The status of women in medieval Europe

The University of Northern British Columbia
Xudong Jiang
HIST 312 Intro to the History of gender
Dr. Dana Wessell Lightfoot
June 14, 2022

Through studying the history of medieval Europe, I learned that the demonization of women in medieval Europe originated from the lack of science. According to Aristotle’s theory “women are like infertile men, and women are deformed men”,(Voudoures, K. I. 1998) we can understand the reasons for the formation of a patriarchal society and the unfairness of society towards women, which also makes women’s status and power lower than men. This makes me, as a modern man who has basically realized the equality between men and women, very interested in the status of women in the middle ages. It makes me wonder in what aspects the unfairness suffered by women in medieval Europe is reflected. After searching and analyzing, I find that the low status of women is mainly reflected in two aspects, including the power in society and the status in the family.
Through research and analysis the letters of Innocent III about marriage and women.
According to the Innocent III, “you have also asked to be advised what you should do about his wife. we briefly responded that his wife should be allowed to be involved until her husband dies and to endure completely from mingling her flight with his on account of public honey.” And “when it came to your notice, you compelled the young man to leave the girl and to swing an each that he would not keep her or have intercourse with her as long as her husband and was alive, since the man and the girl had not been separated by a course judgment.” I came to the conclusion that in terms of social power, in medieval Europe, people did not believe that women could have the same talents as men, and even if women had power, it came from family status and was easy to be deprived. As for women’s family status, it was very absurd and surprising. At that time, marriage was driven by interests, which means that men’s purpose in marriage may be women’s rich dowry and property, while women do not have their own property after marriage. All these show that women in medieval Europe were exploited and oppressed.
First, about women’s social power and status. According to Joan of arc in The Viking age: a reader “In May 1429 the French army, accompanied by Jeanne riding under her own banner, defeated the English at Orléans. It was the psychological turning point of the Hundred Years’ War. In July of the same year, Jeanne led Charles to Reims, where he was anointed king. But by the next year her fortunes had waned and, captured and sold to the English, she was tried in 1431 for witchcraft, heresy, and apostasy and, condemned for all, was burned at the stake.” (McDonald 2020) it strongly reflects the medieval European views on women’s social power. This view is that people don’t believe that women have better talents and power than men. When such women appear, they usually think that they are the talents of Jesus, and the women with outstanding talents are just the messengers of Jesus. This idea will easily deprive the women with outstanding talents of their power and status when they make mistakes. This also proves that the medieval Europe I analyzed would use religious means to oppress women. According to a letter from Geoffrey of wind ô me, abbot (c.1131?) “Why you do not strike to honor with filial love the church in which your venerable father choose to be burned and which should be honed more by you for his sake, and why, according to the laws of nature, since you were his daughter as you truly were, you do not show the favours you own it.” This also supports my view that people in the Middle Ages believed that women’s power came from the family. They were not the owners of power, but only the people who exercised power on behalf of the family. From this resource, we can learn that if there were male heirs in the family, women could not inherit power. This is also consistent with my conclusion that women in medieval Europe were oppressed.
Secondly, the oppression from marriage is also an important manifestation of the low status of women in medieval Europe, which is reflected in three aspects, including law, property and subordination. The first is about the law. The pope at that time had jurisdiction over the marriage system. After drinking in the house and having family of it, he was driven by the devil to have intercourse with the sister of the girl to whom he was better. when he came of the age in which he could fulfill his obligation, his friends, who were angry of his crime, existed that he mary When religion is involved in marriage, men at that time often attributed their mistakes to demons, while women often had no autonomy in marriage, which shows that the law is not equal and often treats men and women differently. At the same time, this also supports my view that under the rule of religion, women’s status is low and will be oppressed. Second, this is the property involved in marriage, including dowry and marital property. For the dowry, according to “their Roman forebears, for whom it was” absolutely essential for women to have dowries so that they can produce offspring and repay the state with their children, “(Kirshner 2015) would have married at the Dowry Fund’s energetic instance of Roman patricial telecommunications” and Agnes Whittingdon C. John Ely “Ely claimed he had not contracted marriage with her, although they had had some discussions about it: he laid out a specific dowry he required as a minimum.” All these evidences prove that the dowry was necessary in the wedding in medieval Europe, and influenced by this factor, marriage was completely driven by interests. At the same time, it also shows that the marriage contract that did not meet the dowry required by men is invalid. These resources well explain the extremely unequal status of men and women in marriage, and support my idea that women have a low status in marriage. As for the property in marriage, the real cases in the court can be well explained. According to Ann steward C. Richard steward “by steward’s own admission, after their marriage was solemnized, he” violently and seriously been “her and spend much of Richard Alpe’s (considerable) estate As he noted, his assessment of Richard Alpe’s property was his legal right as her husband: when a woman married, all her property with the exception of her personal items such as clothes become her husband’s. “, Because the property belongs to her husband, and she also suffers from domestic violence. Finally, that is about the subordination in marriage. As mentioned in Thomas LAK C. Ann munden “But then a man named Richard Bulle came to Munden’s house with some other men and violently abducted her and forced her to marry him secretly before a friar in Hertford. For some reason Munden lived with Bulle as his wife for two years – but then another two years down the road she and Lak decided to try to take up where they had left off with this suit to have their original marriage reco gnized.” From this case, we can find that women at that time had a strong sense of subordination. When they were kidnapped and married, they did not resist but accepted it. This can prove that women at that time were kidnapped and accepted the idea that they must obey their husbands. This is exactly in line with the view that women in medieval Europe were oppressed and had a low status.
In a word, on the one hand, due to the lack of Science in the middle ages, women were demonized and a patriarchal society was formed, so there was a wide gap between the status of men and women. On the other hand, marriage is regarded as the Holy Sacrament of the church, so the Pope has jurisdiction over the marriage system, which also makes marriage rich in religious colour, and the religious framework will restrict women’s thoughts. The research on this topic mainly has two aspects, including women’s social power and women’s status in marriage. As for the power in women’s society, it is mainly reflected in the fact that they have outstanding talents but are not recognized by people. Instead, they believe that these talents are given by God. At the same time, people believe that their power comes from the family, so their power is not recognized and is easily deprived. There are three aspects about the status of women in marriage: Law, property, and subordination. First of all, the law treats men and women differently. When men have sexual assault, they will be blamed on being driven by the devil, so they can avoid being punished. Secondly, with regard to property, women’s dowry is necessary, which makes marriage driven by interests. However, the joint property of married couples does not belong to women, which means that women do not have their own property. Finally, due to the constraints of the religious framework, the concept that women must obey their husbands is deeply rooted, which puts women at a disadvantage in marriage.

Reference “A Letter from Geoffrey of Vendôme, Abbot (C.1131?).” Epistolae. Accessed June 15, 2022. https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/letter/243.html. “To Hugo, Archbishop of Siponto.” Internet history sourcebooks project. Accessed June 15, 2022. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/innIII-marriagewomen.asp. “To Clement, the Prior of Osney .” Internet history sourcebooks project. Accessed June 15, 2022. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/innIII-marriagewomen.asp. Kirshner, Julius. Marriage, Dowry, and Citizenship in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015. byshannonmcsheffrey, Posted. “Thomas Lak C. Ann Munden.” Consistory, April 25, 2022. https://consistory.org/2022/03/04/lak-c-munden/. byshannonmcsheffrey, Posted. “Ann Styward C. Richard Styward.” Consistory, March 21, 2022. https://consistory.org/2022/02/07/styward-c-styward/. byshannonmcsheffrey, Posted. “Richard Tymond C. Margery Sheppard.” Consistory, March 13, 2022. https://consistory.org/2022/02/25/richard-tymond-c-margery-sheppard/. byshannonmcsheffrey, Posted. “Agnes Whitingdon C. John Ely.” Consistory, March 22, 2022. https://consistory.org/2022/03/03/agnes-whitingdon-c-john-ely/. McDonald, R. Andrew, and Angus A. Somerville. The Viking Age: A Reader. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020.