Sunday, December 4
Hygiene of Women
The hygiene of women during the Renaissance period was a very shocking thing. The women did not shower. This lack of hygiene is hard to believe in today’s culture. The women did not smell any better back then but they did have a fear of water. After the plague all public bathing pools were closed. They were convinced that the sicknesses were more likely to travel through water. They believed that the hot water on a naked body could expand pores and let in germs that caused disease. It was suggested to all the people that they should stop bathing so disease would not spread.
Lifestyle of a Renaissance Woman
During the Renaissance, women's main roles were bearing children, raising them, and taking care of the house. Most women had to make their the clothing for their families and prepare the meals; but if you were wealthy you didn't have to. If a women was unable to marry and was not able to become a nun, they had to find work, such as becoming a merchant, a bookbinder, a goldsmith, a butcher, etc. Sometimes women were able to take over and inherit their husband's business if his profession wasn't difficult. If a woman possessed some kind of intellectual or artistic skill, it was very hard for her to show it because of the constant child bearing and tough manual labor.
http://library.thinkquest.org/C006522/life/women.php
http://library.thinkquest.org/C006522/life/women.php
Womens Clothing
During the women’s renaissance period fashion represented a lot about a person. One could tell immediately what social class a person was in because of what they were wearing. Many people of the upper class spent most of their money on clothes and jewelry. The rich would have their clothes made of velvet, silk and brocade. They would literally be wearing their wealth, this made it extremely easy to figure out what social class a woman was in.
First Lady of the Renaissance, 1474-1539
In the Renaissance Period women were mainly there to marry well, stay loyal to their husbands, and give birth to boys. However, Isabella d'Este was one woman who was an exception to all of this. At the young age of 16 years old Isabella was already able to speak Latin and Greek. She was extremely well educated and usually debated with people much older than herself. When her husband left, Isabella governed the city on her own, and after he died she took over his whole job. She showed great leadership skills in 1509 when she became Chief of State in Mantua.Tuesday, November 29
The Confessions of Catherine de Medici: Book Trailer
Here is an advertisement for a novel about the life of Catherine de Medici, the most powerful woman of the Renaissance. The video gives a quick outline of Catherine's life from her perspective.
Monday, November 28
Women's Purpose
Women in the Renaissance were very similar to women in the Middle Ages. Their main purpose was to stand behind their husbands and support everything that they did. They were denied any political rights and basically were just suppose to do all the chores of a housewife. Peasant women usually worked in the field right along side their husbands and also ran the house. The middle class women usually helped run the businesses of their husbands. Even the women with the highest rank who even had servants most often did things around the house. Women who did not choose to marry were not even allowed to live independently. They had to live with a male relative that they had. A women's life during this time was a routine. They basically all did the same thing. They were controlled by their parents in a young age and then when they were old enough handed right over to their husbands so he could have total control over them.
Wednesday, November 16
Women's Education
During the 1300's children of both sexes attended school in Florence. Women from the nobility or upper classes often had obligations that required literacy. With the rise of the Medieval university household were able to employ poor university students as tutors and on such occasions girls were sometimes permitted to to join the tutoring sessions of their brothers.
The subject of education for women, however, was a hotly debated issue throughout the Middle Ages. As education was directly connected with the church it was inevitable that the church's views of women should have led predominated. St. Thomas of Aquinas,1225-1274, who was perhaps one of the great teachers of the period declared what was clearly a widely supported notion regarding women: "The woman is subject to man on account of the weakness of her nature . . . Man is the beginning of woman and her end, just as God is the beginning and end of every creature. Children ought to love their Father more than they love their mother."
Medieval society, and particularly the powerful domains of church and state, clearly had no place for well-educated women.
Despite the restrictive social codes a number of women did assert their talents in as writers, poets, composers and artists. One of the most remarkable women of the time was the poet Christine de Pizan. Not only was she able to earn her living as a writer, but her arguments with the leading clerics of her day on the rights of women represent one of the first declarations of feminism to be articulated.
Source: http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/ls201/medieval3.html
Although the above mainly focuses on the 1300's and the end of the Medieval Era, the Education of the Renaissance for women was closely related to these practices and guidelines.
The subject of education for women, however, was a hotly debated issue throughout the Middle Ages. As education was directly connected with the church it was inevitable that the church's views of women should have led predominated. St. Thomas of Aquinas,1225-1274, who was perhaps one of the great teachers of the period declared what was clearly a widely supported notion regarding women: "The woman is subject to man on account of the weakness of her nature . . . Man is the beginning of woman and her end, just as God is the beginning and end of every creature. Children ought to love their Father more than they love their mother."
Medieval society, and particularly the powerful domains of church and state, clearly had no place for well-educated women.
Despite the restrictive social codes a number of women did assert their talents in as writers, poets, composers and artists. One of the most remarkable women of the time was the poet Christine de Pizan. Not only was she able to earn her living as a writer, but her arguments with the leading clerics of her day on the rights of women represent one of the first declarations of feminism to be articulated.
Source: http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/ls201/medieval3.html
Although the above mainly focuses on the 1300's and the end of the Medieval Era, the Education of the Renaissance for women was closely related to these practices and guidelines.
Wednesday, November 9
The Mona Lisa
Leonardo di Vinci's Mona Lisa is one of the most well known paintings in history but few know the story of its subject. The identity of the woman in the painting remained unknown until recently when in 2005 an expert at the University of Heidelberg discovered a document that stated that the subject was Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy silk merchant from Florence named Francesco del Giocondo. The couple married when Lisa was 15 and eventually had five children together. Lisa lived a comfortable life and was known for her loyalty and devotion to her husband who became an elected official in Florence in 1499 and was believed to have had ties to the powerful Medici family. Scholars believe that Lisa lived to be at least 70 years old when she died 1551.
Clothing of the Renaissance Period
These are examples of the Clothing Styles during the Renaissance for both Peasants and the Elite Class. Also, it shows how the styles changed slightly over the time period.
Tuesday, November 8
Role of Women in the Renaissance
http://www.slideshare.net/summyafarooq95/role-of-women-in-the-renaissance-period-2674799
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