Role of Women in the Middle Ages

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Role of Women in the Middle Ages

• By Demi Renfro and Autumn Teeters
• Core 2

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Noblewomen

• Noblewomen were the wives and daughters of the
  noblemen
• They took care of the sick and poor
• The noblewomen themselves could own land
• They could inherit land from their parents or
  husbands
• When a nobleman was away the women ruled the manor

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Noblewomen continued

• Noblewomen could also send knights into battle

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Nuns

• They lived very simply and could not marry
• They also served as doctors
• They gave up their life possessions to live a
  life in monasteries convents

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Serfs

• They Would work next to their husband and
  children all day
• If a woman was a merchant they would ply many
  crafts
• They would do weaving and brewing

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Urban working women

• They were also urban working women who worked in
  the cities.
• They were housewives to the master of the house
  (husbands).
• A woman who was married worked in the house of
  her husband.
• When women did work they were paid minimum wage.

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Wet nurses

• A wet nurse was a woman who would nurse a baby
  after its birth.
• Poor women often had wet nurses so that they
  could go back to work.
• Wet nurses were also known as nannies or cleaning
  women.

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Peasants

• The majority of women were peasants
• They have to plant, tend, and harvest at least
  one good crop
• They try to harvest about 2 crops per year
• Peasants usually lived in a small town.
• They usually lived in a 2 room cottage.

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Witchcraft

• In the middle ages people were scared of
  witchcraft
• They thought that magic was an illusion by the
  devil
• There are 2 kinds of magic Black magic and White
  magic
• Black magic was about the devil

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More Witchcraft

• White magic was a Christian symbol

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Websites for information

• www.medievalspells.com
• www.wikipedia.com
• www.roleofwomen.com

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Questions

• What was the class of the majority of women?
• What is the difference between black magic and
  white magic?
• What family (class) did nuns usually come from?
• What was the job of wet nurses?

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Answers

• The majority of most women were (peasants.)
• Black magic is a symbol of the (devil) and white
  magic is a symbol of (Christianity.)
• Nuns usually came from the (noble family.)
• Wet nurses usually took care of a baby when it
  was first born.

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Church for women

• Women were denied official religious roles until,
  later in the years
• Nuns and abbesses worked devoted to extend the
  influence or the church, their lay sisters
  remained strictly subordinate to their husband
  and family.

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Medieval Queens

• Eleanor of castile
• Isabella of france
• Philippa of Hainault
• Mary de Bohum
• Catherine of Valois
• Margaret of Anjov

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