A primary responsibility of women during the Renaissance was to have many children as shown in the source below.
“Henrietta Maria, the queen of King Charles I of England, was pregnant almost without intermission from 1628 to 1639.”
From the source above it is clear to see that there was a high birth rate. However, after looking at other sources from historians it is clear to see that there was also a very high child mortality rate as shown below.
“In Seventeenth-century England, only two of the six children born to Sir Ralph and Lady Margaret Verney survived to adulthood.”
It however has become apparent to me that girls were not as valued as boys from a young age.
“Boys are sent to learn their letters: Girls learn womanly things. When they later become adults, the boys learn a trade which will support them; the girls are married with the institution providing a dowry.”
From the source above it is clear to see the importance of the roles each gender plays in society at the time of the renaissance. It supports the point mentioned above that a woman was supposed to marry, be loyal to her husband and to give birth to children, whereas the man had to be well educated and provide for his family.
I think during this period it is important to look at the differences of both the upper and lower class women in the different aspects of society.
Upper class women were seen as subservient to their husbands. They relied on these husbands to support them. The wealthier of families could afford the employment of a wet nurse. A wet nurse helped to look after the newborn children in a family. This relieved a lot of pressure off the mother.
“Babies of the very wealthiest were provided a wet nurse who lived in the household: these were the highest paid of all the domestic servants”.
Marriage in the Elizabethan era was arranged. This meant that the wives were forced into the marriage by their fathers. The source below shows the importance of a dowry in Elizabethan times.
“The sexual honour of a woman was not only hers, I would say not even primarily hers: It was tied to a more complex honour which involved both the family and the men who dominated it...the honour of an entire family and of the men responsible for it revolved about the conservation of a daughter's virginity.”
During Elizabethan times women believed that they were not as important as men and so believed that the men knew better. They were taught this from birth. It is because of this that we can draw a picture to the facts of why Elizabeth was so reluctant to marry. I believe she knew that if she married she would lose some of her power. However, as it stood she did not have to answer to anybody. Elizabeth used the negotiation of marriage to her advantage. If she married she knew she wouldn’t be as superior. But while she was not married she promised her people the possibility of marriage and an heir. Elizabeth I feel also presented herself as a mother to her people. She convinced the people of her country that having children would take her attention away from them. By not marrying and not being a mother she presented herself as a sensuous woman who everyone would love. I believe she aimed to take a strong hold of her people in their minds in order to ensure the long and good duration of her reign. The lower class Elizabethan women were also expected to obey the orders of their husbands. All women of the time were expected to marry and be dependant of the male of the family for her entire life. The source below shows the expectation of wives during the Elizabethan period.
“The philosopher John Locke, pioneer of the Enlightenment, opposed the tyranny of husbands as much as that of kings; but within a marriage, woman was to cede authority to her husband, because he was by nature, "abler and stronger."”
There were however women of the time who were not married. These women only had one option in order to survive. They had to take part in domestic service. Women were not allowed to work in the upper professions so domestic service was the only option in order to get an income. Domestic service would include jobs like cooking or being a maid for example. Marriage appealed to all women from the lower class due to the fact that the husband’s role was to provide for a household. However, the household was not the most protected area for a wife as shown in the source below.
“The seventeenth-century Countess of Warwick in England directed the dairy and hen house and checked the annual accounts while the Countess of Flanders, who in 1372 "had two great forges built for her," and supervised the operation of the mines.”
Education was a major issue in the Elizabethan era. The renaissances brought with it new thinking to England. Women from wealthy backgrounds were allowed the privilege of education. The type of education supplied was home education taught by a tutor. However, Elizabethan women were not allowed to go to university. The reason for this being that Queen Elizabeth believed that the women would distract the men from their studies. In comparison with this, lower class Elizabethan women would not have received any form of education. They would be taught the duties of how to run a household. This would prepare them for later life and marriage. Marriage was very important to the women of this era. The woman would have several roles while her husband was at work. The woman was required to run the household and provide the children. As indicated earlier there was a very high birth rate at this time.
Queen Elizabeth also stated that the appearance of a woman was important during this period. As you can expect a woman ages considerably quick due to the pressure put onto her by pregnancy and the looking after of the household. There were laws made based upon what types of clothes a woman could wear known as the sumptuary laws.
In summary the woman during the time of the renaissance was expected to marry well, be loyal and obedient to her husband, give birth to his children and look after the household. Men at the time of the renaissance were expected to be educated and provide the source of income for his family.
Renaissance became involved in Britain after many of its European counterparts had experienced it. I will now look at some of the most important women in the history of the Renaissance. The women I will look at were not typical of the recognised ‘Renaissance woman’.
The first woman I will look at is Isabella D’Este. She was born in 1474 into a ruling family in Ferra. Isabella achieved many accomplishments which were not typical to a ‘Renaissance woman’. Isabella was well educated and spoke both Greek and Latin. When her husband passed away she took control of a whole city on her own. She founded a school for young women. She also wrote over 200 letters. These letters were important as these letters were the closest any woman had ever come to writing history. The impact Isabella made to society was important. She set an example to all other women to step away from what had become known as the ‘traditional Renaissance woman’ and become and achieve whatever they wanted from life.
The second woman I will look at is Catherine De Medici. Catherine was born in Italy in 1519. After the death of her parents through illness Catherine was raised by nuns. Through the discipline and leaning they gave her, Catherine turned out to be extremely well educated. Catherine married in 1533. The first ten years of Catherine’s marriage proved very hard as she was unable to conceive children, but she later succeeded. Catherine achieved many accomplishments during her time in power. She managed to create a policy of peace between Protestants and Catholics and due to her being a great patron to the arts she allowed for the Renaissance to flourish significantly. I believe it was important to look at both Isabella D’Este and Catherine De Medici because they possessed the qualities that many women of the time looked up to and believed were a necessity.
The question “How did the Renaissance affect ideas about women? Did it affect them enough?” is hard to answer. An important article was written in the book Women, History and Feeling by Joan Kelly. The book gives a realignment of perspectives on women in society from the middle Ages to the present. Joan Kelly asked the famous question “Did women have a Renaissance?” Joan Kelly’s article examines whether early modern day women were on equal par with men. However, it is clear to see that the roles of women in everyday life were extremely constrained compare to the roles of men during this time. Joan Kelly does not believe the Renaissance was an important stage in female liberation however, it has to be claimed that women did have some form of Renaissance due to the fact that women were granted with a greater access to education. A downfall which closed the door on potential careers for women was the closure of convents in protestant countries. This also meant that many women’s religious lives were transformed.
In my opinion I believe women did have a Renaissance though it is a delicate question to answer. From my research I have found out that the main priority of woman in the renaissance was to take care of her children as well as maintaining the household. Women had a lot of domestic duties on the social front which proved to be time consuming and I believe kept women away from considering a career outside the home. In the home the women would be important for providing the necessities to her family e.g. clothes and food. In my opinion it is quite clear to see that there were too many demands required to provide for their family and therefore women would not be able to do the additional things the Renaissance brought with it. These could include a career in painting or sculpting. Through research I have also discovered that there were many other problems associated with the new careers that developed during the Renaissance period. For example women faced many problems in becoming an artist. Due to art turning into a profession rather than just a hobby or a craft, it made it more difficult for women to become professional artists and get their work recognised. This was because artists were required to have a certain degree of education in different subjects e.g. knowledge on ancient art. This proved punishing for women due to the fact that vast majority was illiterate and would never have had the teaching to be educated in such a way which allowed her to be a professional artist. Women also faced many prejudice problems from men. There were not really accepted into the world of art during the Renaissance though steps were made towards this with several women’s paintings being published. Men thought they were more superior to women. The was due to the fact that society had been brought up to believe this fact, but the renaissance encouraged women into doing whatever they wanted to do. However, because of women artists not being taken seriously it made it extremely difficult for historians to document the contribution of female Renaissance artists due to the face that much of their work was left unsigned because the women would therefore not take her work seriously.
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