Did women in the middle ages rebel against their role in society?

Answer 1

In the middle ages, women rebelled by not living up to the standards of society. Women were known to be housewives, however, some women rebelled by going out and looking for an out of the house job.

Answer 2

Answer:

Medieval rebellions were not uncommon, but they were mostly about taxes, corruption in the Church, or dynastic succession. The concept of human rights was not yet developed, and it had to be so before the idea of women's right could get wide support.

Nevertheless, there were women who dealt with women's issues, and some did so successfully. Christine de Pizan was one such. She is said to have been the first successful female professional writer. She made her living largely by writing poetry, and was sufficiently successful to support herself, her mother, her niece, and her three children. But she also wrote essays on misogyny, the damaging portrayal of women in literature, and women's issues. Her work, The Book of the City of Women, dealt with the contributions women had made to society over the ages.

I think the entire Code of Chivalry, which was promoted by such women as Eleanor of Aquitaine, was to some degree an attempt to elevate women, though it did so by idealizing them excessively.

But at the other end of the spectrum were women who lead wars to take political power in their own right. Empress Matilda did this, in an attempt to take the throne of England, and though she was not able to get the throne for herself, she was able to get it for her heir, Henry II.

More successfully, Margaret I of Denmark took the throne of that country, despite a law saying a woman could not be monarch. She could do this because she had been regent for some years, and the nobility recognized her ability and trusted her wisdom. She united Denmark with Norway and Iceland. Then, at the request of a large number of Swedes, she took control of that country, crushing the army of its foreign king. Out of these countries, she created the Kalmar Union, which lasted over a hundred years.

For more information on these women, and on women's rights in the Middle Ages, please use the links below.

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Interestingly enough, they could turn to the church if they did not want to marry by vowing to become a nun.

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Good point. The Middle Ages was a period when the Infant Mortality Rate was high, often near 50%, and people died at home, so everyone was intimately familiar with death. There were wars, famines, and plagues with a regularity we have not seen in Western Europe or America for decades. Many women died in childbirth. Life was a bit different, to say the least.

The convents were usually respected as sacred, even by armies during wars, and the life of a nun was much more secure than that of other women in other times as well. Even aside from the religious reasons for doing so, in a time when the best most people could hope for was a good afterlife, it is easy to see the attraction of a convent.

Monasteries and convents were places of refuge for criminals and other people who were trying to escape problematic situations, such as abuse. A woman in an abusive situation would be welcomed at one, and her abuser would usually not be able to remove her, be he husband or king. They were considered sacred, and often even beyond royal authority. In fact one woman, who was caught trying to poison King Louis IX of France, managed to escape to a convent, and remained there, out of reach, until she died of natural causes.

Answer 3

This question was very hard for me I got it on wiki.answers.com (from Mrs. Biggee Social Studies Wayland-Cohocton Central School District):

Women's lives could vary significantly depending on their social class, the time period, and the region where they lived.

Answer 4

No. They had no rights at all. A few like Eleanor of Aquitaine were queens, had their own lands, went on the Crusades and actually worked to have her son's put on the throne, but she was also exiled to a remote keep as punishment. Lesser poorer women couldn't own land or a business. They couldn't go to school and were without any rights. Men could abuse them, rape them, lock them up as punishment, kill them, divorce them, and leave them. Men were in control and it would have done them no good to rebel.

Answer 5

join convents and run away from their fathers and husbands

Answer 6

Give birth and become nuns.