Introduction

In this critique of Women In The Middle Ages, I will identify the Gies' purpose in writing this book and discuss how well they fulfilled their purpose. Also I will evaluate the merits and shortcomings of this book in relation to the themes, sources used, and the authors' writing style.

Authors' Purpose

The Gies assert that researching and writing about women in the Middle Ages is difficult, due to the sources that are commonly used and which gives a misogynic view of women, such as the writings of Church fathers, contemporary law books, and literary works. The Gies attempt to describe the lives of women in the thousand years known as the early Middle Ages, Dark Ages, and High Middle Ages.

The first section of the book offers background information on the lives of women in the early Middle Ages, and the last section are individual portraits of specific women in the High Middle Ages. The Gies explore several elements that affect women's lives: childbirth, survival, marriage, property rights, legal rights, education, work, political roles, and religious roles.

Authors' Writing Style

Despite the difficulties in writing about medieval women, the Gies do an excellent job of providing the reader with an extended, if not complete, view of the lives of these women. They must necessarily fill in some blanks that history has left us, but the majority of their conclusions seem very logical and believable. For instance, the pervasive belief that women had few legal rights is shown to be not strictly true in the descriptions of the woman who disinherited her son in favor of a kinswoman (21) and other examples of women maintaining control over their own property.

The manner in which the Gies trace the fluctuating status of women in the Middle Ages is seen to be directly connected to politics, economics, and changing social structure. For example, the introduction of the feudal system in ninth century France and, subsequently, other European countries, traces how women's rights and status diminished due to the linking of land ownership to military service.

The Gies' style of writing is clear, informative, and extremely interesting. I enjoyed very much how they presented the age old myths surrounding women, and in some instances, modifying them to reflect their actual historical elements. For example, the chapter entitled "Eve and Mary" describes the tendency on the part of males that "simultaneously placed woman on a pedestal and reviled her as the incarnation of evil" (37). This is important because it still affects the modern world.

The Gies also present evidence that shows the conflicting attitudes towards women that men held. An early medieval churchman Tertullian thought of his wife as his "beloved companion in the Lord's service" while preaching to women that they were the "gate of the devil," "traitor of the tree," and the "first deserter of Divine Law" (38).

While most of the conclusions reached by the Gies seem valid and logical, there is one that I cannot agree with. Regarding Blanche of Castile, the Gies write that "Blanche had never really exhibited a taste for power" (119). I believe that Blanche, once having obtained power, was clearly determined to retain it. The evidence of her possessiveness towards her son King Louis and her attempts to reduce his wife's influence over him demonstrates that Blanche was endeavoring to hold on to her political authority she had held as her son's regent.

Authors' Sources

The Gies used primary sources for the most part in writing their book. These sources are principally "chronicles, tax rolls, legal and manorial records, private account books, diaries, and letters" (5). They did use a few secondary sources, such as works by Frederick Engles, Jill Tweedie, and Marc Bloch. They seemed to draw much of their material from religious works, such as the Bible, and works by St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and St. Bernadine of Siena.

Conclusion

This was an excellent book to use for studying the lives of medieval women. Despite how much modern scholarship has advanced in presenting women, it still remains inadequate in traditional history texts. So therefore, supplements are necessary and this one provides an in-depth view of medieval women of all classes. I enjoyed this book very much and the primary reason is that it showed me just exactly how far women have advanced in modern society. Some of the evidence presented by the Gies was frankly shocking, such as the view that menstrual fluid was poisonous and that women were forced to walk the fields as a human insecticide.


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About the Author

Mary Arnold holds a B.A. in literature and history.

She is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writing.