Medieval+Women

=Medieval Russia -- Women=

Notes from //Her Husband's Crown: Women's Lives in Ivan the Terrible's Russia//.
A lecture by Carolyn Pouncy given at Mount Holyoke College 10/18/95 //Ms. Pouncy is the scholar and translator of "Domostroi: Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan The Terrible". Notes from the lecture were taken by// //Brenda L Hunter-Andrews// //(SCA: Augustina BeArce) and beaten into HTML shape by// //Alex Newman// //(SCA: Aleksandr Yevsha). This article can also be found at its original source on the// [|//SIG homepage//]//.// Muscovy: Economy was subsistent upon agriculture and war. They had a short growing season and ignored innovation. What was controlled? People's choice of career, marriage partners (selected by parents). It would not make sense for a poor farmer to marry his daughter off to a man of little means or influence. Religion and culture were controlled, with the Russian Orthodox Church having the greatest influence. What was not controlled? Hygiene and advertising. Home: It was a patriarchal society where your social status and marital status were most important. It was by producing heirs and children to help with the work that women found status. The infant mortality rate was very high, above 50%, which meant one of every two pregnancies ended in the death of the child before age 5. Over her lifetime a woman could easily have been pregnant more than 20 times and produce only 7 or 8 children that grew to adulthood, not taking into account young sons going to war. Medicine was basically non-existent, infant and maternal mortality rates were high. Women died in childbirth due to poor conditions and infection. Thus women tended to marry younger to give themselves a longer time frame to produce children in, not realizing that the infant/maternal death rate was even higher in women below 20 years of age. Women spent most of their adult life either pregnant or nursing. Woman gained power from being mothers. It established an area entirely within her control. Birth and rearing of children was not supported by the presence of the husband. Famine was problematic. One year out of every three was a famine year followed by an epidemic. Families were often broken by death hence the Russian fairy tales being fraught with images of step-mothers and orphans. Another curious fact in regard to the infant mortality rate was the tradition of Russian woman to start their babies on solid food at the tender age of 5 days. They also used a piece of cloth as a pacifier for the baby, paying little attention to the need for sterilization, it was often filthy and germ laden. Remember, hygiene was not the focus. They weren't associating cleanliness with health, nor unsanitary conditions with death and disease. They were a backward culture that resisted change and innovation. The Church: The Russian Orthodox Church was a patriarchal dominant society that had control and influence even to the throne. They were hostile to women, and misogynistic, following the Pauline doctrine set down by Rome. All church documents were written by monks, men that had vowed to celibacy and banded together in a brotherhood where women were viewed as the downfall of man. Most monks came into the priest craft at an early age, having had no experience with women and projecting the problems of society on women. All women were viewed as weak and irrational and needing constant supervision by men. Women fell into four classes by the church. They were: In spite of the Church's low opinion of women they did provide some real services for women: On the obverse side, wife-beating was encouraged by the church in order to keep a woman in line. This was part of the Pauline philosophy that men were the head of the house and women must always be subservient. Women were expected to be pious, quiet, peaceful, chaste, and sedate to win favor with the church. Women were inferior by nature to men. They were less capable to avoid sin and needed to be kept confined to the home to protect them (by men). A woman didn't wander freely to the market like her European counterparts. Miscellaneous
 * 1) **Ever-virgin:** The most virtuous. Nuns, etc.
 * 2) **Widows:** Formerly married and now celibate.
 * 3) **Married Women:** Suffered a permanent fall from grace but could be redeemed to win favor with God by bearing children.
 * 4) **Multiple Marriages:** Sinful! Being disloyal to first husband.
 * 1) Polygamy was outlawed.
 * 2) They established convents for women. At this time they were not used as learning centers but they did serve as sanctuary for women where they could be free of male interference. A woman may go to one as a woman's shelter of modern times.
 * 3) The Church revered Virgin Mary, unlike it's European counterparts. She held high esteem in the church. This Mary-worship is the basis of the art of Courtly Love.
 * 4) The Church insisted women not be forced into marriage.
 * 5) They were opposed to rape, even by husbands. A woman could be granted divorce based on this charge. Part of this view point is found in the Church's opposition to sexuality even in marriage. Sex was for procreative purposes only.
 * 6) The Church was opposed to attacks that dishonored women. They established that the penalty/punishment be two times higher for this type of crime on women than on men.
 * Ninety-eight percent of the population was the lower class. Only 2% were middle to upper class.
 * Women were subject to unremitting physical labor, did housework full time.
 * A good woman was someone that managed her house well.
 * They lived in small nuclear families. But for socio-economic reasons some families lived in extended households of 2 - 3 generations.
 * In peasant households animals often shared the living arrangements.
 * Women busied themselves with weaving, embroidery, children, vegetable gardening, social gatherings and agricultural tasks. they consulted their husbands daily for instructions.