The Importance of Peasant Women in Medieval Society

A detailed Summary of The Importance of Peasant Women in Medieval Society

The Importance of Peasant Women in Medieval Society

During the Medieval period, peasant women played many important roles. They performed a multitude of tasks every day and faced daunting challenges and pressures throughout their lives as they struggled to gain a place in their society. The roles of these women can easily be seen in a closer look at their entire lives, both in and out of the home.

To begin, medieval peasant women executed many important duties in their households. For example, almost all chores were completed by the women. On any given day, female peasants might have sheared their sheep, spun the wool into string, woven the string into a peace of cloth, and sewed that piece of cloth into a new garment for herself or one of her family members. Still, their list of responsibilities continues. They had to do the wash, cook and clean, care for both the children and animals, tend to the garden, keep a fire, and occasionally hunt for food. Yet the women were not recognized for their efforts. They were considered to be inferior to their husbands and often appeared to be servants to them. A slight honor of managing the house or estate was only bestowed upon the women when their husbands would leave for lon

Overall, the medieval peasant women's roles in society were large and valuable ones. The contributions that they made both in and out of the home helped greatly in ensuring that medieval life ran smoothly. Therefore, these strong, selfless women were essential in creating the picture that we see today when we think of "Medieval Times."

The final major roles that medieval peasant women played in their lifetimes came during widowhood. After their husbands passed away, the women had many obligations to fulfill. First they had to pay what was known as a "heriot" to the Lord of the manor. This "often consisted of a large part of the household, usually all the metal objects, the best beast, uncut cloth, and all the pigs." (http://www.integrity.com/homes/kernan/willkernan/essays/women.htm). Then, she paid "mortuary" to the church, which usually consisted of the second best beast. Although most widows never lost their land or status, they frequently faced poverty. At times, women were left with less than half of the property that they once owned and sometimes, they even had to move out of their homes. However, the peasant widows had the freedom and ability to work and gain back some or even all of the valuables that they had lost. They also needed to work in order to support their now fatherless children who needed food, clothing, and shelter, as well as do

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Approximate Word count = 924
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History