Women in Medieval Europe 1200-1500

1200-1500

Jennifer Ward

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317245124
• Edition: 2
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

Women in Medieval Europe explores the key areas of female experience in the later medieval period, from peasant women to Queens. It considers the women of the later Middle Ages in the context of their social relationships during a time of changing opportunities and activities, so that by 1500 the world of work was becoming increasingly restricted to women. The chapters are arranged thematically to show the varied roles and lives of women in and out of the home, covering topics such as marriage, religion, family and work.

For the second edition a new chapter draws together recent work on Jewish and Muslim women, as well as those from other ethnic groups, showing the wide ranging experiences of women from different backgrounds. Particular attention is paid to women at work in the towns, and specifically urban topics such as trade, crafts, healthcare and prostitution. The latest research on women, gender and masculinity has also been incorporated, along with updated further reading recommendations.

This fully revised new edition is a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the topic, perfect for all those studying women in Europe in the later Middle Ages.

1 Upbringing

DOI: 10.4324/9781315629803-2

Upbringing and education, in the widest sense of the terms, were designed to fit children for their adult lives. This was the basic premise for all social groups, although there were inevitably considerable differences between them, depending on the status and expectations of the children's families. More emphasis was put on the training of boys in both treatises and practice, but girls were not neglected. There was considerable discussion in the treatises as to how to instil feminine virtues and to fit the girl for her future life as wife and mother, or as a nun. In accordance with contemporary ideas on gender, girls came to accept that women were subordinate and that they were expected to be quiet, peace-loving and obedient. Parents provided their daughters with religious and moral training and this was reinforced by parish priests, friars' sermons and by godparents, neighbours and friends. Socialisation by the community was a vital element in children's upbringing. Parents were also concerned to provide the practical training that a girl needed. Although many girls of the elite were taught to read, the main emphasis was put on housekeeping and social accomplishments. Daughters of peasants and artisans learned the skills of the housewife as well as ways in which they could earn money; their training was predominantly practical. The girls who were in most danger of neglect were bastards and orphans, especially among the poor, but steps were taken in various parts of Europe to make some provision for them.

The views of Philippe Ariès that childhood was a discovery of the eighteenth century and that medieval children were regarded with indifference by their parents has come under strong criticism from medieval historians. Ariès considered that in an age of high infant mortality parents sought to safeguard themselves against the possible death of a child, a view attacked by Shulamith Shahar in her book titled Childhood in the Middle Ages in which she argued for the strong bond existing between parent and child, and by Joel Rosenthal, emphasising the concern and affection for children in an age when life was often tough.¹ Both artistic and documentary evidence bears out the emotional involvement of parents with their children. The emphasis on the human qualities of the Virgin and Child and the growing importance attached to St Joseph led to the depiction of the Holy Family in human terms, and showed the importance attached to the relationship between parent and child.² A painting of the Virgin and Child, dating from about 1435 from the workshop of Robert Campin, showed the Virgin at home playing with her Child; a fire blazed in the hearth, the baby's bath stood ready, and there was a basket of clean nappies on the floor. Such scenes had their counterpart in real life. Parents rejoiced at the birth of their children, nurtured them with care and grieved when they died. A young mother at Châteauverdun found it almost impossible to tear herself away from her baby when she left home to rejoin the Cathars. Alessandra Strozzi described how the death of her son caused her the greatest pain that she had ever felt.³ Such expressions of emotion are rare. Parents' bequests to children in their wills were expressed in formal language, but show a caring attitude in the desire that the child should have some provision for the future.

Didactic treatises proliferated from the thirteenth century, sometimes prompted by the parents themselves and highlighting the overall importance of the mother's role in upbringing. Vincent of Beauvais wrote De eruditione filiorum nobilium at the end of the 1240s at the request of Queen Margaret of France, in order to meet the educational needs of the queen's son Louis and probably also of her daughter Isabelle. The knight of La Tour-Landry compiled his book for his daughters in 1371–2, considering it as a substitute for his personal guidance during his inevitable absences. Giovanni Dominici wrote for an upper-class Florentine mother in the early fifteenth century. The thirteenth-century treatise of Walter de Bibbesworth was specifically designed to help the English noblewoman, Denise de Montchesney, to teach her children French. At least one mother, Elizabeth of Bosnia, queen of Hungary (d. 1382), composed her own book of instruction for her daughters, but this has not survived.⁴ For people lower down the social scale, advice was dispensed in sermons, pastoral handbooks and vernacular poems. Many of the treatises circulated widely. The work of Vincent of Beauvais continued to be read in the fifteenth century, while De regimine principum by Giles of Rome was translated into English in the fourteenth century by John Trevisa.⁵ The book of the knight of La Tour-Landry was translated into English by Caxton at the request of ‘a noble lady with many noble and fair daughters’; possibly this was Queen Elizabeth Woodville who had five daughters. Although many of these works paid more attention to boys than to girls, they took the upbringing of girls seriously, realising that adult life required serious preparation.

Childhood was divided into distinct stages of which the first two, infancy between birth and the age of seven, and childhood between the ages of seven and fourteen, were of particular relevance for girls. By the third stage of adolescence, envisaged as lasting from the age of about fourteen or puberty to at least twenty-one, most girls were at work or married. During infancy, it was the mother who was primarily responsible for the child, although in elite families she would not carry out physical care and would have a wet-nurse to breastfeed the baby. By the age of two, the child would have been weaned and the greatest risk of infant mortality was over, although death remained an ever-present threat in medieval families. During infancy, writers put their emphasis on both physical care and the beginnings of moral and religious training. For Giles of Rome, the diet of milk was to be followed by one of soft food, and wine was forbidden; the child was to be kept from crying, to get used to cold, and to play in moderation; the telling of stories to the child was encouraged. Vincent of Beauvais and Bartholomew the Englishman were equally concerned with the care of the child, Vincent stressing the need to develop harmony between soul and body, and Bartholomew urging the need to give attention to the child, especially early on.⁶

Children's toys have been found in excavations, although it can be difficult to identify particular objects as toys. Certainly children had rattles, tops, dolls and toy animals, and a finger puppet was found in a London excavation. Some of the dolls were used for religious instruction as well as play and were owned by grown-ups as well as children. As children grew older, their toys imitated adult life, and the miniature jugs and plates which have been discovered were probably the property of girls beginning to learn housekeeping skills. Children generally enjoyed games and could make toys out of all sorts of objects. The avoidance of games by young children was regarded as one of the signs of a potential saint.⁷

From the age of about seven, the education of boys and girls began to diverge. Mothers continued to be responsible for their daughters, although among the nobility a mistress might be put in charge. It was the duty of the mother or mistress to instil the moral precepts and manners which girls needed for the adult world. The recommendations in the didactic treatises applied particularly to girls of the elite. Vincent of Beauvais considered that parents should keep their daughters at home and maintain a close watch in order to preserve their chastity. Girls were to be instructed in modesty, humility and silence; gossip and personal adornment were to be discouraged, and the company a girl kept was to be carefully vetted. Similar recommendations were made by Giles of Rome, as well as by preachers who extended the clerical message to a much wider circle of families; Guibert of Tournai emphasised chastity and modesty, and an absence of make-up for older girls.⁸ The importance of manners is also found in vernacular literature, such as the poem ‘How the Goodwife Taught her Daughter’, dating from the mid-fourteenth century and probably written by a cleric. The poem depicts the mother teaching her daughter, as she had previously been taught by her mother, and urging her to be mild and true, wise and of good reputation. The poem may also have been used by women who were training servants and apprentices.⁹

This teaching was very much in line with late medieval clerical views of women. The knight of La Tour-Landry drew on biblical and ecclesiastical sources and was helped by two priests and two clerks of his household. The examples which he used were designed to teach his daughters Christian morals and good manners; he wanted them to possess the virtues of chastity, modesty, humility, obedience and courtesy. His stories were vividly expressed. In speaking of courtesy, he drew a comparison with the sparrowhawk which, he said, would come to the hand if it was called courteously, but would never come if the owner was rude or cruel. The knight was especially hostile to new fashions and warned his daughters not to wear make-up or to be proud of their beauty. He cited a bishop who in a sermon deplored the new fashion of horned head-dresses and described women as horned snails with the devil living between the horns. According to the bishop, Noah's flood was caused partly by women wearing indecent clothing.¹⁰ One wonders about the reaction of the knight's daughters to such teaching.

Advice varied as to whether girls should be taught to read. The Florentine, Paolo da Certaldo, was adamant in opposing this unless the girls were to become nuns.¹¹ Pierre Dubois went to the other extreme in recommending that girls should receive the same education as boys, studying Latin, an eastern language, grammar, logic, religion, natural science, surgery and medicine. Pierre was thinking primarily of the reconquest of the Holy Land; he thought that some girls would marry physicians and surgeons and use their education in the care of the sick, while others would marry wealthy Muslims and convert them to Christianity.¹² Other writers considered reading as a useful occupation to prevent idleness, although some expressed anxiety about the effect of romances on young girls. Giles of Rome coupled reading with the spinning and weaving of silk as a way of preventing evil thoughts, while Vincent of Beauvais saw supervised reading, especially of the Bible, and the arts of sewing and weaving as enabling girls to avoid the vanities of the flesh. The knight of La Tour-Landry was less grudging in his attitude and believed that it was good for women to read. He cited the prophetess Deborah, who lived a good life and persuaded her wicked lord to rule his people justly, and St Catherine of Alexandria, who through her wisdom and learning overcame the wisest men of all Greece and converted them to her faith.¹³ In practice, reading was a useful skill for women who in adult life might find themselves taking over estate and business responsibilities in town and country; daughters of German merchants were also taught writing and numbers. In the case of Christine de Pizan, her father's insistence on a good education stood her in good stead when, as a widow, she supported her family by her writing; her mother could not see the point of education and wanted to see Christine spinning like other girls.¹⁴

The examples used by the knight underline the medieval view that the whole education in manners, morals and reading was rooted in religion. The virtues inculcated were regarded as fostering the girl's Christian development. Religious practice was to be an integral part of her life. Humbert de Romans considered that girls should know how to recite the psalter, the hours and the office of the dead, together with other prayers. The knight of La Tour-Landry set his daughters' day in a religious framework, wishing them to say matins and the hours devoutly before breakfast and to attend all the masses that they could. He also urged them to carry out good works and almsgiving, and to care for orphans and poor children. The Goodwife's daughter was to go to church when she could, even in the rain, and to be charitable to the poor and sick.¹⁵ The love of God, as expressed in prayer, was coupled with love of one's neighbour. Parents in all social groups agreed with the writers and preachers on the importance of religion, morality and social behaviour, and children learned from parental example as well as from their attendance at church. Jean Gerson recorded how his parents taught him to pray for the things which he wanted, like apples and nuts, and then dropped the objects in front of him.¹⁶

For many of the better-off, religious education was probably supplemented by reading and the mother probably had the responsibility of choosing reading matter as well as often teaching her daughters to read. The images of St Anne teaching her daughter, the Virgin Mary, to read, and of the Virgin Mary herself reading at the Annunciation may well have mirrored practice in wealthier households. Lives of the virgin martyrs constituted popular role models for adolescent girls, although mothers would not want their daughters to imitate the martyrs' resistance to parental or public authority. Books of Hours presented teaching material; the Bolton Hours contained the alphabet, Pater Noster, Ave Maria and the creed, and may have been used by Margaret Blackburn of York to teach her daughters.¹⁷

Although many girls of the elite were educated within the household, some urban schools were open to girls as well as boys, providing them with an elementary education. Giovanni Villani estimated that between 8,000 and 10,000 boys and girls were being educated in Florence before the Black Death; if this estimate was accurate, it would imply that 60 per cent of children were at school between the ages of six and thirteen. There are incidental references to schools for girls in late medieval London, and the licensing of grammar school mistresses in Paris shows that some girls were probably receiving more than an elementary education. Schools for girls existed in the towns of the Low Countries, Germany and Switzerland in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.¹⁸ Noble girls all over Europe were sometimes sent to nunneries for their education, some of them remaining there to become nuns. In the early fifteenth century, Katherine, Countess of Suffolk, was having her daughter and granddaughter educated in a nunnery while a younger son was at grammar school, the family being reunited at home for the holidays.¹⁹

In practice, the education of girls of the elite was very much along similar lines to the treatises, but these underestim...