midwives history

educated male view of women in the 1500

• still loyal to the patriarchal christian god

• based on adam and eve story

• negative characteristics of women

• patriarchal christian marriage

christian humanists

• desiderius erasmus

  • saw women as spiritually equal

  • stressed gender sensitive virtues

  • educate upper-class girls

• moderate fonte (moderate fountain)

  • men-name of venetian writer modesta pozzo

  • the worth of women: wherein is clearly revealed their nobility and their superiority to men

changing ideas in 1500-1700

traditional ideas changed with the intellectual influences

• 16th century

  • renaissance

  • religious reformations

• 17th century

  • development of sicence

• legal changes restricted the independence of women

protestant reformer martin luther

believed women were created for no other purpose than to serve men and be their helpers…..”let them bear children to death; they are created for that”

stressed marriage and family

thought there was nothing better on earth than a womans love

catholic reformers after 1563

• catholic reformation after council of trent 1563

  • stress on celibacy not marriage

• stricter rules for celibacy not marriage

• education to weed out unsuitable candidates for religious orders

• veneration of the virgin mary as an etheral figure

the ideal wife

• manuals on the good housewife

  • industious taking care of the family and home

  • compliant to husbands needs; entertain his friends

  • obedient

  • not loud or talkative

science and female anatomy 17th century

• reliance on works of aristotle and galen

• greek belief woman was an imperfect man

  • female body colder and wetter

  • sex organs internal not external

  • uterus (hysteria)

• renaissance science believed in womans inferiority

• limited understanding of female body

enlightenment. thinkers (18th century)

philosophes (france)

• influenced by german philosopher kant “dare to know”

new cultural institutions, societies clubs (exclude women)

unequal and limited education of women

salons (hosted by women) in pre revolutionary paris

education focused on boys not girls

women and the law in early europe

attitudes permiated legal standards affecting women through,

• marital status

  • could they have a legal case or did their husband have to take it

  • not being able to bring legal case in law, not considered a person in law

• property

  • women could not own property apart from wealthy widows

• marriage separation and child custody

  • only thing men could do was mvoe away from the district, cant divorce, just remarried

  • separation was doing separate households

  • children are the labour belonging to the husband

  • custody of children went to husband

  • if you could prove your husband died then you could remarry but that is a very difficult thing to do

• crimes against women

  • marital status, women at the mercy of their husbands

  • men allowed to correct women

  • women brought dowry to marriage, could not own property so dowry was brought into the marriage

  • sometimes widows were lucky if husband hadnt spent the dowry

  • some widows left property or business making them a little more independent'

  • single women had to have a guardian represent them in the law

  • women subject to womens crimes, women charged more harshly for killing their children in england, if the child died during birth that could count meaning it was in best interest to register pregnancy even if it was an accident so that if something went wrong they would have some level of law on their side

  • a lot of women accused of infanticide or abortion were treated very harshly with the assumption of guilt

citizenship

• women didnt have the right to vote or join a guild

• rights and privledges through their husbands

• in terms of citizenship there was no vote they could make

• no holding in public office

disorderly woman

• if a woman tried to take the mans role they would be very badly treated, no longer meek or mild and obedient to their husbands

• also feared role reversal

• driven by fear of disorder

  • ex. uncontrollable tungue, telling off husband, luft, extravagant with husbands money, women getting together to scheem

• husbands with scolding wives often ridiculed

womens stereotypes

maid, wife, widow

• godo woman

• a woman must be defined by her relationship to men

scold, whore, witch

• disorderly woman

• challenged patriarchical control

• imagery of the whore of babylon common to depicted papacy

• role reversal also looked harshly on

  • ex. mary frith dressed in males clothing

• anything challenging the status quo of patriarchical society

male misunderstanding of female body

• by 1500 retreat from the “imperfect” man idea, but male body was the model or norm

• recognize there are significant differences in female body from male body

• great male fear of female biology and anything to do with menstration

• nurses promoted idea of men staying out of it

• in humoral medicine, based itself on bleeding the body to get them back into balance, basis of cure

  • end of 18th century king george the third had leeches on body to try and cure magnus

• idea men need to control female body, womens sexual appetite is versaseous, have constant intercourse and children, keep them busy

• idea after menopause all blood goes to a womans head and they get firey hot and dangerous

families in early europe

• marriage was the ultimate goal fr\or women

• in many parrts of europe first son keeps everything and younger sons and daughters must find something else

• if you are poor and bread prices increasing you cant afford a wife so in a lot of northern european countries they delayed marriages until much later meaning less children

• class and wealth have impact but inheritance system also has a role and conditions of scarecety or shortages

childhood and adolescence for women

• high infant morality

• children expected to do something for family economy even at young age

• historians believed up until 1980s based on early english books children were treated very harshly, strict discipline, suggested parents just tolerated chuldren and waited to see if they lived and if they managed to live beyong 10-15 they might start paying more attention to them

• things have changed since then, found parent were actually loving of children even with the high mortality rate

• parents with a young child would swaddle baby even past newborn up to the year of one, swaddled on mothers back, done to keep them out of danger

• treatment of boys and girls quite different

  • different prayers said based on gender in catholic and orthodox church

  • reformation: protestant churches

    • after reformation, started to get a common prayer for birth, less distinction between boys and girls

  • child abandonment

    • far more girl in orphanages

  • infanticide in court cases were too low to predict if there were more girls or boys

  • boys more likely to read and write than girls

  • wore the same clothes but just taught different things

  • menstration

    • medical view, belief that removing excess blood, bloodletting, stops blood from rushing to brain

    • lots of sexual activity recommended to manage female urges

    • in catholic and protestant church women were seen as unclean and medically unwise

marriage for women

• marriage was a goal, parents wanted a good match

• find someone of equal status and wealth, much easier with high status and more money, also based on property and what will be good for blending of two families

• renaissance marriage

  • want to provide a dowry

  • marriage contract, legal document, families joining together

  • two parts to ceremony, official paper work and then a waiting period until you have the marriage

pregnancy childbirth and motherhood

• big dangers in childbirth for women

• ideal of marriage is to produce and heir to carry on family and work on farm and household

• similar restraint from sexual activity happens after childbirth to help the mother recover from having the baby

• cleansing after birth

• women given healthy food to try and help her recovery

• period for 40 days called lying in period where you confine to home looking after baby and self being fed good food and wiating to go back out into society

• women welcome back into church after 40 days

• midwife has power to do emergency baptism

• girl must become vistuous wife so watching mother be one at work

• women should never have idle hands, hands always at work

single women

• called spinsters, if they are chatting they need to be spinning wool to keep them out of trouble

• lots of women could not afford to marry, too poor for dowry

• put into fostering contract or service at young age

• those in service would work in a household, be part of household and trained

• women also joined holy orders

• widows can be of all ages

• must have good character and morals

• if husband or father isnt in charge it is seen as dangerous thing so fostering could be done, agreement child would be in household learning skills involving service within the household where they would recieve a payment, training them in household outside of their own

• single by choice

  • if women got married they had to give up jobs

widow and old age

• only way to gain this status is death of a husband, woman doesnt really have a choice in this

• rich widows provided for in wills were able to carry on business if not they would be burdened to the town and town would need to pay for her, this is why they allowed women to work on businesses until younger sons could come into business

• no old age pensions, no social security, no healthcare, poor women worked until they died, many worked as street vendors selling fish of food

• situation of women depended on family

• a bit different for widowers, widowers taken into family and provided for, widows were expected to take care of themselves

female sexuality

• casts women in a very poor light

• publications circulated, male opinons

• religious opinions about men being the norm and woman being a deviation from norm

• sexuality okay within christian marriage but not on sunday or church holidays but then luther comes in and said lets have lots of sex actuallly because it brings children

• challenge of patriarchical position creates fear

difference and ideas of deviance

• woman losing viriginity is disasterous, for men it wasnt that deep

• if women has sex and ends up with a baby theres fear of people finding the baby, go to someone who gives you potions to abort pregnancy

• heavy work to try and bring on abortion

• in some ways abortion wasnt not wrong but it was just before you could feel the baby where it was fine, after it was a crime

• fathers have brought cases against women raped and abandoned, aruged if theyre raped they are no longer virgins and are “ used goods” father brought upon case of rapist and forced him to admit actions and pay money to bring back her reputations but you must be quite well off to do that

• harsh penalties introduced to punish those that were accused of having an abortion of an infanticide

• a lot of it depended on surveillance of community

• if girl looked like she recently gave birth, report this to authorities

• lots of asylums or hospitals for women to go to

• cross dressing

  • cases where same-sex relationships challenged

  • sodomy is the legal case, according to law view of male view of sexuality there can be no sodomy for women

  • word lesbian only came in 1800 century

  • idea that this cannot happen

  • only time was if they had a dildo or in a covent

  • usurping the male role which is seen as most dangerous

work for women

• women worked lower paying jobs

• women who did have interesting jobs like artist or scientists were regarded as exceptionally manly women

• there werent NO womens occupationbs but they were very dependent on status and wealth

• wealth widows able to carry on husbands bsuiness especially if they had sons that would go on to business

• a lot of occupations related to whether they were pregnant

• hard to identify women with particular jobs at particular stages in life because they work lots of different jobs

• set professionalization standards, difficult for women to say they met those standards

• sewing lumped together with housekeeping

• when women were knitting stockings for household that was unskilled later but as soon as there was the dispersion of the stocking knitting frame it became a product only men had the ability to do

• womens work valued much less than a house wife, women paid less for their work compared to men

• womens work is considered, women arent trained and dont have expertise in this, they are replaceable

• some women managed household, in charge of directing servants, she would be invlved in baking cooking brewing and distilling practicing medicine

• remarriage was quite common, very important in countryside because they need labour, woman with young children want to remarry

• farmers wife worked very hard in farm yard and cottage garden

• cheese was very valuable and role of cheese mother arose, milked the cows and involved in making sure butter and cheeses were mature and turned, lots of work put on them

• hiring out the whole hopusehold was starting to be development, whole household provided income based on things like how much coal they could mine

• women and children involved in high value crops

mining and domestic industry

• women would carry ore, salt and wash ore

• very labour intensive and stages of preparation very intense

  • men would do actual mining women would do lighter less physically aggressive tasks, families often hire their whole unit to produce different things

womens work in towns and cities

• women hired in city government but often not included in payrolls bc they were hired as overseers

• high end shops excluded women

• women servants often looped into guild work, wouldnt be paid very much just considered extra hands

• danger was if young girls started getting a lot of money they could be up to no good

• when young girls worked they went home and took a break for a period of time mothers would be charged if they werent constantly working them because they could be up to no good

sumptuary laws

meant there was a dress code for servants cant dress above status

charity and healing

• sickness very common

• healing places attached to religious orders

• also had a number of people who worked in church

• they cared for sick and weak

• almshouse, owmen provided ways to help poor people

• when getting rid of religious insitutions involved in looking after poor, towns would jump in and try to provide services themselves

• midwife one of the few jobs with a label attached to a woman, very big responsibility job

women market traders

• women sold vegetables, meat pies, fresh and salted fish

• women also continued their husbands craft after death

• fish wives was name for women who sold things

domestic spinning and weaving

• for every weaver, weaver required supplies from at least 20 spinners, people would drop off wool to man to continue to produce cloth

• florence or antwerp employed many women within towns

• in poor towns first person laid off is the weaver beacause they got paid the most because they were a man

prostitution and brothel regulation

• lucrative occupation

• prostitution often looked over by a man

• allowed to have time off on sunday to go to church

• no brothel manager or his wife should sell or pawn a woman

• all of the towns in germany wanted to get rid of brothel, debates within town of whether to get rid of brothel, thought containing the issue in one area reduced danger for young women

• lots of resistance to brothels in newly protestant areas

• bath hosues also associated with prostitution

craft guilds

• male centered

• men would get status and respectability from climbing up craft ladder

• women were generally excluded because guilds did not take on female apprentices, when we start getting a guild particularly for making womens clothes, there was some change taking place but generally women recieved no status working in the guild

• guild rules in 1400 excluded women

• women dont have voice in guilds or guild organization work in countryside was unregulated and had nothing to do with guild

• kept women out of workshops

• dressmakers guild and mantuas makers guild was just women coming to have dresses fitted or measured and new garnment

  • not to be confused with tailors guild which was for men

• goldsmith and gold spinners require desterous hands so often there would be young girls employed within a goldsmiths shop to do spinning of fine thread, and not allowed to do other things, not allowed to work independently had to be under care of men

investment, management and purchasing

• hard for women to get access to capital, usually carried on after they were widowed

• some women very successful

• generally very hard for women to get access to capital

• restricted participation in commerce

• restricted access to land and capital

margaret murray

• egyptologist not necessarily a historian

• people took her research and used it as evidence of midwives being seen as witches

midwife and witch myth

• midwives were able to perform emergency baptisms which gave them a lot of credibility considering the only other people who can perform them are male priests which dispells myth of them being witches

• also were claled to determine if witchcraft had occured

  • incharge of a physical examination

• trusted as an expert witness

• midwife is the only to take baby to church and be blessed by priest without mother

• midwife are only ones who have a non derogatory title

• if women was single delivering a baby midwife was in charge of trying to extracting who the father is from the girl, last pushes of childbirth might weaken her

apprenticeship system with midwives

• used to train midwives

• as soon as young girl has finsihed her training older midwife has to take on somekone else

• if she does not get along with apprentice they would need to stop teaching for a period of time

• one midwife would have a large number of women relying on her

• midwives had to swear an oath and part of that oath was you couldnt run off to another city, you were trained by a city so you shouldnt go elsewhere

• if midwives were disobedient or disagreeable the city council would remove them from office and punish them severely, strict standards for midwives

17th century men coming into midwifery

• huge competition

• male midwives kept to themselves the special technique which was forceps, making the baby come out faster

• midwives used hand manipulation and warm baths allowing baby to do turning it needs to do, not trying to rush things were all things women midwifes did that were important, in time the baby will come

marie of the incarnation IMPORTAAAAANT

catholic woman who despite her desire to live a religious life, she got married and lived happily with her husband for two years until she was widowed at nineteen when she was still marie guyart. she and her child were then left in poverty and she had to move in with her family survive. eventually she became an ursuline nun and was renamed marie l’incarnation. through her order she worked with indigenous populations with the ursuline order, she founded the first amerindian christian school and became mother superior to her order

in her youth she studied the life of teresa of avila, the mysrical works of saint dionysus the areopagite, and the scriptures of the louvain catholic tradition

the feuillants director aided marie in efforts to exlore the benefits of experiential religious endeavors and was extremely integral in her eventual decision to become an ursuline nun after he husbands passing

maries son supported her decision and encouraged her to write her autiobiography

gave her son to the care of others to go be a nun

worked closely with indigenous peoples and learnt their languages, oeprated in a climate where indigenous peoples mistrusted french because they spread smallpox in indigenous populations, also learnt language of indigenous peoples

came from an ursulin order established in france and moved to new world quebec and founded the ursulin order in quebec city

founded a school for girls alongside the convent and went to frontier of new france to set up schools

wrote books in indiegenous languages

her dreams as a woman to be religious brushed to the side from pressure to marry from her parents, displayed rebellion among women of the time when she chose to become religious after her husbands passing leaving her son in other care

gliki bas judah leib IMPORTAAAAANT

jewish woman known for writing an autobiography abotut her life which was something a jewish woman in her position had never done before

before marriage she worked as a merchant who wrote down stories of her life and yiddish folk tales, she had 12 children and her parents were prosperous traders and businesspeople

first married at 13 to the son of a trader and became a trader herself and eventually widowed, at which point she managed her husbands business and continued to take care of her family

at the same time she expanded, importing items from other countries, selling pearls, and producing stockings to sell

since she lived in hamburg germany she was marginalized because she was jewish since christianity was more prominent

constructed her stories within a jewish and biblical frame

prospered in literary and business endevours even after her husbands death

support her recieved from her husband enabled her to transcend marginalized positions in society

after widowing she decided to marry again to a wealthy financier in france but then her second husband went through bankruptcy and died and eventually she moved in with her daughter and sepson who were wealthy residents in france

her work is mixed memoirs about her and family with stories from jeiwhs tradition and reveals a lot about jewish life in europe at the time

wrote her memoir for her son which focuses not only on herself but also the jewish community also wrote about finacial struggles whihc was not commonly thought of as being apart of the woman sphere at that time

was devoted to her children

maria sibylla merian IMPORTAAAAAANT

she was a protestant woman from germany who was a painter who became a naturalist

grew up in a family of artists and encouraged to learn their skills from a young age

when she and her husband moved to nuremberg she became a mother and they had two children

she studied insects which was a lifelong interest of hers and published illustrated books about them

unlike the men of her time with similar interests she had to self-fund her entire educatgion and balance it with family demands

eventually she took her daughters and left her husband to live in a protestant religious community (labadist) accompanied bt her mother and daughter 1685

also travelled abroad to study insects in suriname in 1699 with her daughter and after two years she left with brandied butterflies, lizard eggs, and c rocodiles in bottles

described by davis as process of metamorphisis for her (immature to adult transition)

had influence on how she portrayed metamorphic process in her sketches

she only stayed five years but her faith continued to inform her work and she kepto bserving and writing about nature until her death

most notably published a book about the detailed process of metamorphosis of the butterfly work had an emphasis on realism instead of the metaphorical way natural subjects had been portrayed in art in the past, observations likely done by magnifying glass only and not microscope

worked on science publicsations when it was largely the work of men

being a naturalist was top priority for her and took over being a woman

latin

became more readily available and able to disperse and some people could even read on god in their own language

latin was more of an elite language and hard to learn, usually taught to boys, language of power, language of gov

students and scholars

• location and class matters, more likely to get education in towns than countryside

• most of what we have to read for women is from elite women and not peasant women

• humanist fathers encouraged daughters to partake in education

• patronage, sponsor with wealth made through trade or husbands wealth to sponsor a artists and accumulate knowledge

given attitudes of time, why would u educate women

• if women not expected to have place in that realm you can see opposition to anything but basic literacy

• being good christian mother and being able to teach child bible in own language is important

• there is still hostility

• legal systems behind keeping women dependent on male relatives

• literacy levels for women still very low but starting to improve in towns, getting more opportunities

• not uneducated but a lot of boundaries to get to education, education was also generally more informal with women

basic reading and writing skills for women

• learnt to read first then write

• explained why girls couldnt really do anything but write their name

  • cost of materials also a boundary for women learning to write, slate is an expensive outlet so boys usually got slate and girls didnt

  • reading becomes apart of religious instruction

  • men didnt want women to be able to write how they think and express their opinions

• girls also recieved education in cranny schools where you have a caretaker looking after children when mother is busy but also along with some sort of basic reading instruction

• reformation gives more opportunities to the girls but still boundaries

• not many opportunities for girls to use education

• limited period and spasmodic to boys

• class significant for opportunities

• rural areas more co-ed

• mainly exposed to religious works, prayers, verses, catechism, the bible

  • often memorized it rather than actually reading it

  • reading is stressed and writing is limited

going to school

• convent boarding schools for elite

• charity schools for poorer girls, ursuline sisters responsible for setting these up

• village schools, relatively little instruction and stopped learning to help with harvest

• ursuline order and education, boarding schoools to help them make money, ursulines did convent boarding schools but also schools for poorer families as well, cheaper to pay women to teach girls

• universities, women not allowed to go to uni at this time but some women achieve a university level education, mightve been taught by tutors, woman allowed to stand behind curtain at uni so she wasnt seen or a distraction, education up to a point but prescribed limits

educating girls

• knitting, sewing, house keeping

• literavy for reading the bible and catechism

• writing limited

• focus on not havng idle hands

what women were allowed to read

• women were allowed to read

  • religious texts

  • how-to-manuals and household guides

  • women also wrote letters

  • class specific, but cosr of printed material lower by 18th century

  • by 1750 theres a greater variety of subjects

  • books for girls and women strong moral tone and chastity

  • midwives manuals and cookbooks

early cookbooks by women

• anna wecker a delicious new cookbook 1597

• susanna endter the excellent (female) cook 1691

• extension of traditional cookbook included recipes for home remedies

reformation influence on reading

• reading the bible

• played as impetus for literacy

• devotional literature

male fears over female literacy

• male authorities cautioned dangerous influence of pious (religious) books

• henry VIII act 1543, forbade all but nobles and gentle women reading the bible, thought behind that is if other people started reading bible they might start getting ideas but if its read to them by the priest they wont

• worried reading would take women away from tasks

• the 18th century novel, pamela, story of a girl hired as a servant by a man who is her superior and he tries to rape her she resists him and he reconsiders the whole idea and is convinced by her virtue and wants to marry her because she is so virtuous

• moralists feared novels, exotic stories and sexually explicit plots, believed to lead women astray

humanist education

• classical education for public service

• few women had humanist education

  • mary tudor, elizabeth tudor (training for public service)

• modifications for women

• taught by tutors in households of elite

• desiderius ersmus colloquies

  • women could learn but must be within framework of female virtue

  • much broader learning

• women developing humanist skills in letters to people

• female humanists 15th century

  • isotta nogarola (1418-66)

  • few middle class urban women able to gain education

  • lots of self study involved

  • cassandra fedele (1465-1558)

• humanist education spread to england

  • margaret roper (new more) 1501-1544

    • educated at home by father

    • english translation of erasmus’s a devout treatise on the pater noster 1524

    • doesnt use her works to express opinion just a translator

    • praise given to her father for teaching her rather than to her for what she can do

learned women 1600-1800

• anna maria van schurman (1607-78)

  • wrote book of learned maid (1659)

• bathusua makin (1600-75)

• mary astell (1666-1731)

  • advocates to establish spiritual and intellectual retreat spaces for women to learn away from society

  • shes marked because england has officially become protestant there are no convents anymore

  • she is advocating female nunaeries to have space for people to learn

courts and salons

• royal courts had wonderful opportunities for girls to. learn skills that will help them

• salonneries

  • older women powerful hostesses

  • influenced patronage of male scholars EX jean jacques rousseau

  • jean jacques rousseau complained about them because he said theyre feminizing education

patronage

• female patrons could influence education

• monarchs and consorts

  • sophie charlotte of purssia

• wealthy noble families

  • maria de medici (1575-1642)

  • anna maria luisa medici (18th century grand dukes of tuscany)

• one of the reasons paintings remain in florence is bc of family pact

  • when end of medici line came and grand dukes of tuscany their line was taken over by another family, it meant that according to this agreement, all art produced during ths time had to stay in those museums in florence

  • way of trying to keep that there because it was all prouced in florence

oral-culture to print culture 1500-1700

transition of priest reading bible to you to reading it yourself

women in visual art

• limited in types of things they could do, could not do nude male portraits or scenes

• still life also available to women

• up until early modern period, most of the art was biblical

• major art (done by men)

  • sculptors

  • artists

  • architects

• minor art (done by women)

  • embroidery

  • miniatures

  • collage

• artemisia gentleschi

  • moved from italy to spain

    • got raped by another artist and father claims shes devalued and now will never get married

women as musicians, composers, and actresses

• often had women who were very accomplished not seen as musician but just a player of their instrument

• if theres a female playwright you are more likely to have a female lead actress

• attitude towards music changes over early modern period

• catholic reformation which ends up having an impact on musical life

• main change is the choirs and musical instruments

• decree against holy voices

• great fear music has been used to lure men

• hard to establish how many female composers there were

• women in court and convent music

  • nuns are now behind grill, cannot go out into community which hampers things like nuns in hospitals and schools

  • venetian ospedali, bring in orphaned young girls and as long as they promised to continue to sing untl thirty they would continue to perform in public

• singers, ballerinas, and acresses

  • not same distaste for actresses as ballerinas and singers

writers

• hierarchy within writing

  • literature (male preserved)

    • history

    • poetry

    • epics

  • other forms of writing

    • letters diaries

  • women writers

    • mary sidney, had male writers in the family so advantage for her to get work published, money available, could print writings independently

      • also have family connection, male family that write

      • also bc they dont have to do cooking or cleaning, more leisure hours

    • louis labe

      • poet well known for her patriarchial love poetry

      • became very popular in the 1550s

    • vittoria colonna

      • italian noble woman poet

      • brought together likeminded women interested in writing

      • tend to have circle of people interested

      • one of first women to have poetry published in her own name

      • had advantage, access to people of importance in writing, protection of the elites

    • alphra behn

      • becomes very popular in novels

      • first british woman to earn a living from her writing

      • also heavily criticized for being immodest and lude in subjects

      • produced some very popular works

    • margaret cavendish

      • duchess of new castle

      • looked aftr young prince king charles the second

      • his father was executed

      • dushess and duhe look after him

      • lady of leisure able to styduy

      • wrote poetry about science and anatomy of atoms

      • wrote famous science fiction novel

• 1640-60, dramatic increase in womens political writing and did not get as much recognition as male writing

scientists

• women could get education from womens libraries, there are private libraries

• women complained there arentt enoujgh scientifc articles for them

• mary winkelman

  • assisted her husband, who worked at the berlin academy of science as an official astronomer

  • he had the job but they both worked in because it didnt deal with botany astronomy it was seen as the more acceptable science for women to be involved in

  • not just an assistant to her husband but pioneering work herself

  • not really recognized for scientific work

  • omce she was a widow she wanted to carry on her work but thehy said no no you can be the assistant to whoever we appoint but they didnt even know anything about it

the good christian woman

• modest

• often a nun

• women often pushed into convence rather than marriage because of dowry prices, it was cheaoer

• offering a domesttic role outside of church

• holy roman empire had imperial creed convents

• women mostly seen as helpers within the church

women and the church

• lives essentially revolved around the church, the only rest, social activity, and entertainment they had

• convents

  • provided food for poor

  • visited sick and elderly

womens role in late medieval christianity

• the church gave routine to life and break from work week

• nuns and other women who had taken religious vows enjoyed a different life from majority of lay women

  • tertiaries too poor to enter convent but still associated with it

• most women were either married with families or single living with family or other women

  • churches offered leisure and sociability

• other lay owmen lived a communal life or religious devotion without formal vows

• spiritual devotion and religious bequests

  • wills provide evidence of women leaving bequests to religious institutions

  • women often bought religious books and bequeathed them to family members

the protestant reformation 16th century

• coping with rapid religious change

  • crown took over buildings and institutions

  • no more convents

  • rituals changed

  • loss of shrines and saints days

  • priestly marriage

• protesting dissolution of monasteries 1536

  • within certain areas strongly catholic like southwest england

  • a lot of protestt against getting rid of religious light

• protestant women

  • ideal is good christian woman who is married with lots of children

  • reformers wives under scrutiny

  • bishops who were allowed to marry under edwards reign lose wives once new reign comes in

• godly protestant women

  • gave out things to orphans and poor

  • godly women who were married

charlotte arbaleste

• french noble woman

• reformation writer

• account of st bartholomews day massacre (1572)

• converted to calvinism-french protestant

• 1584 challenged male opinions of her towns consistory (disciplinary body of clergy)

• excommunicated her and household because she wore her hair in curls

  • as soon as a woman marries she should cover hair and she didnt

anabaptist martyrs

• some very extreme others going into countryside and building community but not bothering anyone

• munster experiment 1534-35

  • worst or very extreme sets of anabaptists, one specifically in the town of munster, the leader proclaims himself king of anabaptists and terrorized community

  • enforced marriage and polygamy for all women

  • became a prophet

  • finally city is recaptured by citizens

• rejected infant baptism and other teaching accepted by most protestants and catholics

• hymns memorializing martyrs

• treated as if theyre heretics, treated harshly

• a lot of their themes were recalled through oral tradition, some written down

catholic reformation

• council of trent 1563

  • held a series of three meetings

  • final one set official position of catholic church

  • result was pope did very well because he got a lot of what he wanted in terms of structure of church

  • stress on improving behaviour of priests and how you train them

  • making much stricter requirements for entry of priest

  • pretty much ended ability for women to go out and treat people in community if you were apart of holy order, you were basically enclosed

  • could hold schools in convent but you did not go outside

  • in 1530s, there is a number of new orders

    • jesuits, who were harsh in their training with an additional vow they swore to the pope

    • ursulin order, female order based on educating girls

  • backwards step in some ways

  • company of st ursula in brescia italy sheltered after trent

• st teresa of avila (1575-82)

  • spanish mystic and counter/catholic reformation writer

  • carmelite nun and wrote the way of perfection (1565), appealed to god that is not prejudice against women

• a womans confraternity 1547 italy

  • devotion of lay women

  • pieta protest in bologna

  • lost status in confraternities

  • made a separate and not equal male vs female confraternity

• catholic women

  • edward VI reign fled to europe

  • mary I revived catholicism

  • elizabeth I protestant but tolerant if loyal

    • catholicism went underground

  • mary ward (1585-1645)

    • englush anti-catholicism late 16th century early 17th century

    • 1609 founded un-cloistered order in saint omer france and girls school

    • for english women who wanted to remain catholic

    • faced opposition to work outside convent like angela merici

    • modelled society of jesus

      • congregation of jesus and institute of blessed virgin mary (sisters of loreto)

    • louise de marlliac and the daughters of cahrity

      • jointy founded with vincent de paul, french

      • daughters of charity dedicated to the service of the poor

      • catholic reformation slower in france (unrest and civil was in 16th and 17th century)

      • appropriate work

        • hospitals

        • orphanages

        • relief of poor

        • teaching

protestantism in the 17th and 18th centuries

• new religions

  • quakers

  • methodists

• margaret fell fox

  • speaking of women justified

    • quakers rejected all social hierarchies

    • no defence to superiors

    • spirit of god did not differentiate between men and women

    • women preached, taught and suffered punsihment with men

    • persecuted for beliefs in europe and european colonies

• pietism and methodism

  • deepening of spiritual experiences in 17th and 18th century

  • organized movements for greater more intense piety

  • frequent individual prayer

  • phillip jakob spener (1635-1705), former lutheran, founded pietism in germany

  • john wesley (1703-1791) former anglican minister, founded methodism in england

catholic women in 17th and 18th centuries

• quietists

  • calm acceptance of things in religious without need to change, passive attitude about the world

    • madame guyon (1648-1717)

      • jeanne-marie bouvier de la motte-guyon

      • french mystic

      • quietism heretical in france

      • wrote a short and easy method of prayer and accused of heresy

• janenism

  • emphasis on divine religious grace over free will, no such thing as free will

    • marie angelique arnauld (1591-1661)

    • 1602 abbess of port-royal-des champs cistercian (roman catholic monastic order) convent in france

    • 1625 moved convent to paris

    • 1634 duvergier appointed spiritual advisor (janenist)

    • port royal de paris a stronghold

    • jesuit opposition to port royal convent in 1709

religious training in the 18th century

• religious instruction

  • confirmation

  • confession

  • holy communion

• absence of instruction

  • very poor neglected