Since the fall of western roman empire (476) Until the middle of the fifteenth century, the predominant mentality was misogyny. A vision that resulted in the discrimination of women in all areas but, with a special emphasis, in the intellectual space.
This feminine isolation meant that the intellectual producers were men whose mentality was marked by the morality spread from the pulpits of the churches, where the woman-sin binomial was promoted.
Despite the innumerable obstacles that were found, this article aims to show the feminine traces in a space of masculine monopoly, being the faithful representatives that knowledge does not understand gender.
WOMEN AND THE INTELLECTUAL WORLD: AN ACCESSIBLE SPACE?
“Stifled voices” or “prisoner voices” are some of the adjectives that best describe the situation of medieval women without access to culture.
As mentioned before, the cultural sphere was dominated by men, a reflection of the patriarchal structure that framed the Middle Ages. Within this structure, women were seen as “daughters of Eve” and the true connection between the evil one and man.
At the root of this society characterized by a high rate of illiteracy, the fact that women could approach the cultural world was considered a real danger because this motivated them to have autonomous thought. In this way, it was seen that “The woman who knows the most is worth the least” as reflected in the well-known Songbook of Estuñiga (XV century):
Love, lovers, woman who is knows
to whom everything seems to be new,
that, the more you know, the less woman is worth
Second, for example, we have Eva.
Beware of a woman who has talk and sçientia.
In the Late Middle Ages, scholasticism was going to be capital when it came to discrediting and/or disavowing feminine production since women lacked a genealogy of authors from Antiquity that would endow their knowledge with «authority».
In this way, women’s writings were subject to voracious criticism, accused of “falsehood.” Through this path of discredit, women used to be removed from official knowledge. Despite the patent censorship, there were women who, taking advantage of their status social, they made a literary production with a remarkable quality.
FEMALE EDUCATION
Women who had access to culture generally acquired it in convents. In these religious houses there was time dedicated to the development of intellectual and artistic activities.
In the aforementioned spaces, the vast majority learned to read but not all to write. The women were nourished by a clerical education where they knew Latin and its literature, establishing a bridge to vernacular literary production.
Until relatively recently, female activity in the scriptoria of the monasteries was quite unknown. From the knowledge of this fact, it has been able to show the solid cultural and artistic base of those women who not only wrote and/or illuminated their own manuscripts, but also dedicated themselves to the activity of copyists.
Women’s access to the cultural sphere was linked to a status high in society. This is reflected in the games of Alfonso X where the monarch gave advice to other kings on the education of their daughters. The wise showed other monarchs that their daughters had enough to know how to read.
The love for books and literature was sometimes so great for some women that, in their wills, a list appeared with the works they owned and to whom they left their particular treasure when they died.
Thus, it is worth mentioning the case dated in 1395 where the lady Alice West he left all his Latin, English, French books to his daughter-in-law, except the book of matins that had belonged to her husband, for her firstborn.
Another notable case is found in the Provincial Historical Archive of Cuenca, in the testament of All Sanchez, wife of Fernando Sanchez. This will, dated 1433 and made on Tuscan paper with closures from an ecclesiastical notary, shows the last wish of this Cuenca neighbor who leaves some money to her servant Francisco de Ella so that she can learn to read and sing. In addition, she leaves her bachelor’s nephew a book of decrees -acquired for 80 gold florins- along with an amount of money so that she can continue her studies.
Through these two examples, you can appreciate the cultural and intellectual capacity of these women who are not only concerned with acquiring knowledge, but also promote so that other individuals can have the opportunity to access the world of knowledge.
WOMEN WRITERS: SOME EXCEPTIONAL EXAMPLES
Among the written testimonies that have come down to us, the works carried out by women are minimal but, despite this, they constitute an outstanding work. The production of the writers, both from the old continent and the Castilians, were carried out in Latin as a symbol of the educational heritage but, progressively, they would be carried out in the vulgar language.
When a woman presented herself as a writer, her writings denote respect and humility as can be seen in the work of Teresa of Cartagena and his «I with my simplicity, dare to say». Thus, it is worth highlighting some of the women who managed to break the monopoly of the letters of their time, being, on some occasions, applauded by their contemporaries:
In the 9th century, coinciding with the fracture of the Carolingian empire, the daughter of a family of the French nobility began to write. this woman was Dhoudaauthor of the work Liber manualis Dhuodane quem ad filium suum transmisit Wilhelmum.
This author finds herself characterized by a personal tragedy as her husband and son – at the age of seventeen – leave for war. So she writes the Handbook for your child as a consolation to feel close to him through a lyrical composition in prose.
In this way, compositions very typical of his time are being made where, in each poem, there is an enigma to discover through acrostics dedicated to his son Guillermo. In this work, he formulates a series of advice full of tenderness, respect, love and faith. These characteristics made her in the twelfth century she was a praised author.
In the twelfth century, Mary of France She was one of the great writers of her time. The identity of this writer could be related to a status high social and knowledgeable about the English court.
His work was highly applauded by courtiers at the end of the 12th century because he had the ability to drive away “bothersome” thoughts through his writings. This was because his work was characterized by a charming and subtle literary style that, as has been shown, captivates the public.
In his most important works –Lais, fables and the Espurgatoire Saint Patriz– reflects his interest in the popular world of his time since they were works designed for all audiences and, especially, for the growing public of vernacular literature.
Entering the fifteenth century, the literary figure that comes to mind is Christine de Pizan whose profile could be described as “unique” at a time when the intellectual life of France was somewhat unstable as a result of continuous wars, famines, revolts, epidemics, financial crises aggravated by the Hundred Years War against the English
Despite the aforementioned situation, this femme de letters he made his way into the scholarly realm of French society. Christine was not only a champion of women, but she was the most prolific writer of the 15th century and the only medieval woman to make a living from her pen.
As for her education, she puts her father as the main figure, who educated her “as if she were a man” by facilitating her access to study. The formation of the young Christine could not transcend the basic limits due to the prohibition of her mother since she considered that her daughter was “neglecting her domestic obligations”. Faced with this prohibition, she achieves the balance to cultivate herself and not “disregard” her obligations as a woman.
Christine’s literary production begins at the moment that Fortune decided to take away her father and, shortly after, her husband. Thus, Christine was left alone with three children in her care and her mother. Faced with this situation, she had two possible options: a new marriage or religious life.
Faced with these two possibilities, he decided to support his family through his pen. Thus, his first productions are going to be related to the popular genre to take him to court or love lyrics in the form of ballads, among others, taking as a theme the departure of the loved one.
In this way, Christine was cementing her best-known facet: that of a bereaved lover who beautifully sings her sorrow over the recent death of her husband. Thus, her verses place her, along with Carlos de Orleans, among the court poets who knew the formula of how to move the public through her verses.
Focusing on the educational part, we can see that he considered that, if a man denied education to his daughter/wife, causing them to ignore “the sweet pleasure of knowledge and learning”, he considered that “it would harm their morale”. These girls would go to school just like boys but it would limit them for domestic activities. In addition, the idea of gender equality is shown.
In this way, it reflects the lament that women are too absorbed in being good mothers and wives -as designated by society- that they are deprived of the treasure of being able to study. In Christine’s case, she blames Fortune, but her father provides her with solid foundations of culture and the pleasure of work and intellectual cultivation.
O Fortuna, what a treasure you stole from me! Well, if I had seen then so clearly, with the desire that I have now, the duty to withdraw myself from all the occupations and pleasures of vain things, I would have given myself completely to study, in such a way and for so long I would have filled myself with it as never had any woman born done it before.
the warning (1405).
In addition, Christine shows herself to be a victim of works such as the roman de la rose (1305), being a literature where the image of women was spread as malevolent, with little intellectual capacity and in need of being constantly “redirected” to the right path.
In this way, she is shown as a lawyer for women who defends the female sex and claims the capacity and skills equivalent to those of men based on her own experience since she had to face problems demonstrating that she is capable of undertaking and culminating, with success, a solid literary career and raising his family.
As has been seen, his record is very extensive since in his literary career he had cultivated erudite speeches, inflamed rhetoric, nostalgic or passionate poetic singing. In direct accounts he knows how to make himself heard due to the use of allegory…