HIS205H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Spanish Inquisition, Counter-Reformation, Late Middle Ages
4 Apr 2016
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Women on the margins: not part of patriarchal household seen as threats to society, religion, prostitutes/dishonorable unchaste, don"t conform to expected behavior. 10-15% of the population do not marry: in times of crises, that number can go up to 25% Dowry inflation: florentine case 15th-16th c. became extremely expensive for women to marry a man of suitable social status: many can"t marry because their families can"t afford the dowry for a man of good social status. Convents: 2786 nuns vs. 441 frairs / 59 000 people in city. Comfortable in convent many bring servants: poverty -poor women can"t afford fees to enter convents they stayed with relatives or worked as domestic servants (part of patriarchal household, male master). Poor pay and single women had limited economic opportunities. They were considered unruly: regulations made so that some single women can"t live with their mothers, and had to live with uncles. Other regulations forced them to stay employed: spinsterhood: unnatural and unhealthy.
