Medieval Noble Society
Anderson and Zinnser
(pp. 269-304)
Sources
• Primary Sources- literary writings by men
– Examples include: Njal’s Saga, Tristan and
Isolde, Lancelot, and Raoul.
• Secondary Sources- make up the majority
of the sources utilized.
– Examples include:
• Baker, Derek. Medieval Women. (1978).
• Duby, Georges. Women of the Twelfth Century.
(1997).
• Erickson, Amy Louise. Women and Property in
Early Modern England. (1993).
Methodology
• Literary critical approach-treat primary
sources as “texts”. They reveal as much
about the culture in which they were
written.
• Secondary sources used to explain and
defend.
From Warrior’s Wife to
Noblewoman…..
• Were, “participants and pawns in the wars of
their men.” (270)
• Were, “the inspiration for and the glorified
objects of love.” (270)
• Had, “unusual opportunities and access to
power.” (271)
• However, all women, “remained dependent upon
and ultimately subordinate to their fathers,
husbands, and sons.” (270)
The Noblewoman’s Life:
War
• “noblewomen were the companions and trusted
surrogates for their warrior fathers, husbands, or
sons.” (272)
• As companions, noblewomen provided “the wellordered household” in which feasting and
entertainment took place when warriors returned
home. They were also responsible for tending
the sick and grieving for the dead.(274-275)
• As surrogates, “they exercised a warrior’s and
lord’s authority, defended the family’s lands and
titles, and were honored as ‘men’” (276) when
the men were away at battle.
The Noblewoman’s Life:
Marriage…the Transfer of Property
• Marked by customs and rituals such as feasts,
gifts, dowries, the exchanging of rings. (279)
• The Church’s involvement in the ceremony was
to ensure the consent of both the woman and
the man. (280)
• This was extremely important in the feudal
hierarchy in which marriage arrangements were
closely tied to business and land holdings (281).
• However, the Church rarely supported women
who claimed they had been forced into
marriage. (281)
• In the end, “parental authority superseded the
couple’s wishes.” (282)
The Noblewoman’s Life:
Marriage…the Transfer of her Person
• “The sexual union of the couple, the
children she would bear, made it possible
for both sets of parents to continue their
lineages, their family names.” (282)
• The marriage of a daughter could give her
family access to higher status through her
husband’s family. (282)
• The marriage of a daughter “could
neutralize potential enemies.” (283)
The Noblewoman’s Life:
The Lands and the Household
• Her tasks were tied to the size of the home
and landholdings. (288)
• Examples of tasks included:
– Supervising staff and labourers
– Calculating annual revenues and taxes
– Overseeing the harvest
– Buying and selling goods
– Slaughtering and curing livestock
– Oversaw the preparation and serving of meals
The Noblewoman’s Life:
Faith
• Responsible for the spiritual well-being of
the family.
• Noblewoman gave, “gifts of land and
money for use by the Church, for the
establishment of needed services, and for
prayers both for their own and others’
salvation.” (291)
• “founded monasteries, almshouses, and
the first hospitals in Europe.”(292)
The Noblewoman’s Life:
Childbearing and Children
• “Among titled women, 45 percent died before
age fifty, of those, one quarter died from
childbirth.” (294)
• Both noble and peasant women swaddled their
babies.
• Noblewoman often employed a “wet” nurse and
sometimes even a “dry” nurse.
• Accidents and disease only allowed roughly half
of the noblewoman’s children to survive into
adulthood.
• Noble families practiced sending their daughters
to a honored lady’s home while sons went away
to train for knighthood.
Anderson and Zinesser’s main
point…
War, marriage, land, household, faith and children
remained constant aspects of the noblewoman’s life from
the ninth to the seventeenth centuries.
“Though they rarely held the land in their own right, they
gave instructions to bailiffs and seneschals-the
overseers of the family manors. They supervised the
workings of the estate and the household. To them fell
the responsibility for the lineage, since they bore the
children to carry on the family name and the claims to
the family’s lands.” (296)
“The woman who acted as a man would always be an
anomaly.” (271)
Power and Vulnerability
• Political circumstances: concept of lineage
– Therefore, “in the absence of sons, a daughter might
be the sole repository of the newly established family
name and lineage.” (298)
• Economic circumstances: too many sons, not
enough land to remain powerful.
– Therefore, “in the absence of sons, daughters
became sole heir, held lands in their own right, and
fulfilled the family obligations of fight and to rule just
like men.” (299)
Too good to be true?
• “This was no ‘golden age’ for Europe’s elite
women. However favorable the circumstances
for them, they still remained vulnerable and
subordinate.” (303)
• “In the long term, their traditional function and
role proved the most significant….to bare sons.
Those sons inherited the lands and passed them
and the authority they represented on to the next
generation.” (304)
Questions
• Was it only queens who were able to gain
power and control in the medieval world?
• Do you see similarities between the
Roman Matron and the medieval
Noblewomen?
• Did women of all classes lead relatively
similar lives during the 9th-17th centuries?