Urania, daughter of Abraham sang before female congregants in Worms, Qasmuna of Spain wrote rhymed verses that complemented her father’s poetry, and Benvenida Abarvanel the Italian daughter of Spanish refugees was a patroness of Jewish scholars and ventures. While today the positions these women held hardly seem shocking, these women lived during an era when, as has long been historically accepted, women held little power, leadership or communal roles. This view is changing but a discussion of Jewish attitudes toward women in the Middle Ages in both Ashkenaz and Spain is limited by the sources about women’s lives that survive. There are almost no books written by women or specifically for them. Instead, women’s lives are reflected primarily in legal writings, including codes of Jewish law, response literature, contracts related to betrothal, marriage, inheritance and business correspondences. The nature of these sources suggest that women were not viewed as participants in Jewish legal discourse, nor did the rabbis for the most part feel the need to provide women with literature that would allow them to make study a part of their religious life. At the same time, the rabbis felt that women were within jurisdiction of Jewish law and felt obligated to protect what they received as women’s rights and interests. Being so,the women of Ashkenaz enjoyed a significant improvement in their status compared with the talmudic era, and with Muslim countries. Economic, religious, and education advances for women in Ashkenaz was through the Jewish community’s transformation from an agrarian society to an urban bourgeois one. As women became more powerful economically, their status improved. Another important factor was the surrounding Christia...
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During this time period women were not respected at all and were belittled by all med in their lives. Even though men don’t appreciate what women they still did as they were told. In particular, “Women have an astoundingly long list of responsibilities and duties – th...
...ths of the sixteenth century. Yes, women of that time and place left a very light mark on history. Eventually, the story the book tells spirals down into just some nasty courtroom feuds among family members. The story provides a driving narrative that brings into intimate contact disparate kinds that are still prevalent today. And the conclusion drawn from Anna's actions and reactions may surprise. In both everyday life and in times of crisis, women in the twenty first century has access to effective personal and legal resources.
Women have always played a major role in the practice of Judaism. They have many responsibilities and obligations to fulfill due to of their faith. Yet, they also must raise their families and often work to provide for their family. Overtime, Jewish women have become an example of women’s ability to live very demanding lives and still sustain her religious devotion. Jewish women have had to overcome numerous obstacles in incorporating the changes inherent with ever-evolving life with their static religious duties. Thus was the case for any Jew who chose to move away from their community and start a new life. Many pioneers found it hard to remain practicing Jews when there were no other Jewish people around them. Some observances became difficult to exercise given the surrounding and Jews would sometimes have to compromise their traditions with physical practicality. This led to great personal struggle for women who had always felt that the family’s religious sanctity was her responsibility. But these fascinatingly resourceful and dedicated women found ways to overcome the hindrances that their new home provided and still plant the seeds that would grow into a rich and strong Jewish community regardless of where they lived.
Medieval female saints and martyrs were intended to be chaste if they were single and virtuous if they are married. They were also extremely devoted and pure to Christ, not giving in to any temptations. Kempe seemed to be tempted by men, but then immediately followed by shame. On the other hand, she posses’s qualities the saints share like, visions, passion, a desire to be chaste and, commitment. Saint Margaret of Antioch is one of the saints that appears often in “The Book of Margery Kempe”.
What was the predominant image of women and women’s place in medieval society? Actual historical events, such as the scandal and subsequent litigation revolving around Anna Buschler which Steven Ozment detail’s in the Burgermeisters Daughter, suggests something off a compromise between these two literary extremes. It is easy to say that life in the sixteenth century was surely no utopia for women but at least they had some rights.
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Looking back through many historical time periods, people are able to observe the fact that women were generally discriminated against and oppressed in almost any society. However, these periods also came with women that defied the stereotype of their sex. They spoke out against this discrimination with a great amount of intelligence and strength with almost no fear of the harsh consequences that could be laid out by the men of their time. During the Medieval era, religion played a major role in the shaping of this pessimistic viewpoint about women. The common belief of the patriarchal-based society was that women were direct descendants of Eve from The Bible; therefore, they were responsible for the fall of mankind. All of Eve’s characteristics from the biblical story were believed to be the same traits of medieval women. Of course, this did not come without argument. Two medieval women worked to defy the female stereotype, the first being the fictional character called The Wife of Bath from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The second woman, named Margery Kempe, was a real human being with the first English autobiography written about her called The Book of Margery Kempe. In these two texts, The Wife of Bath and Margery Kempe choose to act uniquely compared to other Christians in the medieval time period because of the way religion is interpreted by them. As a result, the women view themselves as having power and qualities that normal women of their society did not.
Trible has three main focuses in her article that include, “the inferiority, subordination and abuse of women in ancient Israel”, “the counter literature that is itself a critique of patriarchy”, and “the stories of terror about woman” (Trible). Each one sums a different oppression that women in the Bible faced. These ideas suggest that the overall purpose of her article is to identify that while women were viewed as a “helper” to men, God viewed them as much more (Trible).
The question of women’s agency, in moving history holds a long history dating back to the ancients, then turning away from that in small degrees during the Renaissance. Most notable in this change comes from the capital of education, the Italianate states. Home to rife differences in attitudes towards women, it also hosts the origins of the discussion around women’s purpose. The current field largely finds inspiration from writers during the American 1970s women’s rights movement, and it shows in the modern origins and their influence. However, the field’s creation date loom farther back than such a recent movement, easily dating back to Plato and Aristotle. Beginning with a negative view of the female sex as inferiority, the study of women and their rights progressed to Giovanni Boccaccio’s creation of female biography in 1374, and further developed with a female voice in 1405 under the pen of Christine de Pizan. Clearly, none of the prestigious scholars could have predicted the alterations and growth of the discussion surrounding a people group often considered subhuman.
In modern day society, female gender roles are defined in several of forms; ranging from the stereotypical concept of women being the primary caretakers to women being the dominant sex. After analyzing two sources of past literature, two iconic women represent personas of both social standings. In the literary works “Genesis” of The Hebrew Bible; along with, “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes, impactful phenomena take place in the era of these women.
Soon after the Bishop of Pubela reads one of her letters, he publishes it (without her knowing), and she responds with a respectful yet sarcastic letter (Lawall and Chinua 155-156). Cruz’s “Reply to Sor Filotea de la Cruz” was written during the period of Enlightenment of Europe (1660- 1770). This era in Europe cast an opaque shadow over women’s rights to educate themselves and self-expression. Sor Juana’s piece however is both inspirational and empowering for every woman.... ...
Women in different societies around the world, during the Middle Ages, experienced different hardships and roles. These hardships and roles helped shape how they were viewed in their society. Some women were treated better and more equal than others. In Rome, Medieval England, and Viking society, women’s legal status, education, marriage and family roles were considered diverse, but also similar. In certain nation’s women have more or less power than women in other nations, but none equal to the power that women have in America today.
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