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70 CHAPTER 2 | European Society in the Renaissance 1350–1550

social role, gender or rank? Despite a prevailing senti-
ment that women were not as fit to rule as men, there Men who work in the vineyards, doing work that
were no successful rebellions against female rulers. In is skilled, are to be paid 16 pence per day; in addi-
part this might have been because female rulers, espe- tion, they are to receive soup and wine in the morn-
cially Queen Elizabeth I of England, emphasized quali- ing, at midday beer, vegetables and meat, and in
ties regarded as masculine — physical bravery, stamina, the evening soup, vegetables and wine. Young boys
wisdom, duty — whenever they appeared in public. are to be paid 10 pence per day. Women who work
Ideas about women’s and men’s proper roles deter- as haymakers are to be given 6 pence a day. If the
mined the actions of ordinary men and women even employer wants to have them doing other work,
more forcefully. The dominant notion of the “true” he may make an agreement with them to pay them
man was that of the married head of household, so 7 or 8 pence. He may also give them soup and veg-
men whose social status and age would have normally etables to eat in the morning — but no wine — milk
7
conferred political power but who remained unmar- and bread at midday, but nothing in the evening.
ried did not participate in politics at the same level as
their married brothers. Unmarried men in Venice, for
Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample.
example, could not be part of the ruling council. The maintenance of appropriate power relation-
Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
Women were also understood as either “married or to ships between men and women, with men domi-
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
be married,” even if the actual marriage patterns in Europe nant and women subordinate, served as a symbol
left many women (and men) unmarried until quite late in of the proper functioning of society as a whole.
life (see “Sex in the City” in Chapter 1). This meant that Disorder in the proper gender hierarchy was linked
For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.
women’s work was not viewed as financially supporting a with social upheaval and was viewed as threatening.
family — even if it did — and was valued less than men’s. Of all the ways in which Renaissance society was
If they worked for wages, and many women did, women hierarchically arranged — social rank, age, level of
earned about half to two-thirds of what men did, even for education, race, occupation — gender was regarded
the same work. Regulations for vineyard workers in the as the most “natural” and therefore the most
early sixteenth century, for example, specified: important to defend.

How did nation-states develop in this period?

he High Middle Ages had witnessed the origins of the Burgundians and Armagnacs (ahr-muhn-YAKZ),
Tmany of the basic institutions of the modern state. who had been waging civil war for thirty years. By 1453
Sheriffs, inquests, juries, circuit judges, professional French armies had expelled the English from French
bureaucracies, and representative assemblies all trace their soil except in Calais.
origins to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The linch- Charles reorganized
pin for the development of states, however, was strong the royal council, giv-
monarchy, and during the period of the Hundred Years’ ing increased influ-
War no ruler in western Europe was able to provide effec- ence to lawyers and HOLY
A
tive leadership. The resurgent power of feudal nobilities bankers, and strength- ROMAN
weakened the centralizing work begun earlier. ened royal finances EMPIRE
Beginning in the fifteenth century, however, rulers through taxes on cer-
r
r
utilized aggressive methods to rebuild their govern- tain products and on Pa Pa P Paris
ments. First in the regional states of Italy, then in the land, which remained
expanding monarchies of France, England, and Spain, the Crown’s chief FRANCE
rulers began the work of reducing violence, curbing sources of income
unruly nobles, and establishing domestic order. They until the Revolution
attempted to secure their borders and enhanced the of 1789.
methods of raising revenue. By establish -
ing regular compa- SPAIN
France nies of cavalry and Crown lands, ca. 1475
archers — recruited, Territory added by 1483
The Black Death and the Hundred Years’ War left France paid, and inspected Territory added by 1498
drastically depopulated, commercially ruined, and agri- b y the state — Independent fiefs
culturally weak. Nonetheless, the ruler whom Joan of Arc Charles created the Boundary of France, ca. 1500
had seen crowned at Reims, Charles VII (r. 1422–1461), first permanent royal The Expansion of France,
revived the monarchy and France. Charles reconciled army anywhere in 1475–1500
wieswest14e_12_sm01_32988 Expansion of France
First Proof
Map positioning guide
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