Medieval Women

Being a woman in medieval times was not necessarily an easy thing. Women were very limited in their options of what they were to do with their lives, and were not considered to be a very important asset to society. We know of a few female medieval heroes, but most women were nuns, wives, and sometimes businesswomen.

Women in medieval times were often told at a young age that they were sinful, weak, and vain. Since women are decedents of Eve, all of them bear her sin and must carry the shame of it. Therefore men were the dominant and more important ones in this society. When a woman was married, she had very limited rights in the marriage, and if the woman was to be divorced, she did not even receive custody of her child from it.

Aside from all these factors, many women did make a change during this period of time. It is now that we remember Joan of Arc, whose visions prompted her to dress as a man and lead the French against the English and was later executed for it; Hildegarde of Bingen, who took advantage of her simple life and produced music and writings; Christine de Pisan, a young widow who was able to support herself with her writing; and Isabella of Castile, who helped unite Spain and gave Christopher Columbus his big break. All of these women helped do something to change themselves, their country, or their world, but many times were punished for it (i.e. Joan of Arc, who saw visions telling her to lead her country in the army but was later tried for witchcraft and heresy and put to death).

Since all women cannot become heroes or saints, they tend to have to make their living some other way.

One option was to join a convent. A convent was a place for very pious women to devote their lives to God, but it was also a chance for them to learn to read and write, a chance that was not so open to all women. Hildegarde of Bingin (mentioned above) is the prime example of a scholarly nun. The nunnery, as well as life in general, combined with her education enabled her to be a wonderful writer of her time. Being a nun also helped reduce many of the causes of younger death for them. Since all of the nuns were virgins, it meant that they would not have to worry about dying in childbirth, a problem that was all too common among women in that era (likely due to their lack of technology at the time). Chaste women were also promised 100 times their rewards in heaven, while, the average married women was only assured 30.

A second option was to be a wife, which is pretty explanatory. Being married was considered the normal "career" for women at this time. Girls were married young, sometimes as young as the age of seven, and generally stayed with the same man for the rest of her life due to the enforced sacristy of the marriage. Many of the traditional duties of married