Women's Roles In The Middle Ages

Women in the church not only sacrificed all they had in life to become closer to God, but also provided the essentials for younger children to be able to succeed in life. The Medieval Church offered exclusive roles for leadership and guided women to become one with the church. Mostly all of the population during the Medieval Era, also known as the Middle Ages, believed in a Christian God and followed the practices and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Religion, to men and women, was most important during this time and was the center of their lives. The Middle Ages began in the fifth century and lasted until the time of the Renaissance in the late 1400’s. This was a time where the church began to evolve and align itself to the modern

Laywomen were women in the church who were not ordained as a priest or a nun. Although younger nuns had taught education in the nunneries, many of the women who were not in the church had also taught their children what was important in life. It hadn’t mattered the social class in which they were a part of, they all were encouraged to teach and fulfill their roles as a mother and parent. The laywomen played an important role in the private teachings of prayers and religious devotions to their children. They had put their families first, before themselves and anyone else, and ensured that their children were going to learn and receive the best education possible. Many of these women during this time were in charge of providing their children with religious education until they reached the age of seven (Bardsley). However, most parents had continued to influence and teach for many years beyond. Most women who were apart of this group had influenced the society because they were teaching their children to read and write and educating them about what their community was like. Women who were not ordained had a very important role of cleaning and cooking, while also teaching and providing their kids with knowledge about their lives. As the church’s influence grew, the women’s roles changed because they encouraged and provided their children with the basic education of how to properly read

In the Middle Ages, the role of a nun was a religious woman who took vows of chastity and whose duty was to profess their lives to the church. Women, who were pronounced a nun, sacrificed their freedom. During the process of becoming a nun, they were to promise and agree to take certain vows and fulfill them to their fullest. The nuns, “took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Poverty meant no private possessions except the necessities for survival- a garden to grow food. Chastity meant always remaining a virgin. Obedience involved unquestioning adherence to the instruction of superiors” (Hull 26). The nuns during this time promised to follow these vows for the rest of their lives in the convent. Entering the convent was difficult because the women had to follow strict rules and had specific standards to live up to. In order to redirect their lives as a nun, one of the requirements was agreeing to follow the vows as well as performing them all as well as they could, to the best of their abilities. Agreeing to these vows may have seemed simple, however living in a convent was very difficult to do. Once entering the convent, “the nun has become ‘dead to the world.’ She is cut from the outside world physically and mentally… Her convent is enclosed and separated, as much as it can be from the outside world” (Hull 26). The nuns sacrificed their daily