Changing Women's Roles as a Result of the Black Plague

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Recommended: Gender issues and women in medieval society

When Eve took that bite of the Forbidden Fruit, she had no idea what she had gotten women-kind into. Whether or not you believe in the story of creation, the perception of women as corrupting and sinful had shaped women's social roles in Western Society for thousands of years. Augustine was one of the first to write about the wickedness of women, and the acceptance of this doctrine is evident in the Letters of Abelard and Heloise through their disdain toward marriage. Along with mass death of the Black Plague, came an opportunity for women to change the ways in which society viewed them. The great number of deaths in Europe often resulted in the situation where no male heirs remained which led to the legal ability of women to inherit land and property. This new idea teamed with the increase of women's wages due to worker shortages, led to women being able to marry younger men who hadn't yet accumulated the necessities for supporting a family. The idea of true love and companionship in marriage also grew with this trend and is expressed in both The Canterbury Tales and Leon Battista Alberti's On the Family. Women were slowly becoming the equals to males in a relationship which paved the way for gender equality outside of marriage.

The views of women in the Pre-Black Death era were less than flattering. The writings of Augustine were greatly influential in shaping church doctrine and the perception of women during the middle ages. According to Augustine, women were the source of great misery and that lust for women led to the enslavement of men. The acceptance of this perception is expressed in The Letters of Abelard and Heloise by Heloise's initial rejection of their marriage on the grounds that it would damage Abel...

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...de Pisan, began to challenge traditional myths about women's capacities and achievements through her writings just Fifty years after the rampage of the Black Death. This all began a much brighter future for women-kind by laying down the foundation for future gender equality.

Who would have thought that anything good could have come out of the death and devastation that is known as the Black Death? Suppressed by Christian myths and stereotypes, women had little if any power in pre-plague Europe. In the wake of the Black Death women earned higher wages and inherited property. This created more power for women to choose their husbands because they were highly sought after for their wealth. This led to a redefinition of marriage that was founded on love and sharing. Women became viewed as equals within the relationship and paved the way for gender equality.

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