Ariana Franklin’s novel, Mistress of the Art of Death, takes place during medieval times in Cambridge, England. Four Christian children are murdered and the local Jewish community is accused of the crime. Jewish people were the minority during this period and the act of Anti-Semitism was highly present. The ruler at the time, King Henry II, was searching for the murderer. The King hired a well trained women scientist in the art of death, Adelia, to solve the mystery. Adelia, plays a prominent role for a woman during Medieval Europe in the book. Although Ariana Franklin’s novel, Mistress of The Art of Death, accurately describes the destructive relationship between Jews and the Christians, when further analyzed, the novel inaccurately depicts women’s statuses and their privileges during that time.
Europe during Medieval time was known as, “Christian Europe”. The majority of people were of the Christian faith.
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In Medieval times, the majority of women were peasants. Along with household chores, women worked as merchants, artisans, and in the fields. The majority of the jobs were part time because, during harvest, the women, helped their husbands in the fields. Few peasant women were mentioned in the novel. The author focuses on how women were actually wealthy and powerful. Adelia came to solve the mystery but had to conceal her knowledge and hide her true profession. Contrary to what was common in Medieval Europe. She was well educated at a school in Italy. The wealthy often did not work as hard as others. The power of women depended on their wealth and or their occupation. Surprisingly, women earned the same amount as money as men, "Many readers may be surprised to discover that women were treated as equals during this era and received the same pay as men” (Gale.group.com). Although women would receive the same pay as men they would sometimes have to work multiple jobs in order to obtain the same amount of