Did Attitudes Towards the Status of Women and Marriage Change in the Late- Middle Ages?

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Did Attitudes Towards the Status of Women and Marriage Change in the Late- Middle Ages?

The Medieval approach to the subject of marriage was entirely distinct and unlike our own. It is difficult to understand their view on married life, as it appears to us, in the modern day to be much more of a contract for the consolidation of estates and monetary gain rather than the love of two people. However the view of women in general was very

unlike the outlook of our contemporary society and to understand their view of marriage we must first understand the outlook of women in the Middle Ages.

Women are first mentioned in The Bible in Genesis 2:21-3. It is described how woman is created from the rib of man and how the man said

‘This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of

man’

The following passages in The Bible describe the fall of Eve and the temptation of Adam. From the very first literature, women are depicted with less moral standing than men and are seen as the downfall of all good, honest Christians. Apostles such as St Paul and St Augustine are also seen to have a grave role in the shaping of the view of women in the Middle Ages. However condemnation of females was not only confined to the Christian Church, as we know it today. Constantine, who established the progressive ‘Christainisation’ of the empire, discovered small yet troubled heresies among which was one called Gnostics. They believed that the created world was inferior to the spiritual one and as women are the creators in our world they were therefore automatically lesser in the eyes of the lord. Many Gnostic sets wished to discard the reproducing purposes of women and also believed that marriage was sent from the Devil. They are quoted as declaring “Marrying and reproducing are said to be instigated by Satan” However they did not just believe in this without any cause. Gnostics thought that if women abandoned their duty to procreate they would be worthy to preach, baptise and prophesy alongside men. There were already many prior instances of women taking on such roles within The Bible. However, most surprisingly was the vision of the female Christ. This was maintained by Montanist liturgies that had great worship for Eve as her first sin brought about the miracle of incarnation.

So it is easy to see that women’s role within this society was a perplexed and confused issue. There were so many different views from many different sects of Christianity, however what I am going to concentrate on is the view of the laywomen in the Middle Ages by the Christian church.

All women were expected to be married, even Nuns were the brides of Christ. Although it was expected, marriage was not the ideal state for a woman. The perfect form was virginity. Those women who preserved their virginity were exalted among others as they had not given in to temptation and from the stories of Eve its in the female nature to be tempted. Puritans wrote

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Per mulierem culpa successit,

Per virginem salus evenit

Sin came from women,

But salvation through a virgin

 However even virginity could not bring a woman to the higher state that a man holds within the Christian Church of the early Middle Ages. Cyprian, a third century writer made virginity the distinguishing and unique mark of Christianity, which in turn made virginity a public affair as opposed to a private virtue. Cyprian’s later contemporary; Ambrose conceived the idea that there were only two types of women in the world. Those who led normal married lives which ...

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