The Renaissance was a time of great change and enlightenment. Starting in Italy there was a movement of renewing the classic literature of forgotten Greek and Roman culture. The ideas of philosophy and humanism spread and changed the ideas of nations and society. One question that historians have been trying to answer is whether or not women felt the benefits equally as men by these philosophical changes. In this paper we will look at Historians Mary Beard, Joan Kelly-Gadol, Merry Wiesner, and Ian Maclean.
Mary Beard is considered the original pathfinder of women�s history with her book Woman as Force in History written in 1946. In her book she tries to show that women took �an active part in the great educational movement (Beard, 123).� Beard points out that women were not left out of the movements by being allowed to participate in education, by being taught at boys and girls schools, and becoming lecturers. Beard says that there was no hesitation on the men�s part of allowing women education, because the Renaissance belief is that classical literature is the highest possession of life, and the girls would welcome it (Beard, 125).
Beard emphasizes the many male writers who paid special tributes to educated women, showing that men accepted and admired women (Beard, 125). Beard also declares that women were highly active in spreading humanist knowledge through extensive correspondence. From Queen Isabella of Spain to Christine de Pisan of France, the noble women of the Western Civilization spread the interest of education.
Joan Kelly-Gadol�s essay �Did Women have a Renaissance?� written in 1974, challenged the traditional thoughts of women�s part in history. Kelly-Gadol gives us some criteria in order to measure loss or gain of liberty of women. These four criteria are: 1) Regulation of female sexuality as compared to male sexuality 2) Women�s economic and political roles 3) The cultural roles of women in shaping the outlook of their society and 4) Ideology about women (Kelly-Gadol, 128). We can use these criteria to examine and truly gauge the loss or gain of liberty of women during the beginning of the Renaissance.
Kelly-Gadol describes to us of courtly love, popular during medieval times, which was closely bound to the values of feudalism and the Church, allowing in a special way for the expression of sexual love by women (Kelly-Gadol, 129). Aristocratic women gained from courtly love, by the man paying homage and declaring mutuality to the woman (Kelly-Gadol, 130). This homage and mutuality makes the relationship be one of equals, with respect and devotion inherent. It is the ideal image of a knight in shinning armor kneeling before his beautiful princess, actually placing himself below the woman in order to win her affections. Courtly love is detached from marriage, and ignored the demand for female chastity, giving women more sexual freedom.
Kelly-Gadol then contends a portion of a novel written by Castiglione entitled �The Courtier.� In this piece the lady is set as the equivalent to a courtier, having the same education and virtues, and charm being their primary occupation and aim (Kelly-Gadol, 131). Castiglione understood relation of the sexes as a relationship between servant and lord. The woman was there to serve her husband. This idea of the woman being dependent on men, binds the lady also to chastity, and the end of courtly love. With courtiers to serve the lord, women were left in the realm of family and domestic concerns. But, says Kelly-Gadol, these women did not disappear into this realm (Kelly-Gadol, 133).
I believe that women may have played an important role of the spreading of humanism and education as Beard suggests, but this does not necessarily mean that women gained other benefits and freedoms. Using Kelly-Gadol�s criteria we can try and gauge the change of women�s roles during the Renaissance.
First there is the regulation of female sexuality as compared to male sexuality. As Kelly-Gadol reports, with the loss of courtly love there is also a loss of sexual freedom. As women are vowed to chastity during marriage and most women did not have a choice in their marriage, women were obligated to have only one sexual partner, and this being most likely not someone they find love or lust in. Women were then not allowed to show love or affection to any other man than the one chosen for her, giving her no freedom of sexuality or love. This seems to be a loss of a liberty to me.
Second, we will look at women�s economic and political roles. In an essay entitled �Women�s defense of their public role�, Historian and Women�s History Professor Merry Wiesner discusses the various laws involving women as business women. First though, Wiesner suggest to us some ideas of the word �free�. The word �free� is never referred to women in the adoring writings of men, except in the religious sense of �free will�. According to women of the times, �freedom� would be the ability to participate in a public life (Wiesner, 3). With this definition women were rarely free. Even the few that were upstanding businesswomen were bound by many restrictions in order to benefit men.
As women, they were bound to the basic obligations and duties of citizenship the same as their male counterparts, like paying taxes, providing soldiers, and obeying laws. But, there were many legal restrictions on women causing it to become more and more difficult to be a business owner. For example, they were unable to be witnesses, make wills, act as a guardian for their children, make contracts, or own/buy/sell property (Wiesner, 4). Other restrictions added in the 16th and 17th centuries include that all widows and unmarried women had to have a male guardian (Wiesner, 4). This made it difficult for widows, who had before been able to continue with their husbands business. Wiesner argues that this was enforced because the government did not want all the women�s property to go to convents, causing them to loose taxpayers (5). So, this private realm of women�s household business affects the public realm. Within Kelly-Gadol�s second criteria, women seem to have lost benefits as economic and political roles.
Kelly-Gadol�s third criterion is the cultural roles of women in shaping the outlook of their society. In the Introduction to the 1999 edition of Marinella�s Nobility and Excellence of Women and the Defects and Vices of Men, Historians Margaret King and Albert Rabil Jr. notes the Humanism movement as being led by men who accepted the evaluation of women in ancient texts and generally shared the misogynist (woman-hating) perceptions of their culture (Marinella, xvi). The important thing I believe is that King and Rabil assert is that humanism opened the door to the critique of the misogynist tradition, beginning with Christine de Pizan�s Book of the City Ladies. Also, as Beard described to us earlier, women were a great moving force of humanism, being involved in writings and correspondence. According to Kelly-Gadol�s criteria, it seems as if women did make great cultural contributions even if many of the men of the time did not see it as such. These writings of women have mostly survived and we can see into the history using their texts and knowledge. Thus there can be assumed there is a slight gain in women�s cultural role.
The final of Kelly-Gadol�s criteria is the ideology about women. There were many various tracks of thought concerning women, many declaring superiority of man over woman. Oxford Historian Maclean compares a few of these different groups of thought in his book entitled The Renaissance Notion of Woman.
In 1595 in Germany an anonymous essay was published entitled �A new disputation against women, in which it is proved that they are not human beings (Maclean, 12.)� This book not only said women were inferior, but not human at all. This essay provoked many theologians, doctors, and jurists to refute it. Although many denied the truths of this essay, it was not the only one. Among other essays and sermons there is another book called The Disputationova which uses the Bible to prove women are not human (Maclean, 12). There reasons were that women�s names are absent from genealogies, women are never described as being homo, and there is no resurrection or damnation of women.
Another train of Ideology about women involved listing the female vices. To contrast the biblical Hebrew alphabet of female virtues, St. Antonius Forcigliani wrote �Alphabet of Female Vices (Maclean, 16).� Maclean says, �The Renaissance did not cease the practice of denouncing �female vice� even if they considered it to be equally shared by men.� The men were then pointing out their flaws, and because they were somehow superior then women, it was acceptable that they portrayed these vices themselves. This superiority of men is fairly universal of the Renaissance and so it does not seem there was much gain in the ideology about women.
Maclean goes on to explain to us the philosophy of Renaissance marriage. It was thought that �woman was created not to be his servant or mistress, but his companion.� They shared the mutual aim of help, companionship, and procreation, and because of this man is seen as steward or caretaker of woman (Maclean, 19). He is to love and respect her as she is to love and respect him, equally. An example of a text preaching this equal marriage ideal was Erasmus�s �Sancti matrimonii institutio�� in 1526 (Maclean, 19). These ideals were also connected with doubts expressed about the usefulness of religious celibacy. This topic of equal marriage was treated by pagans, Christians, Catholics, and reformed theologians. This universalism causes this ideology to be very important, and yet it contradicts all other thoughts of male superiority.
At the end of Maclean�s study of the notion of women in theology, mystical and occult writings, he declares �It emerges from this study that the scholastic notion of woman is modified only slightly by Renaissance theologians and commentaries.� I would have to say I agree with him, and with concerning the fourth criteria there seemed to have been a slight modification in the ideology about women, but not really enough to create a distinct gain for women.
So, did women benefit equally from the Renaissance? I believe they probably did not immediately see benefits, there were slight modifications in the ideology about women, but some of their rights were taken away. I believe the Renaissance allowed future women to gain more rights and liberties, by seeing the mistreatment and misunderstanding of our past. During the Renaissance women were enlightened and educated along with the men, and yet their �Renaissance of freedom� did not come until much later. But the Renaissance of Europe was a precursor, allowing women the knowledge that they could one day be free and gain equality with men.
Beard, Mary and Kelly-Gadol, Joan. �Issue 7: Did Women and Men Benefit Equally from the Renaissance?� Taking Sides: Issues in Western Civilization. Dushkin/McGraw-Hill. 2000.
Wiesner, Merry. �Women�s Defense of their Public Role.� Women in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Literary and Historical Perspectives. Syracuse University Press. 1986.
King, Margaret and Rabil Jr., Albert. �Introduction to the Series.� The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men. University of Chicago Press. 1999.
Marinella, Lucrezia. The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men. University of Chicago Press. Originally written around 1650. This edition: 1999.