The wife of a lord and the wife of a peasant would both have been expected to be submissive to their husbands and to bear children, and both would have been valued on their fertility. But the similarities did not end there.
Women and the Church
All women would have been told regularly – both by the church and by society in general – that their gender meant they were naturally weak, sinful and vain, and they would only have had limited choices of what to do with their lives.
The church’s attitude to women dictated a lot of how women were treated by society in general. The only people they would hold up as examples of women would be Eve – who was blamed for committing the original sin – and the Virgin Mary. Since no women was held to be as perfect as Mary, it was generally recognised that all women were inferior to men and could lead men into sin – in particular, lust.
Because of this belief, women were encouraged to dress modestly, covering their arms and legs completely. Only the young, unmarried women and children would go around with their hair uncovered. There was also a superstition that if women didn’t cover their ears, the Devil could enter their bodies through the ear and impregnate them.
Career Choices for Women
The normal career for a fourteenth century woman was marriage and motherhood. A marriage could take place from the age of seven if there was consent, but for the girl, consent could come from her parents even if she herself didn’t want the match.
The married women’s duties were primarily those of cooking, cleaning and taking care of her children. Women from wealthier families often had servants to help with those jobs, and managing the servants was one of the woman’s jobs. She would also be in charge of the kitchen garden, beer brewing, and dairy and textile production. Women would traditionally have been given lighter jobs to do, as it was believed that heavier and more difficult jobs would harm their chances of having children.
Some women would also learn to read and write. When their husbands were away, they would be expected to run their business, collect any taxes, keep records, manage household expenses, pay bills and collect debts, as well as being called on to witness transactions and buy supplies. They would have needed an ability to do maths and to read and write, and in this respect, and educated wife was seen as a valuable asset.
A Widow's Role
Some women outlived their husbands and had to support a family. Inheritance laws varied from place to place – sometimes the part of her husband’s property that had been her dowry belonged to her and her daughters and the rest belonged to her sons; sometimes she could keep everything but forfeited it if she remarried; but the general rule was that she was just looking after her husband’s property until her children came of age.
While married women had more options open to them, as their husbands often needed help to run their businesses if they were away from home, a widow may also have been called on to take over her husband's business if the husband died.
Married women were always concerned with their immortal soul and were told they had to work hard in order to go to heaven, as they weren’t chaste. For this reason, widows were encouraged to remain single: they had done their duty to marry and raise children, and now they were voluntarily remaining chaste.
Despite this, many women chose to remarry regardless, especially those who had been widowed at a young age. An example of this is Joan of Kent, who, after the death of her husband Thomas Holland, married Edward the Black Prince.
Pam Griffin - Pam Griffin is a journalist working in Shropshire, UK. She is interested in first aid, singing and playing music, history, and ...
