history

Women in medieval society : Eleanor of Aquitaine and her role in politics

In the male-dominated society of the medieval times , most women had no choice but to answer to the dictates of the men around them , from their decisions , to their actions , to the roles they had to play . A woman was always under the guardianship of a man - from her birth , her life is overseen by her father until she marries , at which point her husband then has control over her

As part of her dowry , land was to the bride . Because

of this and due to the feudal system of the era , the woman was considered to be a valuable commodity if only for the land that could be bartered between the men . Most marriages of convenience were negotiated between the woman 's male guardian and the groom , and these negotiations were comprised mostly of the land that was to pass between the two families And so peasant women who had no land usually had free choice in marriages , whereas upper-class women and their holdings were deemed too valuable to simply , and seemingly carelessly , give away through marriages that considered the sentiments of the brides - sentiments which , the men assumed , were grossly naive and uninformed . Because of this , the roles that women held during the time were those as tools in politics , used by men for their own purposes . Women became items of trade , intercessors for feuds and unions , and pawns in the political games of the men who had control over them . A woman could own her own lands and properties , through either trade or inheritance , but she was always answering to the men in her life - a father , or a husband , or the closest male guardian (Scheid Toon

But there were women who used cunning and resourcefulness to transcend the stark , business-like nature of their marriages . There were women who found themselves married to young , weak , ignorant , inexperienced absent , or tolerant husbands ' and were thus able to take charge of their spouses ' properties , and consequently , their politics (Scheid Toon

One such woman was Eleanor of Aquitaine , who deeply involved herself in politics , although she often , quite predictably , found herself at odds with the men in her life , most especially with her husband (s . She was queen consort of France from 1137 to 1152 and was the queen consort of England from 1154 to 1204 (Microsoft Corporation . She married Louis VII of France in 1137 , the same year she inherited the duchy of Aquitaine from her father , properties that , with any other woman , would have wound up in the complete control of her husband . Eleanor displayed unusual character when she went with her husband on the Second Crusade to the Holy Land , although there rumors arose that she committed adultery while with him there . The scandal , and the fact that she gave him two daughters and no male heirs , resulted in the annulment of their marriage , and they gave the pretext of blood kinship between her...