By: Tori, Hannah and Mimi
Tori's thoughts
Life for women in the Middle Ages, as shown by the readings for this week, especially the section by Christiane Klapish-Zuber, was not all princesses and wealth. For some women in the Middle Ages it's true they were lucky enough to be born into wealthy families of privilege, but even then a woman would often be used as a tool to buy peace through marriage, her own wishes often ignored.
The
majority of women in this time were peasants. Spending
their lives toiling in the fields and tending to the household chores and
raising children.
Real life for women in the Middle Ages was
very different from the images we are often fed through Hollywood’s glamorous
interpretations. Women had to be hard working and strong. They were the central figure for family
life but were subjected to the least amounts of human rights.
The definition of a woman revolved around
the men she was associated with. For example, if a woman was married to a brewer
she would be considered the brewer's wife no matter what personal traits or
skills of her own she possessed.
The picture that Christine Klapish-Zuber
paints of the medieval woman is, in her own words, gloomy. But, it is a realistic
representation giving a thorough description of the life of medieval women.
Hannah's thoughts
It’s really interesting how the two texts differed in their presentation of women in Medieval Europe. I won’t discuss the second text because I don’t want to overlap the other two girls' posts.
Hannah's thoughts
It’s really interesting how the two texts differed in their presentation of women in Medieval Europe. I won’t discuss the second text because I don’t want to overlap the other two girls' posts.
There seems to be two different opinions of
women in Medieval Europe, one where women are seen as sinners, due to Eve, and
the contrasting view that women bought people closer to God, by Mary giving
birth to Jesus.
Women were characterised by their sexuality
either as a virgin, widow or married. Virginity was regarded as the highest and
most righteous status; however, women were also expected to bear children. With
Mary being both a virgin and the bearer of Jesus she set an unattainable goal
of maintaining her virtue as a virgin and fulfilling her expectations of society
and the Bible by being a mother. By giving birth to God, Mary bought people
closer to Him, and raised the opinion held of women.
Women still seemed to be quite oppressed, maybe not as badly
as in Ancient Rome, however, definitely viewed as less virtuous than men
despite Mary providing a stronger link between God and people.
Mary Magdalene is presented as a devout
Christian and a realistic goal for women to strive towards. She was sinful and
transformed into the ideal Christian, spreading the name of Christ and
performing miracles with the help of God.
Eve of course is viewed negatively due to her committing the first sin which shattered the perfect world that was the Garden
of Eden. Eve is the main reason women were viewed as more likely to sin then
men.
Scholastica is presented as a woman with
a very close link to God. It seems
implied that she knew she was going to die soon and wished to spend more time
with her brother, using her close bond with God she is said to have caused a
storm which prevented his leaving. Then, when she died, she visited her brother
whilst being carried by angels. This reinforces the wonder of God and how those
who formed a close bond with him would be blessed by the Heavens.
Some women seem to be quite awe inspiring
in Medieval Europe and treated as equals to men, such as Joan of Arc, who
managed to gather respect from many. For a woman in Medieval Europe Joan of Arc
accomplished amazing feats, that’s inarguable, but was it through ingenuity,
the grace of God, luck or something entirely different that allowed her to
accomplish so much?
How realistic a goal do you think Mary
Magdalene set for Medieval European Women?
*** Please post any comments, questions or reflections ***
Hi guys,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the post :) I think you guys chose one of the most interesting topics for the tutorial discussions. I genuinely enjoyed these readings as I find the various representations and roles of men and women during the Medieval and Renaissance periods fascinating.
My favourite bit of the readings came from Augustine of Hippo, On the Good of Marriage, where it says that marriage serves the sole purpose of creating children and if a woman was found to be less in control of her desires she should be married off so that it's suddenly acceptable.
In terms of how realistic the goals are for women set by Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary, I think you would have to be an incredibly strong willed and careful woman to achieve such status in life. There were so many reasons a person could be punished in those days that taking a slight step in the wrong direction could mean death for a woman.
Anyway, those are just my thoughts on the subject.
Caitlin
I found it interesting that christians look up to both the virgin Mary and Mary of Magdalene as they have totally different backgrounds. I suppose Mary of Magdalene's transformation from a sinner to an evangelical figure gives average women hope of being forgiven for their sins and leading a holy life. Although the virgin Mary is apparently faultless, it would be impossible for christian women to aspire to chastity and child bearing. The Christine Klapisch-Zuber reading contained a lot of useful statistics on marriage, births and mortality, which gave a great insight into the hardships faced by medieval women who were essentially used as a means of creating more men.
ReplyDeleteHi everybody! Really enjoyed your blog post it was really good, pretty informative too! The readings this week were fairly enjoyable- I generally find most reading about gender roles within different forms of society and through different times interesting, I feel like it is a great way to get an understanding of the evolution of the society of the time, as well as influences such as Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary. The way women are treated throughout history is always interesting, but personally I see the reaction of women as a whole to the way they are treated as the most interesting piece of gender roles in history. Good luck with your essay and presentation guys!
ReplyDeleteI found the reading a little dry but at the same time your analysis of the reading really interesting so I'm a little torn about how I feel in regard to this topic.
ReplyDeleteAs for the whole question about who is more rateable, the virgin Mary or Mary Magdalene, I guess the answer would depend on the way you looked at it. From a current point of view the medieval women would probably have been highly virtuous women, obedient, and incredibly devout. So from a modern point of view these women were closer to the virgin Mary. However from their own point of view (and particularly that of the men around them) they would have been sinners trying to redeem themselves in the eyes of God. Therefore to a medieval woman Mary Magdalene would have been a much more relatable religious character to pray to.
Good luck with the presentation guys.