# data[].attributes.body
Source: https://sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/women-in-medieval-literature-and-society/
In the medieval period, women were considered as second class citizens. Therefore, woman didn't had the power of speaking their voice, and males made decisions for them. However, they could be educated and has access to books, but the education of males and females were different. Women were trained in domestic skills such as sewing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Character Tropes of Women in Medieval Literature Throughout the Medieval period, women were viewed as second class citizens, and their needs always were an afterthought. They were either held to be completely deceitful, sexual, innocent, or incompetent. Therefore, women were mostly withheld from positions of power or speaking their voice; males made decisions for them, and their lives were dictated by the men that ran the society. Despite their lack of validation and suppression, however, women in Medieval literature were certainly present in many works and in various forms. Some tropes feed into the idea that women are subservient and inferior to men such as the Virgin, which portrays females as passive and weak, or the mother whose very life circles around making a better life for her family and especially for her husband, or even the whore who has no power in her sexuality and must give it away for the well being of her family or the men in society. However, there are some archetypes that break this cycle like the Trickster or Witch who break the social norms and stand out, displaying qualities of cunning intelligence, intimidation, and power. The sections below will dive deeper into the disparity between how women were viewed in Medieval society and how they were portrayed in the literature of the time. "The Virgin"
Perhaps the most common, and most positively looked upon character trope to be affiliated with women in literature is "The Virgin". According to the majority of early literature, women's primary function was to remain "pure" until they are wed and then permitted to produce children. If an unwed woman were to appear in literature back in Medieval times, she would almost indefinitely be made into a virtuous, pure woman.

Like many tropes in literature, this character ideology originated in The Bible. Saint Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, also called The Virgin Mary, is the first notable person recorded with this all around encompassing identity. St. Mary took a vow of virginity and remained faithful to it her entire life, despite giving birth to a child. Mary was so pure of character that her pregnancy was an immaculate conception. The angel Gabriel came to her and told her she would bear the son of God. St. Mary lived her life completely within the parameters of being a perfect Christian woman. It is her life and her behavior that created this "ideal" religious woman.

In Medieval literature, The Virgin is often the voice of reason. She is rational, down-to-earth, and guiding (as far as guiding the main character towards the path that God has set out for them). Telling the hero what God has in store for them is The Virgin's primary job. She tires to keep the hero on their quest. She is often described as beautiful, graceful. Though still generally a secondary or even tertiary character in Medieval literature, The Virgin is still important to the plot. She is respected and protected in some way throughout the story. Even when she is in trouble, the author doesn't do any physical damage to her, often just putting her to sleep or locking her somewhere until the hero can save her.

In Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Una is the saintly princess that the Red Cross Knight must protect on his journey. She appears riding right along side the Red Crosse Knight, riding a donkey "white then snow, yet she much whiter" (783). We all know that white signifies purity, and the point made about her being whiter than her ride gives us an idea about how Virginly she is. Reading further, "So pure and innocent, as that same lambe, she was in life and every vertuous lore, and by descent from Royall lynage came" (783), explaining that Una gets her virtue from her royal upbringing. During the story, Una quite literally keeps the Knight on the forest past, discouraging him from straying and finding other things to do: "'Be well aware,' quoth then that Ladie milde, 'Least suddain mischiefe ye too rash provoke: The danger hid, the place unknowne and wilde,'" (785).

"The Mother"
Throughout the Medieval Period, women's most important role was that of a mother or child bearer, whether she was rich or poor, children were her first priority. Women's role in society was often compared to that which is written in the Bible. Real life women were subservient and oppressed due to the fact that Bible dictated they should be that way and religion was so closely adhered to. Eve, the creator of Original Sin was often seen as why women should be suppressed and obedient, though the Virgin Mary provide a contrast of Eve and was looked upon to be great. She did everything to help support the men in her family, as Alixe Bovey states, "Just as rural women helped with their husbands' work, urban women assisted their fathers and husbands in a wide variety of trades and crafts". Everything that a woman did related to how it would better men's lives. Women had every loyalty to their husbands and families. Raising a son who was well suited for society was the best and most important thing a woman could do because men were true contributions to society. Richer women who were mothers did not directly raise their children, though bearing them was still their most important job in the household. Men still ruled the roost especially as C.N. Trueman states, "producing a male heir within a rich family was considered vital". Poor women needed to bear a lot of children, preferably males, in order to create a work force for their husband. Everything circles back to the importance of men and women providing men and for men in the society.
Medieval literature often represents women in very distinct lights, and most of them are not very becoming. While the light may not always be a good one, there is always a light shining on women, as they are usually central to the story. The role of mother is often necessary, but often seen as the subservient, protective-from-afar character that classified a real life medieval woman. The women who are portrayed as mothers such as in The Second Shepherd's Play are exemplified to reflect women in the Bible such as the Virgin Mary during the play within the play, because it is a mystery play that real life Medieval people would be able to relate to while watching. The mother who does not act as the Virgin Mary, or is not the image of perfection is seen to be failing at her only job in life. As one of the shepherds, Mak, states, "[My wife] Lies waltering, by the rood, By the fire, lo! And a house full of brood. She drinks well, too: Ill speed other good That she will do! But sho Eat as fast as she can; and ilk year that comes to man She brings forth a lakan-and some years two" (340-350). By a man's standards she is falling down on her wifely duties, but what should be her redeeming quality, bearing a lot of children, does not even seem to cheer him up. Men dictate exactly the way that a woman should be and this man believes that if his wife is not taking what he believes to be proper care of her children, then she should not be having them. Every woman should be a mother, but only if she is a good one. This woman is defined by what her husband thinks of her and even though she is fulfilling her duty, she is not doing it well enough for him and therefore is completely belittled.
In the epic poem, Beowulf, Grendel's mother exemplifies a different type of protectiveness. While she does take on a more masculine role, she is simply conforming to the society that she is placed in the way other mothers in medieval literature abide by all of society's rules. "She does demonstrate an awareness and acceptance of a code of honor when she seeks revenge for the death of her son. '"In the European Middle Ages, as in virtually all periods of human history, warfare is see as a masculine activity;"' (O'Pry-Reynolds). While she does not conform to the normal mother and subservient woman, she does become who she has to in order to uphold the ideals of the society. While she does not take on the normal role of women in the society, it requires that she protect her son in a different manner and therefore she does what she has to in order to be the best mother she can be.

Portrait of Medieval Mother by Jeremias van Winghe

"The Witch"
Witches are women who posses knowledge and power, depending on when in history the witch is living in she could either be an important member of society, or she could live at risk of being drowned or burned alive. During the hay day of the witch hunts any women who is different than the societal expectation of a women would be at risk of being tried as a witch. Because of this fear of those who are different witches are often viewed as villainous people.

Origin of trope
Witchcraft, folk magic, and magical figures have been a part of human life dating all the way back to the paleolithic era with illustrations in caves of shamans. As time progressed and people moved around the world and evolved so did their magic. During the Medieval period there were two types of witches, white witches and black witches. White witches were often wise old women who worked with herbs (such as mandrake, datura, cannabis, belladonna, henbane, hemlock, etc) to try to fin cures, or at the very least aid ailments that have no cure. These women were incredibly important members of Medieval European society.
Black witches however, were not viewed so highly by society. They practiced the secret art of witchcraft that causes harm to others.

Characteristics of trope
Witches are women, usually older women, many of them were wise women and their craft was passed down from generation to generation. Black witches are the witches who we often think of today, with dark spells and ominous potions.
The distinction between these two categories of witches was lost during the Bubonic Plague, during this time filled with death, despair, and confusion people were seeking to find a scapegoat for all the death. Witches were one of the groups of people who are "different" and are to blame for the deaths of the plague. Then Malleus Maleficarum (or the Hammer of Witches) was written about a century later in 1486 by Jacob Sprenger, and Heinrich Kramer. In this book witches were described as "satanic and sexual abominations", and while the black death may be over this was still a time filled with famines and death. The people suffering wanted a scapegoat; so they turned to witches who were now the blame the all the misfortunes in people's lives such as: animals dying, a bad harvest, houses being burnt down, and curdled food. Around the writing of the Hammer of Witches Pope Leo X made a bill decreeing that all those convicted with witchcraft were to be executed.

Examples in literature
Witches have been an inspiration in literature for hundreds of years, whether they are just characters, or are the inspiration for a whole literary piece. Morgan la Fey is a part of many literary works, and has been an inspiration for many young girls in the Mists of Avalon series. She is always Arthur's older sister, is always present in the story line, and is often has a very prominent role in Arthurian story lines, but in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight she has a minimal role where the audience sees her. She is introduced in the beginning of the story line as an old crone in great detail, and does not have a major appearance again until the end of the story line when the characters who inhibit the castle reveal themselves as who they truly are and we see the the crone is in fact Morgan la Fey and was using magic to turn King Bertilak into the Green Knight and is the heart of this magical adventure.

Witches do not only appear in epic tales but in the Bible as well (this is one of the many instances of Pagan and Christian ideologies influencing each other). In the Bible those who practice witchcraft, or magic of any variety are seen as sinners who are worthy of death. Although in early Catholic Christianity having Saints and relics was a step from the plethora of pagan religious deities, and there was magic used by Christians. This magic did not focus on demons but on spells and mechanical remedies for ailments, and the lord's prayer was often said while mixing potions for these remedies.

Significance/impact of trope
During a time when there were no doctors are we know them today, no clean water, or hospitals, witches were expected to help those with diseases that have no known cure. These women were helping to move medical knowledge forward from the Greek ideas of the balancing of the humors. But once witches were being blamed for the problems in people's lives, and the church encouraged the prosecution of witches, the definition of who was a witch broadened to anyone who worked with herbs to find a cure. It has been said that "
those who used herbs for cures did so only through a pact with the Devil, either explicit or implicit", this fear of women with intelligence and power put a stall on medical advancements.

Portrayal of Witchcraft by Ulrich Molitor
A short play featuring Arthurian characters

"The Whore"
Upon the many character tropes to be associated with, when discussing Medieval literature, "The Whore" is probably the most negative. In the Middle Ages, Women were widely considered lower than men, thus not worthy of performing the same task or activities that men typically did.

Most of the medieval social structure made it very hard for women to find their place in society. Women did not have the same rights as men, or same privileges as men, so many of them just did whatever society told them they were supposed to do. Overtime, as women were constantly told their place in society, many women started fulfilling their taught role of the Medieval Prostitute, otherwise known as "The Whore" of Medieval society. As time progressed into the 16th and 17th century, Female prostitution became a huge issue for Europe's nation, where women commonly solicited their bodies for money on the streets of Europe's countries. The "Medieval Prostitute" became a popular topic for profound writers of the century to explore and incorporate into their works of literature.

The history of Medieval Prostitution stretches far back in the European time line, dating back to almost the beginning of the middle age era. According to an online article, "Prostitution was not necessarily a woman's sole career choice and there are many examples of women who used prostitution to supplement their everyday income" (Fantaesque). Most women did not want to become prostitutes or "whores" of Europe's streets, but they acknowledged the fact that they needed to make money to support themselves and survive when times were tough. Due to poor living conditions and poverty stricken lives, many women were left with no choice into becoming Medieval prostitutes. Many women, particularly of poverty, in the Medieval society were always put down on the intellectual scale, compared to Men. Eventually these women of poverty started to conform into the ideas about their purpose and place in society that they were told by officials and the world, thus medieval prostitutes were born. Just as we have had numerous amounts of prostitution issues evident in our present society, many females back in the middle ages who engaged themselves in prostitution were heavily looked down upon and some were even killed for their soliciting practice.

Despite the representation of medieval prostitution industry as a "dirty business", the practice of Medieval prostitutes caught the eye of many people, and eventually was seen by a large percentage of Europe as a form an institutional money making business. At first most of Europe disapproved of the prostitution industry and gave it a negative label early on towards the beginning of its existence. However, somewhere along the line of the medieval prostitution industry expansion, certain countries of Europe started to recognize the sexual desires and needs of married and unmarried men. Many Medieval city leaders and town officials started to accept the idea and practice of prostitution and ultimately created designated places where women were legally permitted to solicit their bodies. They started to use the activity to their advantage in making profits. These specified areas "where women were allowed to ply their trade without interference or harassment." (Fantesque) were referred to as "brothels" and were created in both public and private environments. According to some research on the history of Medieval Prostitution, the law making decisions that put these "brothels" in operation actually gave the authorities of either the city or town some level of control over the soliciting practice.

In literature, writers use their language and literary devices to bring our attention to worldwide themes. One of the biggest themes we have been exposed too in the works of literature we have read over the course of this semester is women's role in society.

Many of the female characters in the literature we have read, have been perceived as weak and incompetent. Writer's, such as Chaucer, allude us to the thought of women's purpose and place in society. In his sub story of "The Canterbury Tales", "The Wife of Bath's Tale" Chaucer makes multiple references to the traditional ideas of women culture, and what women want. The old woman in "The Wife of Bath's Tale" symbolizes much of "The Whore" trope. In the context of the tale, the old woman, the wife, presents herself as an authority figure on marriage. However her behavior throughout much of the prologue gives us the inclination that she is fulfilling the role of "The Whore" trope of Medieval women in literature. Specifically the lines from the prologue of "The Wife of Bath's Tale" below serve as a great example of Chaucer's allusion to Medieval Prostitution and how the old woman is displaying some of "The Whore" characteristics.

"They hadde me yiven hir land and hir tresor/Me needed nat do lenger diligence/To wine hir love or doon hem reverence" (Lines 210-213)
These lines from the tale strongly illuminate the traditional idea of the woman prostitute only caring about their man's money or riches. From an analytical point of view, Chaucer seems to use these lines in this particular story of the Canterbury Tales to reinforce the idea that this old woman is saying that she doesn't even care that these men she sleeps with are able to do whatever they want to her, and cheat on her, because they already gave her their riches and land. This idea can be compared to the traditional behaviors of Medieval prostitutes back in this time period. The old woman in this tale is initially perceived as a deception like trickster, as she manipulates her first three husbands, but her character also display's characteristics of the medieval literature trope, "The Whore". The old woman in this tale is only after the riches and wealthy land properties of her husbands and agrees to sleep with them to obtain their wealth. Although the thought of women only engaging into sexual activities with men to obtain their money does not apply to all women, this behavior was traditionally known to lie with many prostitutes back in the Middle Ages, and is still the widely considered a big characteristic of modern day prostitutes. Similarly Chaucer provides more evidence to

"Hath me biraft my beautee and my pith/Lat go, farewell, the devel go therwith!/The flour is goon, ther is namore to telle:/The bren as I best can now moste I selle;" (Lines 481-484)
These lines from The Wife of Bath's tale of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales demonstrate Chaucer's allusion to "The Whore" trope of women in Medieval literature. Through the language used in this line, Chaucer provides us with the knowledge of the old woman getting her pay back against society by making her fourth husband think that she is sleeping around too. Many women in the early centuries of Europe, particularly England, were discriminated by much of society and were always labeled as a "whore" for sleeping around with other men. Sleeping around in the Medieval society, for women, was looked upon as a huge sin and a crime in many parts of Europe during the Middle ages. With this being said and considered, Chaucer seems to be conveying his allusion to women both fighting against and conforming to traditional views upon Medieval prostitutes by mentioning these lines in the "Wife of Bath's Tale". Chaucer seems to use the old woman in this tale as a symbol of women's strive to fight against the traditional values and purpose that Medieval Society told them they hold and serve. The woman's character in "The Wife of Bath's Tale" ultimately displays early medieval contradiction on to the given idea that women weren't suppose to have more than one husband in a lifetime. Interestingly enough, Chaucer also uses her character to deliver his message of what "all" women must want, which is riches and wealth.

Portrait of the Medieval Prostitute by Marten Van Cleve

"The Trickster"
As Lisa Perfetti states, "Tricksters and pranksters are among the most common characters of Medieval comic literature" (633). Within this literature, women commonly assume the trickster trope, which has its roots in The Old Testament of the Bible. The archetype formed in response to the actions of Eve, who committed the first sin in eating the fruit of knowledge, and "convinced" Adam to do the same. When confronted by God, Adam recalls, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit from the tree, and I ate" (qtd. in Perfetti 633). Eve is shown as the reason for humanity's downfall, deceptive and deceitful. Sarah S. Forth writes, "No one gets more bad press than the First Woman who is accused of getting herself and her partner kicked out of paradise and starting humankind on a downward spiral" (57). This portrayal deeply influences how Medieval society viewed the role of women as the Church was deeply embedded in their culture and guided their ways of life. It led to a cycle of distrust, preventing women from assuming powerful positions or gaining too much control over decisions for the family and community. People figured that women were ultimately going to make a choice that would contribute to the downfall of society, just as Eve committed the sin that "ruined" Paradise. This is explained in "Medieval Women," "Medieval society would have been very traditional. Women had little or no role to play within the country at large. Within towns, society would have effectively dictated what jobs a woman could do and her role in a medieval village would have been to support her husband.The freedom of women was greatly limited. They were not allowed to marry without their parents' consent, could own no business without special permission, and could not own property of any kind" (Trueman 1). If women had any of the above powers, it was determined that they would abuse them or make an unfavorable, uneducated decision. Since the church was the authority in society, men were expected to control all affairs in order to prevent women from committing any sins or leading to downfall and mayhem. People believed, "When women exercise power, they frequently are viewed as 'manipulative, deceptive, illegitimate or unimportant. This accounts for the prominence in the Bible of female trickster figures . . ." (Forth 217). They considered that it would be in God's favor to keep women out of all policies and powerful positions, as Eve was the one who originally disobeyed him. However, in Medieval literature, women were not always portrayed as being incompetent or ill-prepared. They were portrayed as tricksters who exhibited cunning qualities, but also, being true to the Eve role, tricked men and were extraordinarily deceptive.

Portrayal of Eve by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

There is a distinct purpose for the trickster archetype in Medieval Literature. It "served a conservative function in serving to reassert social norms . . . valued for innate wit, an asset for surviving in any society. They act as a creator and a destroyer, transgressing boundaries but also being defined by them" (Perfetti 633). This trope comes to life in the Wife of Bath's Tale with the character of the old hag. The old woman serves as an advisor to the knight in the tale, being the source, which reveals to him what women most desire. When he approaches her, she has the power in the relationship and questions what his purpose is wandering down the road she was on. He asks, "'My leve moder,' quod this knight, 'certain / I nam but deed but if that I can sayn / What thing it is that wommen most desire / Coude ye me wisse, I wold well quite you're hire" (1012-1014). The knight seems to know that this woman possesses a unique knowledge and wit, and the fact that he places his life in her hands shows that he knows she is skilled at surviving in society. She transgresses the boundaries that Medieval society holds her to, which are silence and powerlessness, and holds the knight to a deal, stating, "'Plight me thy trouthe here in myn hand,' quod she / The next thing that I requere thee / Thou shalt it do, if it lie in thy might / And I wol telle it you er it be night" (1015-1018). Holding the power in this situation, she binds the Knight to a deal, putting him in a subservient position at her will. His life lies in her hands rather than the other way around. This puts her in the optimal position to trick him as he is at her mercy. When they get to the Court, the woman requests that the Knight marry her, and even though he begs her to change her mind, since she is in the position of power, he cannot. As Jonathan Blake states in his article, "Tricksters upset normal hierarchies and rules of everyday or official behavior either through cleverness or foolishness." The old woman, using her dominant role, traps the Knight into a binding agreement. She then asks him to chose whether he would like her to be young and unfaithful or old and loyal. He replies, "My lady and my love / and wif so dere / I putte me in youre wise governaunce: / cheseth youreself which may be most pleasunce" (1236-1238). From her trickery and the position that she puts him in, the Knight submits to the old lady's will, and she gets what women most desire.

The significance of the trickster archetype in Medieval Literature is the fact that, "Cunning or foolish or both, Trickster's pranks and games serve the role of the equalizer, and in so doing, raise awareness" (Sutton 1). Medieval society is guided by the rule that women are to be subservient to men, not trusted with serious matters, and inadequate at decision making. Therefore, often times, women's voices are suppressed and ignored, so therefore, they become unhappy in marriages and unfulfilled. The old woman in The Wife of Bath's Tale gives a different picture, sharing with society that women are in fact so capable and cunning, that they can outsmart men and get their way. In fact, what they have to say is so important that it can cost a man's life if it is not said in front of a court. The archetype of the woman trickster allowed the conclusion to be made at the end of the tale that if a woman is treated with respect and her wishes are granted, the relationship will be mutually beneficial, "And she obeyed him in every thing / That might do him pleasance or liking / And thus they live unto hir lives ende / In parfit joy. . . And eek I praye Jesu shorte hir lives / That nought wol be governed by hir wives" (1261-1264, 1267-1268). This teaching, that husbands and wives should listen to each other and allow one another to have sovereignty is an important ideal. It would not have been communicated unless the woman trickster in the tale had the Knight's life at stake because of her knowledge.

Works Cited
Alchin, Linda. "Medieval Witchcraft." Medieval Witchcraft. Siteseen Ltd, 1 June 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.

Arcimboldo, Giuseppe. Portrait of Eve. 1578. < http://www.wikiart.org/en/giuseppe-arcimboldo/portrait-of-eve-1578>.

Bovey, Alixe. "Women in Medieval Society." The British Library . Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 282-310. Print.

Fantaesque. "The Medieval Prostitute." History in the (Re) Making. January 6, 2015.

Forth, Sarah S. Eve's Bible: A Woman's Guide to the Old Testament. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2008. Web.

Kroch, Carl. "The Cornell University Witchcraft Collection." Molitor, Ulrich. De Lamiis et Phitonicis Mulieribus, 1493. < Cornell University Library Witchcraft Collection. Cornell University. Web. 9 Dec. 2015. http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/w/witch/>.

O'Pry-Reynolds, Anita Kay. "Men and Women as Represented in Medieval Literature and Society." Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Perfetti, Lisa. "Review of Allison Williams 'Tricksters and Pranksters: Roguery in French and German Literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance." Rev. of "Tricksters and Pranksters: Roguery in French and German Literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Speculum 2003: 633. Web.

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages. E. Stephen Greenblatt. 9th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 162-213. Print.

Sommerville, Johann. "Holland Treatise." Holland Treatise. Wisconsin University. Web. 4 Dec. 2015.

Spencer, Edmund. "The Faerie Queene." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages. E. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 282-310. Print.

Sutton, Brenda. "Trickster." Mythic Passages: The Magazine of Imagination. Mythic Passages, 2006. Web. 8 December 2015.

"The Second Shepherd's Play." The Norton Anthology of English Literature . Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. 9th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 450-476. Print.

Trueman, C N. "Medieval Women." The History Learning Site. The History Learning Site, 5 March 2015. Web. 8 December 2015.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Women in Medieval Literature and Society

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Character Tropes of Women in Medieval LiteratureThroughout the Medieval period, women were viewed as second class citizens, and their needs always were ...

# data[].attributes.headline
What was education like in the medieval period?

# data[].attributes.subject
What was education like in the medieval period?

# data[].attributes.body
Source: https://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-life/medieval-education/#:~:text=Medieval%20education%20institutions%20were%20of,schools%2C%20monastic%20schools%20and%20universities.&text=Only%205%25%20of%20European%20population,the%20nobility%2C%20they%20were%20fined.
- Medieval education institutions were of three types, which are grammar schools, monastic schools and universities.

- Only 5% of European population had any formal education by 1330.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Education in the medieval period was the prerogative of the Church, especially during the early medieval period.

Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was under the Frankish ruler Charlemagne that a concerted campaign began to offer education to the people.

Beginning in the late 8th century, monasteries and cathedral started establishing schools of their own where they would educate young boys in a variety of sciences.

Most of the secular education was concerned with classical Greek and Roman subjects while a significant section of the taught syllabi comprised of religious education.

Role of Church in Medieval Education

The Church played a very significant role in medieval education. At the time of Charlemagne's ascension, the Roman heritage and culture of Western Europe had largely been forgotten.

It was the Church and its bishops and monks who continued learning and teaching classical subjects such as grammar, rhetoric and logic.

As a result, when Charlemagne sought to have his subjects educated, he had to turn to the Church. This remained the case not just in France but also elsewhere throughout Europe until at least the High Middle Ages.

The Church, as the primary patron of arts and education, would remain the key institution which aided in imparting education to medieval Europe.

Subjects Taught in Medieval Education

A wide range of subjects were taught as part of education during the medieval period. In grammar schools which typically fell under a large church, subjects such as Latin, rhetoric, Greek and basic sciences such arithmetic were taught.

Towards the later medieval period, this list included geography and a number of other natural sciences as well.

In monastic schools which were directly associated with monastic orders, a wider latitude was exercised in the choice of subjects. Such schools typically taught directly from the rich treasure-trove of Greek and Roman books, often exploring even such subjects as physics, philosophy and botany.

Important Facts about Medieval Education:

Education in early medieval period was imparted and overlooked by the Church. Frankish king Charlemagne was among the first in medieval Europe to support formal education.
Medieval education institutions were of three types: grammar schools, monastic schools and universities.
The first university in medieval Europe was established in Italy in 1088.

Only 5% of European population had any formal education by 1330.
If a peasant or serf family attained education without the permission of the nobility, they were fined.

Medieval Universities

The establishment of universities in Europe began in the 11th century. The primary purpose of a university was to provide advanced education to those who had already attained formal education in a monastic or grammar school.

Initially, universities fell under an ecclesiastical authority such as the Church and the students as well as teachers at the universities enjoyed significant privileges.

A wide range of subjects were taught at the universities which included arithmetic, geometry, music theory, astronomy, rhetoric, logic, grammar, metaphysics, physics and moral philosophy.

Once a student had attained sufficient education in these subjects, he could go on to follow a specific field such as theology or law or medicine. Typically, he then had to spend another few years in pursuing the specific literature of that field before qualifying for practice of say, law or medicine.

Social Stratification in Medieval Education

Until the High Middle Ages, formal education for serfs or peasants was simply never considered. Education was mostly limited to the nobility or the rich and wealthy.

It was towards the late High Middle Ages that this began to change as more and more members of the nobility started to support education for the common person. Even in this period, a peasant or serf could get education only with the permission of his lord.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
important facts about medieval education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
social stratification in medieval education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Medieval Education | Medieval Chronicles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Education in the medieval period was the prerogative of the Church, especially during the early medieval period. Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was under the Frankish ruler Charlemagne that a concerted campaign began to offer education to the people.

# data[].attributes.body
Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/why-is-a-medical-expert-called-a-physician
Medical experts are called physicians because the word "physic" originally referred to both the practice of medicine and to natural science.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Medical experts are called physicians because the word originally referred to both the practice of medicine and to natural science. As scientific fields matured, physic as it applied to healing was phased out in favor of medicine. Physicist was coined to refer to someone who studies "physics," and physician was left with its association with medical doctors.

We in the dictionary trade tend to concentrate more on new words coming into the language than words that are quietly leaving it. This is understandable and even predictable, but sometimes the relics of disused words hiding in plain sight tell us a story about how the language has evolved.

Case in point: a scientist studies science; a dentist applies dentistry; a plumber works with plumbing. But why is it that a person who practices medicine is called a physician?

"Physics" and Medicine

It turns out that was used, starting in the 1400s, to mean "the practice of healing disease" and "a remedy for disease"-both now usually expressed by the word medicine. In pre-modern times the study of medicine and natural science were closely connected, and the term physic applied to both.

In Shakespeare's day, physic was used to mean "medicine" and physician was used as we still do today, meaning "one who practices medicine":

This Physicke but prolongs thy sickly days ( Hamlet)

More needs she the divine than the physician. ( Macbeth)

Shakespeare's contemporary Thomas Nashe used physic as the personification of medicine in his poem called "A Litany in Time of Plague":

Rich men, trust not in wealth,

Gold cannot buy you health;

Physic himself must fade.

All things to end are made,

The plague full swift goes by;

I am sick, I must die.

was a synonym for this "remedy for disease" use of physic, and the two words co-existed for centuries:

Thus did they all things that were contrary to their safety, as if no physic or medicine had been bestowed upon the world by the true physician of all
-William Camden, Britain, or A chorographicall description of the most flourishing kingdomes, 1637

In the 1725 dictionary of Nathan Bailey, the largest dictionary of its time, the definition of medicine is written in terms of physic:

MEDICINE : the Art of Physick; also a Physical Remedy.

And yet, in the same dictionary, Bailey also clearly expresses awareness of a changing vocabulary as the scientific standards evolved:

PHYSICK : is in General the Science of all material Beings, or whatsoever concerns the System of this visible Wor[l]d, tho' in a more limited and improper Sense it is apply'd to the Science of Medicine ; the Art of curing Diseases, or Medicines prepared for that purpose

Branching Fields of Science

With his judgy "improper" note, Bailey was acknowledging a scientific, cultural, and linguistic change; it was only after more specialized fields separated from each other that the words that name those fields became established. In the 18th century, chemistry separated from , astronomy separated from astrology, biology was coined, and became restricted to the study of matter and energy rather than living things.

A century later, in 1828, Noah Webster also gives physic both a definition and a note about its fading usage:

The art of healing diseases. This is now generally called medicine.

Physician vs. Physicist

This left the medical use of physic stranded, lexically speaking: physics was the name for a new branch of science, and medicine conveniently and completely displaced the use of physic that was no longer used.

, however, didn't get the memo. It had long been used for both "one who studies natural science" and "one who practices medicine," but once the field of physics had been isolated from the others and, ultimately, was coined in the 1800s as the term for a specialist in the new science, physician was left with the remnants of a root word that had changed in meaning. In French, the word médecin is used for a person who practiced médecine -but English isn't so rigorously logical.

Physicians, Doctors, and Surgeons

Of course, we could just call a physician a , but even this is a term that has changed over time. Doctor comes from the Latin word for "teacher," and gave us related words like doctrine and document. In the King James Bible, its meaning is something like "a religious scholar":

And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

Later, the term became used for those attaining the highest degree of learning in a particular field, with medicine being among the disciplines. It may simply be because the public has much more reason to seek out a medical doctor than, say, a doctor of literature or applied math, that doctor as a general term became synonymous with practicing physicians rather than with practicing physicists.

Finally, another near-synonym is . Surgery was often looked down upon by physicians and was in fact performed by barbers from the middle ages until well into the 1700s (the Oxford English Dictionary even has an entry for barber-surgeon)-it's the reason a barber's pole is red and white to this day. They were trained by apprenticeship and their manual skills were considered less intellectually challenging than the educations that made physicians "doctors."

Ultimately, of course, surgeons became the highly trained and highly skilled people we know them to be, and whether we call them doctors or physicians, are among the medical professionals who are trusted because of their demonstrable expertise.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Is a Medical Expert Called a 'Physician'?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If medical doctors don't study physics, why are they called 'physicians'? Before the study of energy and matter branched off, medicine and natural science were unified under the term 'physic.' Thus someone who studied medicine was broadly referred to as a 'physician.'

# data[].attributes.headline
Did people ever question their religion or their religious leaders?

# data[].attributes.subject
Did people ever question their religion or their religious leaders?

# data[].attributes.body
Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1411/religion-in-the-middle-ages/
https://vividmaps.com/leading-church-bodies/
religion was dominated by the catholic for a long time. However, due to pandemics such as the black plague, people demanded god's mercy and help. However, medicine and help from the church made the situation worse, since there was not enough knowledge on illness dealing in the ages. The doctors were the same, but the priests were demanded more guilt by the devout believers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Religion in the Middle Ages, though dominated by the Catholic Church, was far more varied than only orthodox Christianity. In the Early Middle Ages (c. 476-1000), long-established pagan beliefs and practices entwined with those of the new religion so that many people who would have identified as Christian would not have been considered so by orthodox authority figures.

Practices such as fortune-telling, dowsing, making charms, talismans, or spells to ward off danger or bad luck, incantations spoken while sowing crops or weaving cloth, and many other daily observances were condemned by the medieval Church which tried to suppress them. At the same time, heretical sects throughout the Middle Ages offered people an alternative to the Church more in keeping with their folk beliefs.

Jewish scholars and merchants contributed to the religious make-up of medieval Europe as well as those who lived in rural areas who simply were not interested in embracing the new religion and, especially after the First Crusade, Christians and Muslims interacted to each other's mutual benefit. As the medieval period progressed, the Church exerted more control over people's thoughts and practices, controlling - or trying to - every aspect of an individual's life until the corruption of the institution, as well as its perceived failure to offer any meaningful response to the Black Death pandemic of 1347-1352, brought on its fracture through the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

Early Middle Ages & Pagan Christianity

Christianity did not immediately win the hearts and minds of the people of Europe. The process of Christianization was a slow one and, even toward the end of the Middle Ages, many people still practiced 'folk magic' and held to the beliefs of their ancestors even while observing Christian rites and rituals. The pre-Christian people - now commonly referenced as pagans - had no such label for themselves. The term pagan is a Christian designation from the French meaning a rustic who came from the countryside where the old beliefs and practices held tightly long after urban centers had more or less adopted orthodox Christian belief.

The belief in fairies, sprites, & ghosts was so deeply embedded that parish priests allowed to continue practices of appeasement.

Even though there is ample evidence of Europeans in the Early Middle Ages accepting the basics of Christian doctrine, most definitely the existence of hell, a different paradigm of life on earth and the afterlife was so deeply ingrained in the communal consciousness that it could not easily just be set aside. In Britain, Scotland, and Ireland, especially, a belief in the "wee folk", fairies, earth and water spirits, was regarded as simple common sense on how the world worked. One would no more go out of one's way to offend a water sprite than poison one's own well.

The belief in fairies, sprites, and ghosts (defined as spirits of the once-living) was so deeply embedded that parish priests allowed members of their congregations to continue practices of appeasement even though the Church instructed them to make clear such entities were demonic and not to be trifled with. Rituals involving certain incantations and spells, eating or displaying certain types of vegetables, performing certain acts or wearing a certain type of charm - all pagan practices with a long history - continued to be observed alongside going to Church, veneration of the saints, Christian prayer, confession, and acts of contrition.

A central concern of the Church, however, was right practice which reflected right belief, and the authorities struggled constantly to bring the population of Europe to this understanding. The problem, though, was that the rites of the Church did not resonate with a congregation like folk belief. The parish church or cathedral altar, at which the priest stood to celebrate the mass and transform the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, was far removed from the congregation of onlookers. The priest recited the mass in Latin, his back to the people, and whatever went on up there at the front had little to do with the people observing it.

The baptismal font, therefore, became the focal point of church life as it was present at the beginning of one's life (through infant baptism), at confirmation, weddings, and funerals - even if it was not used at all of these events - and most notably for the ritual known as the ordeal (or Ordeal by Water) which decided a person's guilt or innocence.

The baptismal font was often quite large and deep and the accused would be bound and thrown into it. If the accused floated to the top, they were guilty of the charges while, if they sank, they were innocent. Unfortunately, the innocent had to enjoy exoneration post-mortem since they usually drowned. The ordeal was used for serious crimes in a community as well as charges of heresy, which included the continued practice of pre-Christian rites.

Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter!

High Middle Ages & the Cult of Mary

The tendency of the laity to continue these practices did not diminish with time, threats, or repeated drownings. Just as in the present day one justifies one's own actions while condemning others for the same sort of behavior, the medieval peasant seems to have accepted that their neighbor, drowned by the Church for some transgression, deserved their fate. There is certainly no record of public outcry, and the ritual of the ordeal - like executions - were a form of public entertainment.

How the medieval peasant felt about anything at all is unknown as they were illiterate and anything recorded about their beliefs or behavior comes from Church or town records kept by clerics and priests. The peasants' silence is especially noted regarding the Church's view of women, who worked alongside men in the fields, could own their own businesses, join guilds, monastic orders and, in many cases, do the same work as a man but were still considered inferiors. As scholar Eileen Power observes, the peasants of a town "went to their churches on Sundays and listened while preachers told them in one breath that a woman was the gate of hell and that Mary was Queen of Heaven" (11). This view, established by the Church and supported by the aristocracy, would change significantly during the High Middle Ages (1000-1300), even though whatever progress was made would not last.

The Cult of the Virgin Mary was not new to the High Middle Ages - it had been popular in Palestine and Egypt from the 1st century onward - but became more highly developed during this time. Pope Gregory I (l. 540-604) established the two poles of womanhood in Christianity by characterizing Mary Magdalene as the redeemed prostitute and Mary the Mother of Jesus as the elevated virgin. Scholars still debate Gregory's reasons for characterizing Mary Magdalene in this way, conflating her with the Woman Taken in Adultery (John 8:1-11), even though there is no biblical support for his claim.

Mary Magdalene, linked through her sins to Eve and the Fall of Man, was the sexual temptress men were encouraged to flee while the Virgin Mary was beyond the realm of temptation, incorruptible, and untouchable. Actual human women might at one time be Magdalene and another the Virgin and, whether one or the other, were best dealt with from a distance. The Cult of the Virgin, however, at least encouraged greater respect for women.

At the same time the Cult of the Virgin was developing most rapidly (or possibly because of it) a genre of romantic poetry and an accompanying ideal was appearing in Southern France, known today as courtly love. Courtly love romanticism maintained that women were not only worthy of respect but adoration, devotion, and service. The genre and attendant behavior it inspired are closely linked to the queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (l. c. 1122-1204), her daughter Marie de Champagne (l. 1145-1198), and writers associated with them such as Chretien de Troyes (l. c. 1130-1190), Marie de France (wrote c. 1160-1215), and Andreas Capellanus (12th century). These writers and the women who inspired and patronized them created an elevated vision of womanhood unprecedented in the medieval period.

These changes occurred at the same time as the popularity of a heretical religious sect known as the Cathars was winning adherents away from the Catholic Church in precisely the same region of Southern France. The Cathars venerated a divine feminine principle, Sophia, whom they swore to protect and serve in the same way that the noble, chivalric knights in courtly love poetry devoted themselves to a lady. Some scholars (most notably Denis de Rougemont) have therefore suggested that courtly love poetry was a kind of code of the Cathars, who were regularly threatened and persecuted by the Church, by which they disseminated their teachings. This theory has been challenged repeatedly but never refuted.

The Cathars were destroyed by the Church in the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) with the last blow struck in 1244 at the Cathar stronghold of Montsegur. The crusading knights of the Church took the fortress after the Cathars' surrender and burned 200 of their clergy alive as heretics. The Inquisition, led by the order of the Dominicans, rooted out and condemned similar sects.

Islamic & Jewish Influences

The Cathars were not alone in suffering persecution from the Church, however, as the Jewish population of Europe had been experiencing that for centuries. Overall, relations between Jews and Christians were amicable, and there are letters, records, and personal journals extant showing that some Christians sought to convert to Judaism and Jews to Christianity. Scholar Joshua Trachtenberg notes how "in the tenth and eleventh centuries we hear of Jews receiving gifts from Gentile friends on Jewish holidays, of Jews leaving keys to their homes with Christian neighbors before departing on a journey" (160). Relations between members of the two religions were more or less cordial, in fact, until after the First Crusade (1096-1099).

Jewish & Islamic scholasticism contributed more significantly to the culture of Europe than any Christian efforts outside of the monasteries.

Jews were forbidden to bear arms and so could not participate in the crusade, which seems to have upset their Christian neighbors whose husbands and sons were taken by the feudal lords off to the Holy Land. Economic hardships caused by lack of manpower to work the fields further damaged relationships between the two as many Jews were merchants who could continue their trade while the Christian peasant was tied to the land and struggled to plant, tend, and harvest a crop.

The First Crusade had the opposite effect on Muslims who, outside of Spain, had previously only appeared in Europe as traders. The crusade opened up the possibility of travel to the Holy Land, and a number of scholars took advantage of this to study with their Muslim counterparts. The works of Islamic scholars and scientists found their way to Europe along with translations of some of the greatest classical thinkers and writers such as Aristotle, whose works would have been lost if not for Muslim scribes. Jewish and Islamic scholasticism, in fact, contributed more significantly to the culture of Europe than any Christian efforts outside of the monasteries.

The Church's insistence on the absolute truth of its own vision, while condemning that of others, extended even to fellow Christians. The Catholic Church of the West quarreled with the Eastern Orthodox Church in 867 over who had the true faith, and the Eastern Orthodox Church finally broke all ties with its western counterpart in 1054, the so-called Great Schism. This was brought on by the Church's claim that it was founded by Saint Peter, was the only legitimate expression of Christian faith, and should therefore rightly be able to control the policies and land holdings of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

In the Late Middle Ages (1300-1500), the Church continued to root out heresy on a large scale by suppressing upstart religious sects, individually by encouraging priests to punish heterodox belief or practice, and by labeling any critic or reformer a 'heretic' outside of God's grace. The peasantry, though nominally orthodox Catholic, continued to observe folk practices and, as scholar Patrick J. Geary notes, "knowledge of Christian belief did not mean that individuals used this knowledge in ways that coincided with officially sanctioned practice" (202). Since a medieval peasant was taught the prayers of the Our Father and Hail Mary in Latin, a language they did not understand, they recited them as incantations to ward off misfortune or bring luck, paying little attention to the importance of the words as understood by the Church. The mass itself, also conducted in Latin, was equally mysterious to the peasantry.

Consequently, the medieval peasant felt far more comfortable with a blending of the old pagan beliefs with Christianity which resulted in heterodox belief. Parish priests were again instructed to take heretical practices seriously and punish them, but the clergy was disinclined, largely because of the effort involved. Further, many of the clergy, especially the parish priests, were seen as hypocrites and had been for some time. One of the reasons heretical sects attracted adherents, in fact, was the respect generated by their clergy who lived their beliefs. In contrast, as Geary notes, the Catholic clergy epitomized the very Seven Deadly Sins they condemned:

The ignorance, sexual promiscuity, venality, and corruption of the clergy, combined with their frequent absenteeism, were major and long-standing complaints within the laity. Anti-clericalism was endemic to medieval society and in no way detracted from religious devotion. (199)

A parishioner could loathe the priest but still respect the religion that said priest represented. The priest, after all, had little to do with the life of the peasant while the saints could answer prayers, protect one from harm, and reward one's good deeds. Pilgrimages to saints' sites like Canterbury or Santiago de Compostela were thought to please the saint who would then grant the pilgrim favors and expiate sin in ways no priest could ever do.

At the same time, one could not do without the clergy owing to the Church's insistence on sacerdotalism - the policy which mandated that laypersons required the intercession of a priest to communicate with God or understand scripture - and so priests still wielded considerable power over individuals' lives. This was especially so regarding the afterlife state of purgatory in which one's soul would pay in torment for any sins not forgiven by a priest in one's life. Ecclesiastical writs known as indulgences were sold to people - often for high prices - which were believed to lessen the time for one's soul, or that of a loved one, in purgatorial fires.

The unending struggle to bring the peasantry in line with orthodoxy eventually relented as practices formerly condemned by the Church - such as astrology, oneirology (the study of dreams), demonology, and the use of talismans and charms - were recognized as significant sources of income. Sales of relics like a saint's toe or a splinter of the True Cross were common and, for a price, a priest could interpret one's dreams, chart one's stars, or name whatever demon was preventing a good marriage for one's son or daughter.

For many years, medieval scholarship insisted on a dichotomy of two Christianities in the Middle Ages - an elite culture dominated by the clergy, city-dwellers, and the written word, and a popular culture of the oral tradition of the rural masses, infused with pagan belief and practice. In the present day, it is recognized that pagan beliefs and rituals informed Christianity in both city and country from the beginning. As the Church gained more and more power, it was able to insist more stridently on people obeying its strictures, but the same underlying form - of the Church trying to impose a new belief structure on people used to the one of their ancestors - remained more or less intact throughout the Middle Ages.

Conclusion

As the medieval period wound to a close, the orthodoxy of the Church finally did permeate down through the lowest social class but this hardly did anyone any favors. The backlash against the progressive movement of the 12th century and its new value of women took the form of monastic religious orders such as the Premonstratensians banning women, guilds which had previously had female members declaring themselves men's-only-clubs, and women's ability to run businesses curtailed.

The ongoing crusades vilified Muslims as the archenemy of Christendom while Jews were blamed for practicing usury (charging interest) - even though the Church had more or less defined that role in finance for them through official policy - and were expelled from communities and entire countries. Pagan practices had now either been stamped out or Christianized, and the Church held significant power over people's daily lives.

The corruption of the medieval Church, however, against which critics and reformers had been preaching for centuries, finally grew too intolerable and general distrust of the Church and its vision was further encouraged by its failure to meet the challenge of the Black Death pandemic of 1347-1352 which resulted in a widespread spiritual crisis. The Protestant Reformation began as simply another attempt at getting the Church to pay attention to its own failings, but the political climate in Germany, and the personal power of the priest-monk Martin Luther (l. 1483-1546 CE), led to a revolt by people who had long grown tired of the monolithic Church.

After Martin Luther initiated the Reformation, other clerics followed his example. Christianity in Europe afterwards would frequently show itself no more tolerant or pure in Protestant form than it had been as expressed through the medieval Church but, in time, found a way to coexist with other faiths and allow for greater freedom of individual religious experience.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Religion in the Middle Ages, though dominated by the Catholic Church, was far more varied than only orthodox Christianity. In the Early Middle Ages (c. 476-1000), long-established pagan beliefs and...

# data[].attributes.headline
What caused the gap between the nobles and the poor during the medieval period?

# data[].attributes.subject
What caused the gap between the nobles and the poor during the medieval period?

# data[].attributes.body
source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zbn7jsg/articles/zwyh6g8
The system of the land being owned by one person, and the person lending the land in exchange with the part of the product that the people grew had impacted the gap since the people that were living in the owner's land had to follow what the person wanted besides their wills.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Peasant homes were small, often just made up of one room. A peasant's hut was made of and , with a roof but no windows. Inside the hut, a third of the area was penned off for the animals, which lived in the hut with the family. A fire burned in a hearth in the centre of the hut, so the air was permanently eye-wateringly smoky. Furniture was maybe a couple of stools, a trunk for bedding, and a few cooking pots.

Women in peasant families learnt to spin wool from an early age, using wooden wheels to make clothes.

Children spent most of their time helping their parents with day-to-day activities. Rather than going to school, they worked on jobs in the house, looked after animals and helped grow food.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find out what life like in medieval society with BBC Bitesize History. For students between the ages of 11 and 14.

# data[].attributes.headline
Why was education of women considered bad?

# data[].attributes.subject
Why was education of women considered bad?

# data[].attributes.body
source: https://spartacus-educational.com/EXnormans13.htm#:~:text=In%20the%20Middle%20Ages%20men,daughters%20to%20read%20and%20write.&text=Women%20who%20were%20nuns%20were%20the%20most%20likely%20to%20be%20literate.
It was considered a bad thing because the social place of women was very low. The man thought that the main characteristics a good woman should have are kindness, support, and obey. They thought that educated girls do not obey to their wills, even if the fact is that education had made the girls notice the unfair society on them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In the Middle Ages men were more likely to be literate than women. The main reason for this was that women were usually denied an education. Even in wealthy families, it was often considered wrong to spend time and money on teaching daughters to read and write. It has been estimated that "in the later Middle Ages out of the total population 10 per cent of men and I per cent of women were literate." Most men were very hostile to the idea of women becoming literate.

Women who were nuns were the most likely to be literate. Despite the many obstacles they faced, some women learnt to read and write. Women's names appear on many documents that have survived. Some women authors also used male names.

Gradually attitudes began to change. Christine de Pizan, a very influential writer in the Middle Ages, argued that it was extremely important for mothers to arrange for their daughters to be taught how to read and write. Other important writers during this period included Marie de France and Margery Kempe.

It also became fashionable in rich families to give daughters a Book of Hours. These books contained a collection of different prayers and stories about the lives of saints and were often used to teach girls to read. Many books of hours were made for women. There is some evidence that they were sometimes given as a wedding present from a husband to his bride.

There were other factors that encouraged the growth of literacy. The introduction of the chimney flue that helped remove smoke from rooms, and the growing number of houses with glass windows helped to provide a more pleasant environment for reading. The invention of eyeglasses in the 13th century also helped those people with poor eyesight.

Finally, the introduction of printed books at the end of the 15th century dramatically reduced the costs of buying books. The growth in women's literacy is reflected in the wills that have survived from the 14th and 15th centuries. These wills show that there was an increasing number of women owning books. What is more, women were more likely to leave their books to their daughters than their sons.

▲ Main Article ▲

Primary Sources

(Source 1) Christine de Pisan presents her book to Isabeau of Bavaria, Queen of France

(Source 2) Part of a letter written by a nun called Heloise of Paraclete. The letter was sent to Peter Abelard, the father of Heloise's child, Astrolabe. (c. 1130)

We need never lack the pleasures of conversation... Even when separated we could enjoy each other's presence by exchange of written messages.

I am amazed by the opinion of some men who claim that they do not want their daughters or wives to be educated because they would be ruined as a result... Not all men (and especially the wisest) share the opinion that it is bad for women to be educated. But it is very true that many foolish men have claimed this because it upset them that women knew more than they did.

(Source 4) Bridget of Alvasta presenting a copy of her book Revelations to her bishop in about 1355.

By God, if women had written stories as clerks have written their oratories, They would have written more of men's wickedness, than all the sons of Adam could redress.

(Source 6) Philip III of Navarre, letter to a friend (c. 1350)

Women should not learn to read and write unless they are going to be nuns, as much harm has come from such knowledge.

Questions for Students

Question 1: What is taking place in sources 1 and 4?

Question 2: Study source 5. Select examples of Geoffrey Chaucer expressing an opinion.

Question 3: Compare the views expressed in sources 3 and 6. Give reasons why these two authors disagree about the subject.

Question 4: In the Middle Ages there was an increase in the percentage of women who could read and write. Give as many reasons as you can for this.

Question 5: Was the growth in literacy during the Middle Ages an example of "rapid" or "gradual" change?

Answer Commentary

A commentary on these questions can be found here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Growth of Female Literacy in the Middle Ages (Classroom Activity)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the Middle Ages men were more likely to be literate than women. The main reason for this was that women were usually denied an education. Even in wealthy families, it was often considered wrong to spend time and money on teaching daughters to read and write.