Among the women were warriors, painters, and poets. —Mark Twain
As Mark Twain said, women, as a unique and indispensable group in this world, have always played a variety of important roles in society.
It is not great that a woman conceives life and devotes most of her life to the burden of raising her children.
Today, due to the improvement of human self-awareness, women have also become the pillars of social life, and like men, they have received the respect and love they deserve.
But, you know, in the nearly 1,000 years of the Middle Ages, women's lives were far from being comparable to today's, and they couldn't even have an independent sense of self.
So, how did the women get through this long time? How do they struggle for their fate?
This issue may have the answer you're looking for.
First of all, to answer the above two questions, we must first clarify the time division of the European Middle Ages, as shown in the following figure.
The first stage was the early Middle Ages, during which European civilization was mainly influenced by Roman and Greek culture, and in the social structure, women served as the main labor force and reproductive tool of the family, and their status was low.
In the second stage, due to religious restrictions, the situation of women's rights did not improve, but became more and more demonized, becoming the "root cause" of all diseases, becoming an appendage of social power and a "scapegoat" of disasters.
But by the third stage, the early Renaissance, women's rights reached their peak in the late Middle Ages due to the growing popularity of the "cult of the Virgin Mary" and the development of the concepts of court love and chivalry.
In the following, we will analyze the real changes and real situations of women in the above three stages from the five dimensions of "attitude", "right", "status", "contribution" and "role".
<h1>attitude</h1>
First, the first shift in secular attitudes toward women stemmed from the religious popular "worship of the Virgin Mary." But this process has actually experienced a very bumpy road.
As early as 431 A.D., the Church proclaimed the woman "Mary" the Mother of God at its Third Plenary Session.
This is the first time that the female figure has received positive recognition after the biblical "Eve" caused mankind to fall from the grace of the Garden of Eden.
However, when things go wrong, there must be demons. Religious officials did not make this decision only to sympathize with women—they cleverly applied the dichotomy, acknowledging on the one hand that "Eve" had caused the fall of the human soul, and on the other hand believing that "Jesus," the son of the Virgin Mary, had redeemed this fall and was the great savior of all mankind.
So, the Church really just wanted to borrow the story of the Virgin Mary to glorify the deeds of Jesus, and the status of the early women did not change in any way, they were both evil seducers and virgin goddesses, but both of these statements became magic weapons in the mouths of religious officials to praise God.
During this period, most regions legally recognized women as men's partners and assistants, but did not give women the social status they deserved, and women were completely reduced to the background of the church's sermons and tools to serve men.
This continued until the early Renaissance, when secular ideas gradually shifted to "humanity" itself, and women had their most basic right to subsistence, and often appeared in the works of artists and writers.
<h1>right</h1>
Throughout the Middle Ages, lower classes of women worked mainly as bakers, winemakers, milkmaids, bartenders, craftsmen, weavers, or sharecroppers.
Feudalism stipulated that land belonged only to God, who leased it to tenants, and he controlled almost every aspect of serf's life, including marriage and funeral—usually, the church would decide on Behalf of God who a girl should marry, not the girl's parents or herself. (Because the daughter of a serf was considered god's property, just like her father and mother)
After the girl married, her husband actually controlled all her interests and was responsible for her actions. Therefore, in the legal affairs of the early Middle Ages, the words about women were very difficult to reach, and it was basically men who were fighting lawsuits.
This also creates the phenomenon that "if a woman commits a crime, the man who accompanies him will also be sentenced." ”
Moreover, at that time, the vast majority of peasant women were completely unrecorded when they lived and died, so the life of the low-level women could be described as "dumb eating yellow lian" and there was no way to say.
The reason for this stems from the strict hierarchical system of medieval society, which led to few people being able to surpass their status at birth.
Coupled with the fact that there was no concept of middle class in the early Middle Ages, the only hope a woman could hope to improve her situation without marriage was to enter the monastery.
But as some scholars have said, most women choose this route to change their fate with an education, but if they do go down this path, then they will definitely regret it.
Why?
Because in the early Middle Ages, nuns learned prayer through memory rather than book knowledge, and even ende, Spain's most famous female priestess (10th century AD), was likely illiterate.
Moreover, even aristocratic women in this period still did not have the right to education. Most of them learned about religion through the Book of Hours.
《book of hours》
The Book of Time is a prayer book for medieval Christians. Each of the Prayer manuscripts is very unique, but most contain similar collections of texts, prayers, and psalms, and are often beautifully decorated, and some can even be described as "luxurious" in some of the prayers for wealthy patrons.
<h1>status</h1>
In the third period of the Middle Ages, 1300-1500 AD, the development of commerce provided more opportunities for women to transform.
During this period, a middle class emerged in Spain and France, as merchants had amassed enough wealth to play a key role in political affairs.
At the same time, medieval guilds were also buffeted by the rise of the middle class, and the majority of working women finally had their heads in time—women of the new bourgeoisie could work with their husbands and fathers in a particular trade, and could succeed men as leaders of the trade after the death of the latter two.
However, since women as "cheap labour" were a well-established concept in the feudal system, women were considered legal "non-entities" and could be paid less than men, a system that had been perpetuated by the guilds.
Although women did not make much more money than men, their legal protections became more apparent—by this time many women's names had appeared in official legal documents or documents, much different from the situation in the early Middle Ages. (It means the advancement of women's status)
Among the nobility, the advancement of women's status was equally evident.
Women no longer have to accept the marriage arranged by their fathers as they once did – as long as they have their own land in their hands, they can choose their own wishes, and sometimes even make the man willing to "enter the money" to follow the woman. (You can refer to the example of Littlefinger in Game of Thrones who defected to Eagle's Nest City))
<h1>contribute</h1>
In the second period of the Middle Ages, between 1000 and 1300 AD, as the worship of the Virgin Mary intensified, aristocratic women gained more rights, and some even changed the way popular culture viewed women.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
For example, two of the most powerful women of this era, Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204 AD) and her daughter, Marie, Countess of Champagne (1145-1198 AD), took advantage of court love and chivalry to elevate women.
Eleanor was one of the most powerful political figures in the Middle Ages, and from 1137 AD until 1152 AD, she was the wife of Louis VII of France (1137-1180 AD), but due to her poor nature, Louis VII, who loved Eleanor deeply, could not get her heart.
Later, Eleanor met henry II, the young and handsome Duke of Normandy, and after a difficult journey to find love, they were finally recognized by the bishop.
So in 1154, she married Henry II and became queen of England. Later, Eleanor and her female followers participated in the Second Crusade, and along the way sponsored many artists, becoming an important patron of Romantic literature.
For example, one of the greatest writers of the Middle Ages, Troy, was sponsored by Eleanor and his daughter, and his Arthurian legend popularized the concepts of court love and chivalry.
This also created a phenomenon that previously women were the property of men or their heirs, but under the spread of Romantic poetry in the 12th century, the aristocracy generally accepted a gentlemanly and elegant chivalry, thus reversing the previous situation.
As the scholar Norman Canto observed, these works had a dramatic impact on the aristocratic class of medieval Europe:
Romantic poets advocated gentlemanly behavior that respected women, enhanced women's dignity, and made her a person of unique value.
Of course, Eleanor and her daughter's contribution is far from here, and they have worked together to invent the concept of "love court".
According to historical records, the Love Court was held specifically to discuss issues related to romantic love and the relationship between men and women. In the process of discussion and justification, people will express their opinions on issues such as "whether romantic love can exist in marriage, which is worse" and "whether it is unfaithful to lose a lover".
Caitlin Tully
However, both romantic literature and "court of love", which combined with the economic and social ethos of the Middle Ages, gave upper- and middle-class women more respect and equality—women always had the responsibility to take over their finances after their husband's death or when they were called to war, a practice that was common in the late Middle Ages. (See in Game of Thrones, Caitlin Tully takes over family affairs after the death of her husband Stark.) ）
<h1>Social roles</h1>
Looking at the three stages of the Middle Ages, women's social roles have also quietly changed.
From the beginning of the social bottom labor force, to the final middle class leaders, women are experiencing an extraordinary transition period.
Women were no longer treated as reproductive machines and low-end labour, but were replaced by an attitude of relative respect and equality.
For example, nuns began copying manuscripts as early as the 10th century AD, there were female scribes in 1274 AD, and in the 14th century, more and more women were involved in book production, and women's access to education was increasing.
Beguines
A better example illustrates this as well:
The Beguines, which began in France in the 13th century, quickly gained a large following based on their core ideas of respect and equality.
The Beguins were devout women who lived in poor but well-ordered communities and were not formal nuns, so they could leave the group at any time.
These women took care of each other and their surrounding communities by producing goods and providing services, thereby circumventing the restrictions of the guild and living according to their own values, something that was simply unimaginable in the early Middle Ages.
<h1>conclusion</h1>
In fact, from the above 5 dimensions, it is not difficult to see that the power of women has undergone a huge transformation from the early to late Middle Ages - from a complete appendage of the original patriarchal system to an intellectual who can have a relative right to speak, and women have won a piece of the sky for themselves through their unremitting resistance and hard work. Despite the limitations of the times, this transformation was undoubtedly successful as a class that was once regarded as a "commodity" and an accessory.