How did the status of women change during the middle ages?

Answer 1

Obviously in Royal and noble households. Princesses and the like. The lady of the Manor- who would be married to the Baron or other lordly nobleman in charge of the castle- well, she had considerable responsibilities and privileges as well. She- and this is more of a job title, rather than a rank like Sergeant or Lieutenant- was called a Chatelaine. May have something to do with Cats- as Chat is cat in French. She was the Lady of the Manor- so to speak.l Probabloy also chief of protocol observing ins and outs of the noble adolescents- don"t want them palling around with peasants, now!

To see information on medieval women, please use the link to the related question below.

Answer 2

1st AnswerThe status of women didn't change. In fact, it didn't change until the 20th century and that was slowly. Women for centuries have been considered second class, not as smart as men, unable to own land, unable to vote or have a bank account or to get an education. They have been sold, mistreated, and killed on the whims of men through the ages. To some extent this is still happening. Women around the world are still not allowed to go to school, told how to live and what to do. Many are killed daily in the modern world by husbands and fathers. Young women are sold to the streets and forced to prostitute themselves. 2nd AnswerIt seems the status of women did change, and it changed quite a lot.

To illustrate this, I did a test. I took the Wikipedia list of queens regnant, who ruled as monarchs, and counted through it, counting the ones in medieval Europe by century. (See link below)

The counts for the sixth through fifteenth centuries are as follows:

6th c. - none

7th c. - none

8th c. - none

9th c. - 2

10th c. - 2

11th c. - 2

12th c. - 5

13th c. - 3

14th c. - 9

15th c. - 5

I also looked to see about female knights. I was able to find women who were knights in two orders, one was founded in 1149, and only continued as long as its members were alive. They were women who had fought and distinguished themselves in a battle in Catalonia. The order was called the Order of the Hatchet. (That must have been some battle!) The other order, the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary, got its papal charter in 1233 and continued into the Renaissance. The charter clearly states the order is open to women, and that the women are knights, with the same rank as the men. (see link below)

The result is that there seem to be no orders open to female knights until the 12th century, and then orders were open in all centuries after that.

These were the low hanging fruit. I suppose I could try to analyze lists of authors, composers, and so on, but that is a rather big task. Similarly, I could try to find women like Eleanor of Aquitaine who inherited that duchy, or Empress Matilda, who inherited Normandy, but there is no ready list, and lists of the nobility take up volumes.

Nevertheless, there seems to be a clear pattern here, of a change in the status of women with the passing of time.