The Role of Women in Feudal Households
The image of the medieval woman procured by the media is often of pure subservience, depicted as inferior and considered chattel. What do the medieval charters say?
Where are the medieval women?
It has long been the mission of modern writers—or even an obligation depending on who one asks—to dismantle any views of the medieval world that portray women as anything but chattel. This task has been undertaken by people of all backgrounds ranging from highly educated novelists, to the scores of unnamed and woefully undereducated Hollywood screenwriters.
One thing that they all share in common, is an utter rejection and nigh-on hatred for the medieval world steeped in Catholic Tradition and belief. Rather than rely upon actual medieval sources who regularly invoked their faith, enlightenment prejudices compose the bulwark of the historical reference, paired with a projection of Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale upon every century.
In an effort to break the presumptive mold of subservient housewives, nuns, or prostitutes, modern writers feel as though they are left with no other choice than to invent a new category of medieval women: the masculine heroine. This rare specimen is steeped in almost exclusively traditionally male characteristics, both in an effort to make the women more admirable and to breach gender norms—as though traditionally female characteristics could not possibly be determined as heroic.
When a strong woman is to be portrayed, she is depicted with overtly masculine characteristics as a fierce warrior capable of defeating men twice her size with relative ease. Other times she is a shrewd and commanding leader, ordering her servants in militaristic fashion. And sometimes she is depicted as a libertine using her sexuality to control men (and women) to achieve her ambitions. This ‘heroine’ is simultaneously—and erroneously—interpreted as the medieval ideal of a strong woman.
These characters are a travesty, not because women are depicted as heroines, but because the actually heroines of the Middle Ages—and their multitude of admirable character traits—are ignored or simply dismissed. One need not invent a strong female character for a supposed lack of examples, heroines were in good supply.
It is true that the vast majority of people mentioned in the medieval charters were men, whereas women—especially non-noble women—were seldom mentioned before the 13th century. However, that does not mean that they did not play an important role in society. Instead, they effectively controlled the feudal finances, trained budding ladies of the court, and established social connections.
The lack of warrior heroines is not a cultural deficiency of the Middle Ages, but rather a cultural frailty of our own period in which traditional masculine characteristics are viewed as more admirable than traditional feminine characteristics.
Most importantly, when we evaluate women of the Middle Ages as to whether or not they were ideal, heroic, or even good, should we not first understand how they saw themselves and which target they strove to achieve?
Who was the ideal woman?
This answer is more uncomplicated than one might imagine, and much has been written about the topic, so brevity will serve our purpose here. The ideal that medieval women strove for was the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. Often referred to as ‘Our Lady,’ Mary incorporated a perfect balance of the virtues—particularly the three ecclesiastical virtues of faith, hope, and love (in that order). Above all, she perfected the virtue of humility, expressed in her Magnificat in response to the Annunciation from the Archangel St. Gabriel. Our Lady was the handmaid of no man, but of God Himself.
Mary was—and remains—the ideal woman: one who gives without hesitation, is patient with absolute trust in God, and is obedient to the Word of God. The Word of God was made incarnate in her womb—Jesus Christ. And thus, according to Catholic teaching that was already in place during the Middle Ages, her obedience was to God, who in turn granted her the crown of heaven.
Without traversing too far into Catholic theology, the model of perfect womanhood was one who embodied the virtues as best she could. But Mary was not reserved for women alone, as she also represented the ideal for all of the saints, and therefore, all of humanity including both men and women. In this regard, Mary was the true gender-defying character by setting the standard that both men and women were expected to strive towards.
Of course this ideal is predicated upon a faith in God, the expression of which gives hope to others, communicated through charitable action. Any deviation is a therefore a deviation from the ideal. Brusque, brutal, and belligerent men are just as much a deviation from the ideal as women with the same traits.
How to achieve the ideal
The ideal man and woman were considered thusly: their humility and ability to do good for the good of another without hesitation. This can also be described as courage, yet rather than a courage ruled by unguided impulse, this special courage was guided by prudence. The only way to continuously act with a prudential courage is to ingrain those aforementioned virtues into one’s daily routine.
In the Middle Ages, a number of daily routines existed in order to virtuously structure one’s day, typically centered around continuous prayer, such as the liturgy of hours. Although the three-hour intervals of reciting the psalms was expected among the monastic brothers and sisters, it was an uncommon delight to see it among the laity.
Men of the nobility and ministeriales practiced physical, mental, and social discipline by training for war and practicing chivalry. Women of the nobility and ministeriales practiced physical, mental, and social discipline by managing the household and even the estate. This was by no means a trivial matter, nor was it less virtuous than the role of men. Instead, both men and women played a vital part as two sides of the same coin.
The ‘How To’ guide for women to achieve this ideal is Biblical and clearly outlined in Proverbs 31:10 – 31. The text is as follows:
10Who can find a woman of worth? Far beyond jewels is her value.
11Her husband trusts her judgment; he does not lack income.
12She brings him profit, not loss, all the days of her life.
13She seeks out wool and flax and weaves with skillful hands.
14Like a merchant fleet, she secures her provisions from afar.
15She rises while it is still night, and distributes food to her household, a portion to her maidservants.
16She picks out a field and acquires it; from her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17She girds herself with strength; she exerts her arms with vigor.
18She enjoys the profit from her dealings; her lamp is never extinguished at night.
19She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle.
20She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy.
21She is not concerned for her household when it snows—all her charges are doubly clothed.
22She makes her own coverlets; fine linen and purple are her clothing.
23Her husband is prominent at the city gates as he sits with the elders of the land.
24She makes garments and sells them, and stocks the merchants with belts.
25She is clothed with strength and dignity, and laughs at the days to come.
26She opens her mouth in wisdom; kindly instruction is on her tongue.
27She watches over the affairs of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband, too, praises her:
29“Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all.”
30Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31Acclaim her for the work of her hands, and let her deeds praise her at the city gates.
There is much to unpack in this passage, but a few themes that stick out—perhaps surprisingly to some—are the topics of industry and finance. The ideal woman is constantly referred to as a woman of commerce whose acute business acumen secures the legacy of the man’s estate (i.e. that of the entire family’s). She treats her servants with dignity and demonstrates her strength through prudence—the ability to discern the correct form of action, guided by wisdom.
The image that appears from this passage is not a subservient, isolated, and incompetent piece of arm candy. Nor is she simply obedient, patiently waiting for her husband’s command. This woman takes the initiative, she selects the land and purchases it, and then invests the earnings.
What do the medieval charters say? A brief case study.
We are speaking, of course, of the ideal for a lady—a target towards which one strives, but not everyone achieves, as it requires an extraordinary outpouring of discipline and graces. Proverbs 31 provides the outline of how to evaluate the medieval woman and her ability to live up to the ideal that she would have been taught at an early age.
Within the historical charters, the majority of the activity is performed by men, as they held the political and social positions. It is true that besides the nobles and their more immediate servants, very little is known of the average medieval person from the written documentation. Conclusions regarding the peasantry are typically ancillary mentions in charters or chronicles, rarely outlining their daily lives in their entirety. The bulk of the information must be determined from the material record instead, i.e. archaeology.
In a previous article, we explored the lives of the ministeriales—administrators of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) who composed roughly 30% of the society within the Roman-German Kingdom. The charters pertaining to this group provide us with tantalizing information regarding the non-nobles and their economic, social, and political proceedings. Most importantly for today’s offering: the appearance of women alongside their husbands in charters pertaining to land purchases is well-documented.
One such charter, from 11 August 1253[1] issued by the papal legate, Hugo de St. Cher, offered an indulgence of 100 days to anyone who answered the call to fund the construction of a church, main building, and outbuildings for a new Teutonic Knight Commandry at Einsiedel, near modern-day Kaiserslautern, Germany.[2] This came nearly one month after a previous call by Hugo requesting funds for the nearby commandry at Saarburg on 14 July 1253.[3]
On 18 October 1253, the imperial sheriff Siegfried II von Lautern-Hoheneck (a ministerialis), along with his wife Ludgard,[4] son Reinhard III, and other family members, eventually agreed to answer the call from the papal legate.[5] Although Siegfried had been notified in August of the opportunity, he waited 11 weeks to answer.
These 11 weeks may have been necessary to convince his family and to gather funds in order to support such a financial endeavor. However, the questions arises as to who would have organized those funds, for who managed the estate? Siegfried was busy at the palace. According to the charter, Siegfried’s wife, Ludgard, was present at the signing.
As wife of the imperial sheriff—who doubled as the administrator of the royal palace of Lautern—Ludgard was privy to the royal court, whenever it met in Lautern. These connections included illustrious figures such as Richard of Cornwall, brother to the English King Henry III. Richard would eventually be crowned King of the Romans (i.e. German King) and even celebrated his wedding at the Palace of Lautern, the elite building that Ludgard’s husband and son both maintained.
These connections, not only to the men of the HRE but to the elite woman as well—such as the countess that married her son—put Ludgard in a position to truly live up to the ideal from Proverbs 31. In fact, the same is true of her niece, Margarethe von Hohenecken, who appeared in 12 charters exclusively regarding land transactions.
Given the fact that their husbands and sons were continuously occupied with the matters of state, the feudal lands were solidly within the control of Ludgard and Margarethe. The two women stabilized the family over generations after the tumult following the Second Council of Lyon in 1245 AD in which some of the male family members were excommunicated, including one who was a bishop!
As time progressed throughout the 13th century, women come more to the fore in the proceedings of the charters. This could be interpreted as them receiving new duties that they did not previously possess, or simply that they began to be acknowledged for the tasks they had already been doing for centuries.
Personally, I tend toward the latter interpretation, considering that the ministeriales of the 12th and 13th centuries emulated the counts of their time, whose registers that reach back into 9th century often mention their wives.
An example of this tradition concerning the wives of counts, as well as the success procured by the ministeriales is evident in the fact that the countess, Kunigunde von Homburg, who married Ludgard’s son (a ministerialis) was given a dedicated day of remembrance from the Teutonic Knights of the commandry that her mother-in-law endowed—an annual commemoration that lasted over 500 years until the commandry’s dissolution in the 1790s.
Kunigunde she managed the estate in her husband’s absence, and even managed to correct the damage done by his extravagant spending habits. His death was a ‘make-or-break’ moment for the entire von Lautern-Hoheneck family, cousins and all. Their servants left for other lords as the family no longer had funds to pay them, their castle was given to their arch nemesis, and their positions within the estate were rescinded by King Rudolf of Habsburg.
Kunigunde set about reversing the misfortune by dealing fairly with the nobles and other ministeriales, relinquishing unjust claims that her late husband had made, and investing in the land they still managed. Without Kunigunde’s involvement, the rights and privileges the entire family enjoyed would have been lost. While the men of the family were inconsistent in their duties, the women clearly possessed a guiding light that offered stability.
The ideal woman or a heroine?
Women of the Middle Ages were taught to strive for the ideal set forth by the Virgin Mary and intricately described in Proverbs 31. Although many received this lesson, not all were capable of executing it. Men too, regularly fell short of the ideals set for them, as is our human nature. However, those select few women who took to heart Proverbs 31 and its implications were nothing short of medieval heroines, even if they didn’t carry a sword.
[1] Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz, “RI V,2,3 n. 10434, Hugo von S. Sabina, 1253 Aug. 11, Metis,” Regesta Imperii Online, accessed July 22, 2020, http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1253-08-11_1_0_5_2_3_5330_10434.
[2] Armgart and Diener, “Einsiedel, St. Maria Deutschherrenkommende, zeitweise Kommende des Lazarusordens.” P. 339.
[3] Johann Heinrich Hennes, Commenden des Deutschen Ordens in den Balleien Coblenz, Altenbiesen, Westphalen, Lothringen, Oesterreich und Hessen, 1st ed. (Mainz: Verlag von Franz Kirchheim, 1878). P. 200.
[4] Various forms of her name exist in the charters including Lukardis.
[5] Armgart and Diener, “Einsiedel, St. Maria Deutschherrenkommende, zeitweise Kommende des Lazarusordens.” P. 339. Dolch and Münch, Urkundenbuch der Stadt Kaiserslautern I. Pp. 194-196.