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Lindsay Richwine
Ariel Voorhees
12 May 2015
English 10, Period 5
Flourishing Feudal Feminism
History is remarkably consequential. A small shift in belief, an invention, or one isolated
occurrence might alter the course of humanity for a thousand years, perhaps paving new
pathways of opportunities for certain demographics. The Medieval Era is no exception. While
the patriarchal societal mold prevailed largely unchallenged, certain conditions made it possible
for women to assert varying degrees of power, as dependent upon their station and occupation in
life. The conditions, in the form of religiously spurred social ideals, new technologies and
developments, and political changes, allowed medieval women to gain influence in religious,
social, and political worlds.
Society changed greatly in the Middle Ages through the influence of Christianity. During
the early 4th century, the Roman--and later Byzantine--emperor Constantine established
Christianity as the official religion of the empire (Wood 165). The broad span of the Roman
Empire spread Christianity all over Europe during the Middle Ages, reshaping the social ideals
and culture of Europe. One particular aspect of Christian thinking that greatly affected women
and their influence was the growing worship of the Virgin Mary. Mary was seen as the ideal
woman--pious and chaste (Ashby 10). Mary's popularity as the quintessential woman encouraged
women to emulate her by leading lives of purity and religious devotion. At the same time, the
development of abbeys gave women a nearly unprecedented alternative to domestic life (Wood
172). In other words, Mary's pure, religious ideal made the nunnery a respectable and
encouraged occupation for medieval women, as these two qualities of piety and chastity directly

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mirrored pillars of monastic life. Many young women entered abbeys for this reason. Nuns were
literate and well-learned, and mother abbesses in particular were often very intelligent and
influential women (Ashby 9). Interestingly, the new social ideal inspired by Mary's piety and
chastity encouraged women to join convents where they could become educated, influential, and
powerful. Matilda, the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I, was a mother abbess with
considerable sway. As abbess of Quedlinburg, she had "jurisdiction over several cities and the
power of a bishop" ("Religious Nuns" 2). As modeled by Matilda and many others, the influence
of Christian social ideals that encouraged women to join convents allowed women who entered
this life to gain considerable power, education, and respect.
Another condition in the medieval era that let women gain power was a growth in the
number of people who could read. Toward the end of the era, the printing press allowed for mass
distribution of literature, increasing literacy among those who could afford books (Wood 262).
Another factor that contributed to the rise in literacy was the growing use of the vernacular
languages in literature, a movement that began in the 13th century (Wood 173). Authors such as
Dante and Chaucer made it possible for those who did not read the scholarly language of Latin to
enjoy works like their Divine Comedy and The Canterbury Tales (Wood 174). Both the use of the
vernacular and, later, the new technology of the printing press, made it increasingly easier for
women to read, becoming better educated, more articulate, independent of thoughts, and
therefore more influential and creative.
As women became more literate, more and more began to create works of their own.
Their writing permeated social culture, particularly later in the period, as the printing press
worked in turn to distribute the ideas of these women. The use of the vernacular languages also
made their works available to a broader audience no longer confined to scholars of the upper

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class. As a result, more and more people were able to consume the ideas of these early female
writers.
As their writing became widely distributed with the help of new technologies and
innovations, many women rose to prominence through their work. Christine de Pizan, a writer in
the late 14th to early 15th centuries earned power and respect through the patronage of kings and
princes who enjoyed her works which included love poems, allegories, prose histories, and
instructive pieces (Ashby 37). In a fascinating display of newfound influence through literature,
Pizan wrote The Book of the City of Ladies in defense of women, arguing that their intellectual
abilities were equal to those of men. As Ruth Ashby explains in Herstory, "After relating stories
of exemplary women throughout history, Pizan argues against women's inferiority. Women are as
virtuous as men, she concludes, and if they were educated, they would be learned as well"
(Ashby 37). Pizan became one of the most influential female writers of her time (Ashby 37).
However, writing was not the only way in which women gained power through storytelling. Out of the 400 troubadours of France, twenty were women (Anderson 306). Many poets,
too, such as Marie de France permeated Medieval culture, leaving their mark. The increase in
literacy, brought on by new linguistic developments and distribution technologies, enabled
women to educate themselves. These inventions and developments allowed women to greatly
influence medieval culture through their contributions to literature. Female storytellers rose to
power and prominence through sponsorship by royalty, as exemplified by Christine de Pizan and
many others.
While many women gained subtle power and respect through convents and literary
influence, women did gain power in more overt ways as rulers over large manors and kingdoms.
Just prior to the Middle Ages, the collapse of centralized government gave rise to the new system

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of feudalism that characterized the era. The structure of this feudal world was based on
ownership of land (Power 30). As a result, in order to stay in power, it was important that
families retain control over their lands. This new development made lineage very important, as
lands acquired and ruled by the head of a family needed to be passed down to another family
member in order to keep the family's power and prestige intact (Anderson 298). This tradition
inspired the need for a capable male heir (Anderson 297). This practice benefitted women, for
even though a male beneficiary was preferred, medieval families gave the inheritance and power
to a female family member rather than bequeath it to someone from outside the family
(Anderson 299). As a result, many women attained political and economic power by inheriting
land directly. For example, both Matilda, the daughter of Henry I of England, and Eleanor,
daughter of Duke William X of Aquitaine, were bequeathed their fathers' lands, as there was no
available male heir to receive them (Anderson 300). Due to the feudal importance of lineage,
many women like Eleanor and Matilda gained power by becoming the sole inheritors of their
fathers' lands.
Sometimes women accumulated power by becoming a replacement ruler to ensure the
safety of family-based land and prestige. They did this by taking on the responsibility or
inheritance bequeathed to an incapable, absent, or deceased male relative, acting as surrogates
for their husbands, brothers, fathers, and sons (Anderson 298). Typically, it was a husband's
sudden death that gave women power, because it forced the wife to assume her husband's
responsibilities. Much of the time, a husband's death benefited his wife in terms of the power she
had. As the Wife of Bath so amusingly puts, "And may Jesus Christ send us husbands meek,
young, and lusty, and grace to outlive them that we wed" (Chaucer 11). Since women were
expected to assume control of their husbands' estates upon their death, women became capable in

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economic, legal, and management duties (Power 34). For example, Aethelfled, the daughter of
Alfred the Great, ruled Mercia after the death of her husband, acting as his surrogate. She was an
accomplished ruler, working with her brother to reclaim lands taken by Vikings (Anderson 277).
If not for the feudal importance of lineage-based rule that made it important for women to keep
control of their families' lands, she may not have stepped in to rule for her husband and might
have been overthrown by a new successor from a completely different family. In this way, the
end of traditional centralized civilization and the rise of smaller feudal kingdoms in medieval
Europe provided a new opportunity for a large number of women to become powerful in the
Middle Ages.
The women of medieval Europe accumulated power in a multitude of ways. The
changing times of the Middle Ages allowed women to leave their mark on the social, political,
and religious worlds of Europe as they gained power through religious careers, education and
literary contributions, and the new feudal system of land ownership. Certain cultural influences
in the form of religion, new linguistic and technological developments, and a political system
shifting away from decentralization allowed women not only to manage towns and cities, but to
become more educated and prolific in their endeavors while gaining more respect as model
figures of society. By capitalizing on the changes in their world, medieval women earned an
education and influence that allowed certain women, typically of a higher station in life--such as
Christine de Pizan--to begin to challenge and question the patriarchal society in which they lived.
These women laid the groundwork for the thousands that came after them who fought and are
still fighting for the equal rights and privileges that they and all women deserve.

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Works Cited
Anderson, Bonnie S., and Judith P. Zinsser. "Constants of the Noble Woman's Life." A History of
Their Own: Women in Europe from Prehistory to the Present. New York: Harper & Row,
1988. 272-296. Print.
Anderson, Bonnie S., and Judith P. Zinsser. "Power and Vulnerability." A History of Their Own:
Women in Europe from Prehistory to the Present. New York: Harper & Row,
1988.

297-323. Print.

Ashby, Ruth, and Deborah Gore. Ohrn. Herstory: Women Who Changed the World. New York:
Viking, 1995. Print.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. Wife of Bath's Tale. NeCastro, Gerard, ed. and trans. 13. Print.
Power, Eileen, and M. M. Postan. Medieval Women. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1975. Print.
"Religious Nuns in Medieval Europe." (2005): 1-9. The Clio Project. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://
www.clioproject.org/files/PDF/Medieval_Nuns_Lesson.pdf>.
Wood, Ethel. AP World History: An Essential Coursebook. Reading, PA: WoodYard
Publications, 2008. Print.