters inherited if there were no sons
• Epiklēros—female heir
• Dowries
• Laws of Solon (6th century BCE) limited women’s personal property to three dresses
/items of clothing
• Unmarried woman who had extramarital sex punished by sale into debt slavery
• Married woman who committed adultery was divorced by her husband, no longer
allowed to participate in public ceremonies
• Rape punishable by fine paid to husband; victim divorced (if married) or shunned (if
single)
• Xenophon’s Oeconomicus (c. 400 BCE)
6. Left—vase depicting women at a fountain, c. 500 BCE, Metropolitan
Museum of Art; right—vase depicting women weaving, c. 550 BCE,
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
7. “On account of lightness of mind”: social and cultural views of
women in ancient Europe
Vase of Sappho (r) and Alcaeus (l), c. 470 BCE, Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich.
• Women at work in Greece
• Poets
• Sappho, fl. 7th century BCE
• Shopkeepers
• Midwives, wetnurses
• Hetairai
• Courtesans, usually of foreign birth
• Aspasia, partner of Pericles, fl. 430 BCE
• Prostitutes
8. “On account of lightness of mind”: social and cultural
views of women in ancient Europe
• Ancient Rome
• Female values
• Fides (loyalty)
• Pudicitia (chastity)
• Modestas (modesty)
• Lanam fecit (lit. she made wool, good housekeeping)
• Livy’s History of Rome (written c. 10 CE)
• The killing of Horatia (c. 640 BCE)
• The Rape of Lucretia (c. 509 BCE)
• The bravery of Cloelia (c. 506 BCE)
• Vestal Virgins—highest religious position for women; required no guardians
9. “On account of lightness of mind”: social and cultural
views of women in ancient Europe
• Ancient Rome
• The Twelve Tables (c. 450 BCE)
• Curator—guardian (father/husband/brother/son/uncle)
• Women to be in perpetual guardianship “propter animi levitatem”
• Marriage cum manu (lit. with hand)
• Respectable women to be veiled in public
• Women not allowed to drink wine
• Women not allowed to attend public events without a guardian
• Women allowed to inherit property equally with brothers if no will
• Divorce allowed— “Tuas res tibi habeto”
10. Left--sarcophagus with reclining couple, from Cerveteri, c. 520 BCE, Museo
Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome; right—sarcophagus of woman reclining with bust of
husband, c. 1st century CE, British Museum.
11. “On account of lightness of mind”: social and cultural views of
women in ancient Europe
Bust of Empress Faustina, wife of Antoninus Pius, c. 140 CE, Capitoline Museum, Rome.
• Ancient Rome
• Laws from the late Republic and Empire
• Marriage sine manu (lit. without hand)
• Women prohibited as sole or main heir of property
• Guardianship
• Laws of Caesar Augustus (30 BCE-14 CE) released free
women from guardianship after birth of three children (four
children if freedwoman)
• Adultery punishable by death
• Lex Julia 18 BCE modified this to exile
• 6th century CE law required the husband to put his wife in a
nunnery
• Rape punishable by death
• Later modified to rapist losing property and/or being exiled
• By late empire (c. 500 CE) widows gained right of guardianship
over children
• Divorce much more difficult after conversion to Christianity
12. “On account of lightness of mind:” social and cultural views of
women in ancient Europe
Top—relief of women in a poultry shop, Museum of Roman Civilization, Rome; bottom—relief of two
female gladiators, British Museum, London.
• Women at work in Rome
• Poets
• Physicians, midwives, wetnurses
• Shopkeepers
• Actresses, dancers, musicians
• Prostitutes
• Gladiators
• Philosophers
• Sosipatra, d. mid-4th century
• Hypatia, d. 415
13. “On account of lightness of mind”: social and cultural views of
women in ancient Europe
Statue of a woman and young girl from a grave monument, c. 320 BCE, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• A philosophical view of women
• Socrates, d. 399 BCE
• Plato, d. 347 BCE
• The Republic, The Laws
• Aristotle, d. 322, BCE
• Politics
• Epicureans
• Cynics
• Hipparchia, wife of Crates
14. “On account of lightness of mind”: social and cultural views of
women in ancient Europe
Old market woman, c. 150-100 BCE. Roman marble copy of Hellenistic original, Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
• A medical view of women
• Theories on male versus female
• Plato’s Timaeus
• Aristotle’s On the Generation of
Animals
• Hippocrates, d. 377 BCE
• Galen, d. circa 200 CE
• “Women’s troubles” and the
“wandering womb”
• Childbearing
• Average lifespan 34-36 years
• Average number of births, 4.6 with
1.6 deaths
15. “On account of lightness of mind”: social and cultural
views of women in ancient Europe
Boudicca coin, c. 61 CE, historyfiles.co.uk.
• Women outside the Roman
Empire
• Cartimandua, fl. 40-50 CE
• Queen of the Brigantes tribe in Britain
(Northumbria)
• Boudicca, d. 61 CE
• Queen of the Iceni tribe in Britain (East
Anglia)
• Amalasuintha, d. 535 CE
• Regent of the Ostrogothic kingdom of
Italy, 525-534
• Queen of the Ostrogothic kingdom of
Italy, 534-535
17. Minoan snake goddess
Figurine in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete, c. 1600 BCE.
• Associated with the earth and
fertility
• May also have aspects of rebirth
• Possibly derived from the
Egyptian snake goddess, Wadjet
18. Gaia
Poseidon (c) battling a giant (r); Gaia (l) pleads for the giant’s life. Image from the Antikenmuseen,
Berlin, Germany, 410-400 BCE.
• Mother goddess, strongly
associated with the earth and
fertility
• Consort of Uranus
• Mother of Rhea and Chronus
19. Rhea
Statue in the Getty Museum, Malibu, California, c. 50 CE.
• Mother goddess and fertility
goddess
• Consort of Chronus
• Mother of Zeus/Jupiter,
Hera/Juno, Poseidon/Neptune,
Hades/Pluto, Demeter/Ceres
20. Demeter
Statue in the Museo Pio-Clementino, Musei Vaticani, Vatican City.
• Goddess of agriculture, fertility
• Mother of Persephone (Roman
Prosperina)
• Persephone’s abduction by
Hades/Pluto
• Associated with Elusinian
mysteries
21. Demeter
Left image from the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany, 480 BCE; right image from the
National Museum, Athens, Greece, 450-425 BCE.
22. Athena
Frieze of the mourning Athena, original in the Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece, c. 460 BCE.
• Goddess of wisdom, warfare,
and women’s handicrafts
• Athena Parthenos, Athena the
Virgin
• Patron goddess of Athens and
Sparta
• Athena’s sacred snake said to
inhabit the temple in Athens
• Romanized as Minerva
23. Athena
Image from the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 460-450 BCE.
24. Artemis
Statue in the Louvre, Paris, France, c. 325 BCE.
• Goddess of the hunt, associated
with important events in
women’s lives
• Menstruation, childbirth, death
• Romanized as Diana
25. Artemis
Left image from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 470 BCE; right image from the Museo
Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze, Florence, Italy, 570-560 BCE.
26. Hestia
Statue in Museo Torlonia, Rome, Italy, c. 470 BCE.
• Goddess of the hearth and home
• Often depicted as a living flame
• Romanized as Vesta
• Rome’s Vestal Virgins dedicated to
the serve of Vesta
27. Hera
Image from the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, New York City, NY, c. 500-475 BCE.
• Queen of the gods, consort of
Zeus, goddess of fertility
• Children by Zeus
• Ares—god of war
• Hebe—cupbearer to the gods
• Eileithyia—goddess of childbirth
• Gives birth to
Hephaestus/Vulcan
independently
28. Aphrodite
Statue in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, 420-410 BCE.
• Goddess of love and sexuality
• Born from sea foam
• Married to Hephaestus, but has
affair with Ares
• Romanized as Venus
29. Judgment of Paris: l-r Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Hermes, and
Paris
Image from the Antikenmuseen, Berlin, Germany, 440 BCE.
30. Female cultic practices
• Cult of Athena in Athens
• Panathenaea, the Parthenon
• Eleusinian mysteries
• A chief priest and two priestesses, one dedicated to Demeter and one to Persephone
• The melissae (bees)
• Thesmophoria—a Demeter cult for women only
• Games of Hera—women’s version of the Olympic games
• Fortuna
• Fortuna Virginalis, Fortuna Primigenia, Fortuna Muliebri, Fortuna Virilis
• Cult of Vesta, Vestal Virgins
• Cult of Ceres
• Cult of Bacchus/Dionysius
• Bacchanalia; after 186 BCE, Roman men forbidden to participate
• Cult of Isis and Serapis
• Hellenized version of the Egyptian gods Isis and Osiris
• Cult of the Magna Mater/Cybele--imported into Rome c. 200 BCE
31. Goddesses and queens: women’s religious and political
power in ancient Europe
• Women in mythology
• Penelope, wife of Odysseus
• Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon
• Antigone and Ismene in Antigone
• Women in historical sources
• Gorgo, daughter of Spartan King Cleomenes I and wife of Spartan king
Leonidas (half-brother of Cleomenes), fl. 480 BCE
• Artemisia of Caria, queen of Halicarnassus, fl. 480 BCE
• The only female commander during the Persian War
• Aspasia, Athenian hetairai and companion of Pericles (d. 429), fl. 430 BCE
32. Stills of Gorgo (l) and Artemisia (r) from 300:
Rise of an Empire.
33. Alexander the Great’s empire and the Hellenistic world (336-31 BCE).
Map from Coffin and Stacey, Western Civilizations, Volume 1.
34. Macedonian queens
Gold medallion depicting Olympias as an ancestor of Roman Emperor Caracalla,
Walters Art Museum.
• Olympias of Epirus, wife of Philip II, d.
316 BCE
• Cleopatra, d. 336
• Europa, d. 336
• Amyntas IV, d. 336
• Roxane, princess of Bactria and wife of
Alexander the Great, fl. 330 BCE
35. Hellenistic queens
Egyptian coin depicting Arsinoë II and a cornucopia, forumancientcoins.com.
• Laodice, half-sister and wife of
Antiochus II, d. circa 240-230 BCE
• Poisoned Antiochus and killed his
other wife and child
• Triggered the Third Syrian War, 246-
241
• Arsinoë II, sister and wife of
Ptolemy II, d. 270 BCE
• First Ptolemaic queen to be depicted
on coinage
• Credited with the development of
naval power in Egypt
36. Hellenistic queens
Left—tetradrachm of Cleopatra (Antony on obverse side), British Museum; right—bust of
Cleopatra, Altes Museum, Berlin.
• Cleopatra VII, d. 30 BCE
• Co-ruler of Egypt from 51-48 BCE
with brother Ptolemy XIII
• Relationship with Gaius Julius
Caesar, 48-44
• Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, d.
48
• Gaius Julius Caesar, d. 44
• Caesarion
• Relationship with Marcus Antonius
(Mark Antony), 41-30
• Marcus Antonius, d. 30
• Octavian/Caesar Augustus, d. 14 CE
37. Women, politics, and the Hellenistic Age
• Phile of Priene (Ionia), 1st century BCE
• Aristodama of Smyrna (Ionia), granted honorary citizenship of Lamia,
Thessaly (central Greece), 2nd century BCE
38. Women and politics during the Roman Republic (509-30 BCE)
Statue of Lucretia and Brutus, by Ignaz Platzer, c. 1750 CE, Schönnbrun Gardens, Vienna.
• The Rape of Lucretia, c. 509 BCE
• The Oppian Law, 215-195 BCE
• Cornelia and sons Tiberius and
Gaius Gracchus, fl. 150-120 BCE
• Sempronia and the Catiline
Conspiracy, c. 62 BCE
• Hortensia and the triumvirs, 42
BCE
39. Women of the Roman Empire
Bust of Livia, Louvre Museum, Paris.
• Livia, d. 29 CE
• Wife of Caesar Augustus, r. 30
BCE-14 CE
• Mother of Tiberius, r. 14-37 CE
40. Women of the Roman Empire
Aureus depicting Nero and Agrippina, 54 CE, National Archaeological Museum, Naples.
• Agrippina the Younger, d. 59 CE
• Sister of Caligula, r. 37-41 CE
• Niece and wife of Claudius, r. 41-
54 CE
• Mother of Nero, r. 54-68 CE
42. Women of the Roman Empire
Left—portrait of Julia Domna, Septimius Severus, Geta (effaced) and Caracalla, Staatliche
Museem, Berlin; right—statue of Julia Domna as Ceres, Ostia Museum, Rome.
• Julia Domna, d. 217 CE
• Wife of Septimius Severus, r.
192-211 CE
• Mother of Caracalla, r. 211-218
CE
43. Women of the Roman Empire
Denarius depicting Julia Maesa as Juno, Ebay.com.
• Julia Maesa, d. 224 CE
• Sister of Julia Domna
• Grandmother of Elagabalus, r. 218-
222 CE
• Grandmother of Severus
Alexander, r. 222-235 CE
• “Mother of the armies and the
Senate”
44. Women of the Roman Empire
Brass medallion of Julia Mamaea, naming her “Mother of Augustus and the military camps,”
c. 224 CE, Museum für Vor und Frühgeschichte, Berlin.
• Julia Mamaea, d. 235 CE
• Aunt of Elagabalus
• Mother of Severus Alexander, r.
222-235 CE
• “Mother of Augustus, and of the
Camps, and of the Senate, and of
the Fatherland”
45. Women of the Roman Empire
• Theodora, d. 547/8 CE
• Wife of Emperor Justinian I, r. 529-565 CE
• Nika Revolt
• Procopius’ Secret History, published after 565 CE
47. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Mosaic of Christ as the Good Shepherd, from the tomb of Galla Placida, Ravenna, Italy, c. 450.
• The Catholic Church
• Conversions to Christianity 1st CE onward
• Official (but underground) Catholic
Church established by 200 CE
• Church granted toleration in 313 CE by
Emperor Constantine the Great
• No official authoritative roles for women
in the early Catholic Church
• Early doctrinal ideas
• God as creator (not procreator)
• Women as spiritual equals of men
• Women’s sexuality threatening and
disorderly
• Eve and the exile from Eden
• The Virgin Mary
48. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Fresco of a veiled Christian woman, 3rd-5th century, Giordani Catacomb, Rome.
• The Church’s stance on women, men, and
marriage
• Women as equal to men, or subordinate?
• Genesis 1 and 2
• St. Paul, d. circa 60 CE
• St. Augustine, d. 430 CE
• Marriage
• Forced marriages not allowed
• Marriage as demonstrating grace of God
• Marriage for the purpose of procreation
• Marriage indissoluble except in cases of…
• Immoral behavior
• Adultery
• Severe abuse
49. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Illumination of the martyrdom of Perpetua, Felicitas, Revocatus, Saturninus, and Secundulus, from
the Menologion of Basil II, c. 1000, Vatican Library.
• Women as converts and martyrs
• St. Thecla, d. 1st century CE
• The Gnostic Church
• Greek “gnosis,” meaning knowledge
• Gospel of Mary Magdalene
• St. Perpetua, d. 203 CE
50. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious and
political power in medieval Europe
Icon of the Virgin and Jesus, 6th-7th century, Monastery of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai, Egypt.
• Celibacy and monasticism
• Celibacy as the better path
• St. Jerome, d. 420 CE
• “Against Jovinian”
• “Letter to Eustochium”
• St. Macrina, d. late 4th century CE
• Transvestite nuns
• Matrona/Babylas, 6th century CE
• Mary/Marinos, 7th century CE
51. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Top—map of the Carolingian Empire, from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1; right—map
of Anglo-Saxon England, from Peter Hunter Blair, Roman Britain and Early England, 55 BC-AD 871.
• Christianizing queens
• Clothild, d. early 6th century
• Queen of Clovis I, king of Franks
• Bertha, d. early 7th century
• Queen of Aethelberht, king of Kent
• Aethelburh, d. mid 7th century
• Queen of Edwin, king of
Northumbria
52. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Image of St. Balthild, 14th century, British Library, London.
• Women as saints and
missionaries
• St. Radegund, d. 587
• Queen of Clothar I, king of Neustria
• St. Brigit, 6th century (Ireland)
• St. Bathild, d. 680
• Queen of Clovis II, king of Burgundy
and Neustria
• St. Hilda, d. late 7th century
• Whitby, England
• St. Leoba, d. late 8th century
• Saxony (NW Germany)
• St. Boniface, d. late 8th century
• Double monasteries
53. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Ende’s illumination of the apocalypse from “Commentary on the apocalypse of St. John”
by Beatus of Gerona, 10th century.
• Women in Carolingian Europe
• Charlemagne’s educational
reforms
• Court school at Aachen
• Monastic schools
• Ende, Leon, Spain, d. late 10th
century
• Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, d. 1001
• Women and religious authority
• Claustration
• Castimony
• Female saints
• From conversion to maintenance
54. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Triumph of the Virgin, Senlis Cathedral, c. 1170.
• Mary as the ideal woman
• The Cult of the Virgin Mary
• Founded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux,
d. 1153
55. Left—Triumph of the Virgin, Chartres Cathedral, c.
1210; right—Coronation of the Virgin, Notre Dame
Cathedral, Paris, c. 1210.
56. Medieval image of Mary and Eve
“The Tree of Life and Death,” Berthold Furtmeyer, Archbishop of Salzburg’s Missal, 1481.
57. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Fresco of Saint Claire (l) and Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (r), by Simone Martini, 1317, Capella di San
Martino, San Francesco, Assisi, Italy.
• Mystics and saints
• St. Hildegard of Bingen, d. 1178
• St. Elizabeth of Hungary, d. 1231
• St. Clare of Assisi, d. 1253
• The order of the Poor Clares
• St. Catherine of Siena, d. 1380
• Anchoresses
58. Hildegard’s visions
Left—Hildegard dictating a vision to a scribe, Liber Scivias, as preserved in the Rupertsberger Codex, c.
1180; center—the cosmic tree, Liber Scivias;
right—an image of the universe, Liber Scivias.
59. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Illumination of Margery Kempe, from MS. Royal 15 D. 1, British Library, London.
• Suspicious mystics
• Beguines
• Beguinages
• Hadewijch of Brabant, d. circa 1240
• Margery Kempe, d. 1438
60. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Portrait of Joan of Arc, c. 1485, Archives Nationales, Paris.
• Mystic and heretic
• Joan of Arc, d. 1431
• The Hundred Years’ War, 1337-1453
• Jean la Pucelle (the Maiden)
61. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Depiction of Waldensians, in Martin le France, “Le Champion des Dames,” c. 1440,
Bibliotheque Nationale Grenoble.
• Heretics
• Waldensians
• Founded by Peter Valdes, d. 1216
• Cathars
• 13th-14th centuries
• Perfecti
• Lollards
• Founded by John Wycliffe, d. 1384
62. Europe and England, 500-900 CE
Left map from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1;
right map from Peter Hunter Blair, Roman Britain and Early England, 55 BC-AD 871.
63. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious and
political power in medieval Europe
Effigy of Fredegund, St. Denis Cathedral, Paris, 12th century.
• Frankish queens
• Fredegund, d. 596
• Wife of Chilperic king of Neustria
• Galswinth, d. circa 570
• Other wife of Chilperic and sister to
Brunhild
• Brunhild, d. 613
• Wife of Sigibert, king of Austrasia
• Bathild, d. 680
• Wife of Clovis II, king of Neustria
64. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious and
political power in medieval Europe
Lombard coin with names of Louis II and Angilberga, c. 870, Ancient Coin Search Engine.
• Women in Carolingian Europe
• Women as managers of family/royal
household
• Women as representatives of royal
power
• Aethelflaed of Wessex, Lady of the
Mercians, d. early 10th century
• Anointing of queens
• Judith, queen of Aethelwulf of Wessex, r.
839-858
• Angilberga, queen of Louis II of Italy, r.
840-875
• Women as feudal lords
• Partible inheritance
• Primogeniture
65. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Emma (l) and Cnut (r) depicted in the Winchester New Minster register, or Book of Life, c. 1031.
British Library.
• English queens
• Emma, d. 1052
• Queen of Aethelred Unraed, 1002-1016
• Queen of Cnut, 1017-1035
• Matilda, d. 1083
• Queen of William the Conqueror, king of
England
• Edith-Matilda, d. 1118
• Queen of Henry I of England
66. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious and
political power in medieval Europe
Manuscript image of Empress Matilda, 15th century, British Library.
• English queens
• Empress Matilda (aka Maud), d. 1170
• First marriage to Emperor Henry V of
Germany
• Second marriage to Geoffrey, Count of
Anjou
• Mother of Henry II of England
• Matilda, d. 1152
• Queen of King Stephen of England
67. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious and
political power in medieval Europe
Effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine, 13th century, Fontevrault Abbey, France.
• Eleanor of Aquitaine, d. 1204
• Daughter of William X, duke of
Aquitaine
• First marriage to Louis VII of France,
1137-1151
• Daughters Marie, Countess of
Champagne; Alix, Countess of Blois
• Second marriage to Henry II of
England, 1152-1189
• Sons William, Henry the Younger, Richard
the Lionheart, Geoffrey, and John
• Daughters Matilda, duchess of Saxony;
Eleanor, queen of Castile; Joan, queen of
Sicily
68. Left—map of 12th century France, from Elizabeth Hallam, Capetian France, 987-
1328; right—map of Henry II’s lands, from Coffin and Stacey,
Western Civilization, Volume 1.
69. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious and political
power in medieval Europe
Moralized Bible, depicting Blanche of Castile (l) and Louis VIII (r), c. 1235,
J. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.
• French queens
• Blanche of Castile, d. 1252
• Queen of Louis VIII of France, r. 1223-1226
• Mother of Louis IX (aka St. Louis), r.
1226/1234-1270
• Regent for her son, 1226-1234 and 1248-
1252
• Louis IX on the Seventh Crusade from
1248-1254
• Margaret of Provence, d. 1295
• Queen of Louis IX of France
• Mother of Philip III, r. 1270-1285
• Accompanied Louis on the Seventh
Crusade; led French forces after his
capture in Egypt early in 1250 and
ransomed him back
• Remained involved in diplomatic affairs
until Louis’s death
70. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Left—map of Italy, from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1; right—Matilda (r) and Henry IV
(kneeling) at Canossa, 1077, Vita Matildis, 12th century, Vatican Library, Rome.
• Matilda of Tuscany, d. 1115
• Aka Matilda of Canossa and “la Gran
Contessa”
• After brother’s death, sole heir to
Margravate of Tuscany
• Married to Godfrey the Hunchback, duke
of Lower Lorraine in 1069, but
repudiated him in 1071 and ruled alone
• Allied with Pope Gregory VII in his
conflict with Emperor Henry IV, 1077-
1085
• Supplied military forces to defend Rome
and Gregory VII
• Married Welf V, duke of Bavaria, in 1089
to further her alliance with the papacy
• Made peace with Emperor Henry V c.
1112 and named “Imperial Vicar Vice-
Queen of Italy”
71. Saints or heretics? Ladies or lords?: women’s religious
and political power in medieval Europe
Left—map of medieval Spain, from Lynn Hunt, The Making of the West, Volume 1; right—wedding
portrait of Ferdinand and Isabella, by anonymous, 1469, Convento de las Agustinas, Avila, Spain.
• Isabella I of Castile, r. 1474-1504
• Daughter of Juan II of Castile
• Wife of Ferdinand II of Aragon, r. 1479-
1516
• Mother of Catherine of Aragon (queen
of Henry VIII of England)
• Grandmother of Carlos I of Spain, r.
1517-1556 (aka Charles V, Holy Roman
Emperor, r. 1519-1556)
• Patron of Columbus, 1492-1504
72. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
Top—Eowyn offering Aragorn a cup of mead, from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King; bottom—
amulets representing female figures, one carrying a horn of mead or ale, from Vikings: the North
American Saga, edited by Fitzhugh and Ward.
• Marriage in early medieval Europe
• The “morning gift”
• Germanic morgengabe
• British/Welsh cowyll
• Irish coibche
• Women’s ability to choose their
husband
• Peace weavers
• Adultery
• Punishment was public shaming and/or
ostracism
• Divorce
• Allowed in Welsh and Irish society even
after conversion to Christianity
73. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
Maria of Brabant’s marriage to Philip III of France,
Chroniques de France ou de St. Denis, c. 1350, British Library.
• Marriage in later medieval Europe
• Consent
• Christina of Markyate, d. early 12th century
• Dowries
• Marriage as a religious ceremony
• Declared the seventh sacrament by 1208
• Calling of the “banns”
• Blessing of the marriage bed
• Marriage fees—merchet and amobr
• Grounds for annulment
• Impotence, adultery, and consanguinity
• Louis VII of France and Eleanor of
Aquitaine, d. 1204
• Owain Gwynedd and Cristina, d. late 12th
century
• Dower
74. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
Trota/Trotula, from the Miscellanea Medica XVIII, 14th century, Wellcome Library, London.
• Childbearing and other health issues
• Marriage between 12-15 for noblewomen
• Early 20s for commoners
• Average lifespan 36 years
• 39% lived beyond age of 40
• “Churching”
• Orphanages
• Contraception
• “The Trotula,” 12th century
• Modern translation by Monica H. Green
• Women’s sexuality
• Leyrwite and amobr
• The Romance of the Rose, 13th century
• Concubinage
75. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
• Women as sexual objects
• Jean le Meun, The Romance of the Rose, 13th century
• “There is no Lucretia now, nor any Penelope in Greece, nor any worthy
lady anywhere on earth if they are properly solicited; the pagans say that
no woman ever defended herself against a man who made a serious effort
to conquer her, and no one ever found a compromise. Many even give
themselves of their own accord when suitors are lacking.”
76. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
Peter Abelard and Heloise, from Le Roman de la Rose, 14th century, British Library.
• Educational opportunities
• Educational manuals
• The Book of the Knight of the Tower, c. 1372
• The Householder of Paris, c. 1392
• Dhuoda, d. circa 850
• Liber Manualis
• Heloise, d. 1164
• Mistress/wife of Peter Abelard, d. 1142
• Later abbess of Paraclete, 1130-1164
• Marie de France, fl. late 12th century
• Lais of Marie de France
• Christine de Pizan, d. 1430
• The Book of the City of Ladies, 1405
• The Book of the Body Politic, 1404-1407
• The Tale of Joan of Arc, 1429
77. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
• The Defense of Women
• Christine de Pizan, the Book of the City of Ladies:
• Christine to Rectitude: “I am therefore troubled and grieved when men
argue that many women want to be raped and that it does not bother
them at all to be raped by men even when they verbally protest. It would
be hard to believe that such great villainy is actually pleasant for them.”
Rectitude: “Rest assured, dear friend, chaste ladies who live honestly take
absolutely no pleasure in being raped. Indeed, rape is the greatest
possible sorrow for them.”
78. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
Veronica Franco, a 16th century Venetian courtesan, by Tintoretto, 1575, Worcester Art Museum.
• Women at work
• Peasants
• Free versus unfree
• Serfs, villeins, fisgilini, dagewardi
• Agricultural work
• Townswomen
• Clothing trade
• Weavers, fullers, dyers, embroiderers, etc.
• Guilds
• Apprentices
• Servants, nurses
• Food trade
• Fishwives, brewsters, bakers, etc.
• Moneylenders
• Prostitution
• Stews, brothels, bawds, and procurers
• The Black Death, 1347-1352
79. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
Woman milking a cow, Historylearningsite.co.uk.
• Women and the law
• Merchet
• Leyrwite
• Chevage –fine for leaving the lord’s
property
• Relief and heriot—inheritance fees
• Magna Carta, 1215
• Fee tail or entailment, c. 1285
• Wardship
• Coverture
• Shrews and scolds
• Sumptuary laws
80. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
• Domestic violence
• Paterfamilias
• English gaol delivery rolls, 1300-1348
• Out of 22,417 felony indictments, 92% of DV cases were homicides; this
was 2% of total homicides reported and only 0.7% of total cases were DV
• 29% of men accused were indicted for wife killing; 29% of women accused
for killing their husbands were convicted and burned
• 75% of cases of spousal violence from 1215-1515 were homicides
• English Statute of Treason, 1352
• Paris church courts
• 10% of 600 petitions c. 1384-7 were for separation on grounds of cruelty
• Separation a mense et thoro versus a mense
• Welsh and Irish “Fairy Bride” stories
• Raising “the hue and cry”
81. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
• English law regarding rape
• Glanvill, 12th century
• Bracton, 13th century
• “if he is convicted of this crime [this] punishment follows: the loss of members, that there
be member for member, for when a virgin is defiled she loses her member and therefore let
her defiler be punished in the parts in which he offended. Let him thus lose his eyes which
gave him sight of the maiden’s beauty for which he coveted her. And let him lose as well the
testicles which excited his hot lust.”
• Statute of Westminster I, 1275
• Statute of Westminster II, 1285
• French law prosecuted rape as a capital crime until c. 1385
• The Last Duel, by Eric Jager.
82. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
• Pursuing a rape case in court
• Glanville, 12th century
• “A woman who suffers in this way must go, soon after the deed is done, to
the nearest vill and there show to trustworthy men the injury done to her,
and any effusion of blood there may be and any tearing of her clothes.
She should then do the same to the reeve of the hundred. Afterwards she
should proclaim it publicly in the next county court.”
83. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
• Conception from rape
• Galen, fl. 200 AD
• Joan versus one E., Eyre of Kent 1313-4
• Justice: “You shall answer to the King for that you have ravished the maid
Joan, who is thirty years of age and carries a child in her arms.” The
woman was asked who was the father of the child, and she answered that
E. was. It was said that this was a wonderful thing, for that a child could
not be engendered without the consent of both parties; and so it was said
that E. was guilty of naught.”
87. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
Portrait of a man and a woman at a casement, Fra Filippo Lippi,
c. 1444, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Women in Renaissance Europe
• Dowries and dowry funds
• Monte delle Doti of Florence, est.
1425
• Architecture of enclosure
• Selected Letters of Alessandra Strozzi,
ed. and trans. Heather Gregory
• Alessandra Strozzi, fl. 1400-1450
• Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and
Marriage in Renaissance Florence, by
Gene Brucker
• Affair of Giovanni di Ser Ludovico
della Casa and Lusanna, 1442/3-
1454/5
89. “One who speaks too much isn’t thought to be wise”:
social and cultural views of women in medieval Europe
The Chess Game, by Sofonisba Anguissola, c. 1555, National Museum, Poznań, Poland.
• Women as artists
• Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1532-
1625
• Lavinia Fontana, 1552-1614
90. Sofonisba Anguissola: left—Self Portrait at Easel, 1556, Łańcut Palace, Poland;
right—Three Children with Dog, by Sofonisba Anguissola, c. 1580,
Collection of Lord Methuen, Corsham Court, Bath.
92. Lavinia Fontana: Left—Self Portrait at the Virginal with a Servant, 1577, Academia
Nazionale di San Luca, Rome; right—Portrait of a Noblewoman, 1580, National
Museum of Women in the Arts.
93. Lavinia Fontana: left—Portrait of the Gozzadini Family, 1584, Pinacoteca
Nazionale, Bologna; right—Minerva Dressing, 1613, Galleria Borghese,
Rome.