文藝復興的女性地位較中世紀的女性下降的原因

前言：這是本人在網上做的一些資料查詢，並在資料的後面做了一些評論（就是劃線部分。）英文如果有錯誤，不專業的地方請原諒。

The Reasons Why The Women in Renaissance Had Less Influence Than The Women In Middle Age.

Female roles were more sharply defined in upper-class society than in peasant society. The main reason was economic. Upper-class daughters, wives, and widows had a share in the family estate, so they were regarded mainly as a way to hold onto or expand. Therefore their lives were strictly regulated and controlled. In contrast, peasant women generally had more freedom. Women in Renaissance were more defined by their family identity but not their occupations because women could earn much money through marriages. In the upper-class, the women were more important more wealth, so their life usually under family control. 文藝復興的貴族女性的婚姻家庭價值大於她們的個人能力以及職業價值。

Daughters were expected to remain virgins until they were married, or for their entire lives if they were not married. During the eleventh century this ideal was strengthened by reform movements within the church. Around the twelfth century in western Europe the requirement of virginity for daughters received new emphasis, first in the households of the high nobility and then in the property-owning classes. Property was passed along almost entirely to male heirs. Increasingly in the Renaissance era, the concept of honor also depended on virginity. The idea of virginity became more important in Renaissance, because during the 12th century the property could only past to male-heirs. Then the only value or the way of a noble woman to have a good life was to marry a good husband. Marriages became more important for women and less-freedom. Since in Renaissance people began to care more about the human body and seek its beauty, virginity was one of the valuation of woman body. 處女的價值在文藝復興時期被更加重視。

Young girls also learned to manage finances, to supervise servants, and to nurse ailing household members. Finally, girls were instructed in chastity (refraining from sexual intercourse), obedience, and silence, all qualities that were thought to prepare a daughter for her role as a wife. Though women were educated much better than in the middle age, the purpose of the education was not for their independence but to help and serve their husband. Since women could not inherit any property, it was also hard for them to do something on their own.女性雖然受到更好的教育，但目的只是為了幫助丈夫，而非獨立。

The function of the dowry was to remove a woman from her fathers line so that she had no further claim on his property. Her share of her inheritance was to be as small as possible, to minimize the burden on the fathers estate. At the same time, the dowry had to be large enough to attract—in effect, "purchase"—a husband with the highest social status. Still because of the disability of Inheritance, womans fathers need to pay an amount of money called dowry to remove them from the family line. And viewed as a minimum legacy to female and only be possible if the women was married. So the dowry made the marriage more essential to women, since it was the only way to get some property from their fathers.嫁妝使得婚姻對於女性更為不可或缺。

Unlike Christian women, Jewish women had some legal independence.Jewish communities had their own laws. they were barred by societys restrictions on Jews. As a result of these restrictions, women had an opportunity to gain equal status with them. The reason why Jewish women had more independence compare to Christian women was that Jewish men were under society』s restrictions, so Jewish women actually got the weak version of husbands.猶太女人相對於其他歐洲女性有更多的自由，是由於她們的丈夫受到了基督教國家法律的諸多限制。

In most parts of Europe peasants of both sexes married fairly late (in their twenties). Among the upper classes, however, a teenage girl often married an older man (perhaps in his late twenties or thirties) who was already established in commerce, government, or aristocratic society. Many upper-class wives and husbands led separate lives because of the disparity in their ages. So ironically the upper-class women had less freedom and independence than peasant women. The upper-class women were important for their family to form alliances, so they were married as soon as possible and married to wealthy successful men usually much older than them.下層女性反而比上層女性有更多的婚姻自由，並且上層女性為了家族聯姻多數嫁給了比自己年長許多歲的男人。

preachers, humanists, and other moral instructors promoted the ideal of a close relationship between wife and husband. They thundered against adultery (having sexual relations outside marriage), bigamy (having more than one spouse), desertion, and abuse. Adultery was consistently viewed as a wifes crime—not a husbands—and a very serious one. While the humanists were improving their valuation of morality, they also restrict and limit women』s freedom. They against adultery and bigamy but they had charged all the responsibility to women but not men. 人文主義者把婚姻出軌，多妻的責任都推給了女性。

With the establishment of Christian monasticism, other roles within the Church became available to women. From the 5th century onward, Christian convents provided opportunities for some women to escape the path of marriage and child-rearing, acquire literacy and learning, and play a more active religious role. or most of the Middle Ages, until the introduction of beer made with hops, brewing was done largely by women;However, there are recorded examples from the High Middle Ages of women engaged in a business other than that of their husband. The women in middle age was not like our usual impressions, they actually more freedom compared to both their past. Monasticism allowed women to take charge of the church and gave a way for women to escape their household duties and could be educated. And the beer in Middle age was mostly made by women, so women in the Middle age did have some special techniques that could not replace by men. Women could also do business of their own but not helping their husbands.中世紀的女性可以參與修道院的管理，並且在那裡得到教育。

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122–1204) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. Eleanor succeeded her father as suo jure Duchess of Aquitaine and Countess of Poitier at the age of fifteen, and thus became the most eligible bride in Europe.Constance, Queen of Sicily, Urraca of León and Castile, Joan I of Navarre, Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem and other Queens regnant exercised political power. So before Renaissance, women had the right of inherit titles and property. So there were Female politicians and monarchs. Then later as we know, women in Renaissance had lost this right.在文藝復興之前，貴族女性是有繼承權的，所以就有了女性的君主和政治家。然而文藝復興時，女性的繼承權就被剝奪了。

In the Late Middle Ages women such as Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa of ávila played significant roles in the development of theological ideas and discussion within the church, and were later declared Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church. The mystic Julian of Norwich was also significant in England. In Middle age, women could even become Doctors and become scholars. As we know, there was not any women scholars in Renaissance. So actually Catholic Church was not as we usually think despise women but they accept women even more open than the humanists that was amazing.在中世紀女性可以參與理論和哲學研究，並成為博士以及重要的思想家。而文藝復興的人文主義者則不接受這一點。

McDougall concurs with Charles Reids argument that both men and women shared rights in regards to sex and marriage; which includes: "the right to consent to marriage, the right to ask for marital debt or conjugal (sexual) duty, the right to leave a marriage when they either suspected it was invalid or had grounds to sue for separation. Marriage could be proclaimed in secret by the mutually consenting couple, or arranged between families as long as the man and woman were not forced and consented freely; but by the 12th century in western canon law, consent (whether in mutual secrecy or in a public sphere) between the couple was imperative. The marriage in the Middle age was also not as we usually think that strict. Women actually had the right to end marriage and right to consent to marriage. So actually the women in middle age had more rights than the women in Renaissance who were under control of their families.And in Middle age marriage could be a private and secret thing like in Romeo and Juliet, people could marry without the agreement of family but in 12th century the marriage was defined as imperative. So the marriage must be consented by the families. 在中世紀女性是有婚姻的許可權以及離婚的權利的。並且中世紀，夫妻是可以在沒有家族的允許下秘密結婚的，而文藝復興時秘密結婚被禁止了。

Peter Franklin (1986) investigated the women tenants of Thorn-bury during the Black Death due to the higher than average proportion of women tenants. Through court rolls, he found that many widows in this area independently held land successfully. Though usually the widow of the family could not inherit the property, in the Black Death many people had died, so the woman that survived could inherit the property which never happened in Renaissance. 在黑死病爆發時期，很多倖存的寡婦獨立繼承了死去丈夫的財產。

Women in the Renaissance and Reformation

Women in the Middle Ages