"The history of women in the Middle Ages is difficult to write. Few women where literate; their opportunities to record their own thoughts and feelings and attitudes were restricted; the bulk of medieval records were written by men for men." This statement by Christopher N.L. Brooke seems to be a quite good introduction to an essay about the roles available to women in the early Middle Ages. It reminds us how difficult is to write a female history and we can easily imagine the even greater lack of information we have to face in lower classes' women history. What we do know is that there were some women playing important roles in early medieval society. If they were an exception or not and what allowed them to assume such positions is what we are going to find out. This essay will mainly focus its attention on Frankish and Anglo-Saxon societies in the early Middle Ages. Women of that period should be first distinguished because of their birth. Therefore, the lives of women born in the royal families and in the upper classes will be analysed separated from the lives of those belonging to the lower classes. Marriage is a factor of division among medieval women, furtherm

The family structure in the early Middle Ages was basically patriarchal. Women had rights but they were not allowed to appear in front of a judge in order to defend them. Moreover, they could not administrate directly their patrimony and laws about heredity were not favourable to them. Basically, women belong to their parents while they were nubile and to their husbands while they were married.

According to Suzanne Fonay Wemple, the introduction of Christianity traced the beginning of a new era in the history of feminism. "Religion offered women an opportunity to transcend biological and sexual roles and seek spiritual fulfilment. Women were involved in a broader range of religious functions under Christianity than paganism." Joan Nicholson adds that for many women religious life was a way to avoid to get married to an unchosen and unattractive partner. Moreover, above all in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, monasteries had both the function of orphanage and boarding school and "provided the female element of the ruling caste with something to rule."

Roman laws gave women's will some more place in the choice of a husband. Nevertheless, Suzanne Fonay Wemple notices that in reality also in the roman empire: " double standards of sexual behaviour imposed on women of the upper classes, as well as the sexual exploitation of women of the lower classes by men of the upper classes, reinforced two contradictory and confining female stereotypes: woman as a sexual object and woman as a dutiful wife and mother. Slaves and freedwomen had little choice but to conform to the former model, while women of the upper classes were expected to live up to the latter idea." The unmarried girl was expected to be pure, the wife to be faithful. A wife committing adultery was to be exiled and deprived of half of her dowry, while she had to tolerate her husband's sexual relationships with concubines. On the other hand, "if a woman of the lower classes attracted her master or patron, she had little choice but to become his concubine."

The lives of two surprisingly active queens, Brunhild and Balthild, in the Merovingian kingdom represent a clear example of this chance to assume power offered to women. Their careers have been deeply studied by Janet Nelson. Gregory of Tours is the main source for Brunhild's life. He tells that, thinking King Sigibert that his brothers had married worthless women, he decided to marry a visigothic princess, Brunhild. She was daughter of the Spanish king Athanalgild. She was a well-educated young lady, good looking and intelligent. She was Arian but she soon abandoned her faith and converted to Christianity. As a consequence of this marriage, King Chilperic decided to marry Galswinth, Brunhild's daughter, although he already had many concubines, among whom Fredegund was the favourite. The contrast between Galswinth and Fredegund led to the murder of the former one. After a few days Chilperic married Fredegund. Brunhild and Fredegund became from that moment irreconcilable enemies. Together with territorial conflicts, Galswinth's death was one of the main causes for the war between Sigibert and Chilperic. This war ended in 575 when some vassals faithful to Fredegund murdered Sigibert. Brunhild was in Paris with her children when her husband died. Opening very clever relations with Spain and Burgundian aristocracy, Brunhild was able to rule more than thirty years over Austrasia and Burgundy. She ruled as regent for her son Childebert II first, and then for her grandsons Theudebert and Theuderic. When she was already old, however, her power collapsed and she was captured and murdered in a humiliating way by Fredegund's son, Clothar II.

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Approximate Word count = 2777
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)