Women+and+the+Reformation

 ﻿ __Women and the Reformation__ **Tosha Allen **

 **Topics: ** In studies done by the Mary Wiesner from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1993) she explained the following:

Within the last fifteen years, historians have begun to explore the impact of reformation ideas and institutional changes on women and the family, and to evaluate women’s role in the reformation. These make creative use of the new methods and sources, but the findings are rarely integrated into general interpretations. This ghettoizing reinforces the idea that the “real” reformation had nothing to do with women. (pg 311)

With this perspective in mind allow me to take you on a journey of the benevolence of women and role they played in the reformation.  **Argument: **

During the reformation period male attitudes and thoughts dominated the way of life, and systems that men and women operated in. Women were able to share some privileges with the men of their class, but were recognized by the goals and ambitions of their husbands and fathers (Wiesner pg 119). My interpretation is that women were unable to achieve the same goals as men, because they were expected to stay at home and tend to the household and family. Though few women were able to help bring change to the reformation publicly; they were however able to help bring change to their families being that the primary role of women during the reformation appeared to mean being a good wife, mother, and to teach and train reformation ideas to their children. Women were passive citizens in a world that was transforming around them, and the reformation made no major changes in their status in society. The purpose of the reformation never had anything to do with women as it was never intended to. In this argument, I will address key aspects of the  purposes of the reformation, and the impact it had on the benevolence of women and their roles. In order for me to talk about women in the reformation, I must give a brief summary of how the reformation and what its purpose was. In my readings of the book “The European Reformations,” Lindberg discusses Martin Luther and how he was “deemed a gift from God,” for many during reformation times. With the invention of the printing press Luther’s “ideas began to spread rapidly and reliably,” with the help of this new technology (Lindberg pg 34). Martin Luther was one of the key players to the early reformation. Feed up with the church abusing their power over who were entitled to the proceeds received from papal indulgences; Martin Luther nailed his ninety five theses on the church door at Wittenberg. In his theses Luther argued that works alone was meaningless, such as the paying of indulgences, because Christians were saved by faith. This marked the beginning of the reformation which quickly became reformations as other reformers such as, Calvin, karlstadt, and Muntzer brought their interpretations of theology to the reformation. I believe that the initial intention of the reformation was not to separate the church, but to simply improve it. If the whole idea of the reformation was to transform and improve; where do women fit in these improvements? There were very little improvement in women’s roles and status in society. In the sixteenth century had been disqualified from nearly all arenas of public speech and debate, so if a woman were going to be active in the reformation she would have to break out of the silence that was forced upon them publicly and academically (Matheson pg 97). Women operated in a world’s system where their legal rights were being reduced which handicapped them in many ways. Some of these handicaps include having lack of access to the main sources of decision making like churches, city halls, universities, and pulpits. To add to the list, women were also being controlled personally and socially, and religiously by gender roles, fear of being ridiculed by the male authority, and by the suppression of female voice and views regarding religion (Matheson pg 98). Women participated equally in a system that denied them fair treatment. They were not able to hold major offices or allowed to vote, however they were required to pay taxes and provide their sons as soldiers for the nation’s defense (Wiesner pg 119). Even in the education of woman, the idea educate was not to advance the status of women in the reformation. “In medieval Europe the gap between men and women in education grew wider” (wiesner pg 118). With the arrival of printing, women in the sixteenth century were able to learn in the privacy of their own homes, and gain access to the very information that they had been restricted from learning or even hearing about in most public places. This allowed a small group of women to be able to add to public opinion through books and pamphlets (Matheson pg 97). There was one woman by the name of Argula Von Grumbach. She was one of the first female protestant authors of the reformation. Grumbach managed to get a total of eight of her publications released accidently from 1523 to 1524. She never intended on the publications to circulate as they did, but she wanted to write directly to university it’s self to fight to free restrictions placed on women in the sixteenth century. Through the accidental release of her publication Grumbach was able to gain access to the pulpits that she had been denied publicly. She argued in her publications the right for women to speak out religious and social issues, and she used biblical principles to back up her arguments (Matheson Pg106-07). With all the stereotypes and restrictions placed on women at this time I can imagine it must have hard for Argula to break out of the silence and give a much need voice to a woman’s perspective in that male dominated world. The story of Argula gives more insight on the benevolence of women in the reformation period. Argula discusses other issues in her publications such the sexually misuse as well as the issue of violence of woman during this period. In other research of women in the family, studies show that with the closing of convents, charitable institutions, changes in marriages, and possibility of divorce, women and the family were impacted greatly by the reformation (Wiesner pg313). The closing of convents would mean that those women were left without a place to stay. The women would have to find somewhere to go. I’m sure if I was a Nun, and had to leave a convent my family wouldn’t allow me to be outside and homeless, so this would mean that I would have to go back to live with loves one, as did some the nuns in the reformation period. I’m sure this put a strain on the normal structure of families. The institutions of marriages impacted women when the priest began to get married, and finally the possibility of divorce affected women positively and negatively depending on the circumstances of their marriages. The structure and function of family changed greatly. Research shows that the women of the reformation times where almost always categorized together with the family, leading to the viewing of the history of women and the family to be the same; seeing the family as the sole determinant of the woman. According to the article history completely ignores women’s intellectual and political history, while ignoring male sexuality and family roles (Wiesner pg 117). In conclusion I believe that the purpose of the reformations was to reform, but the reformation of women was never included base on the information provided in this argument on their roles and treatment. The status of women remained the same as well as their primary roles as mother, wife, and teacher. There were few women in the reformation like Argula von Grambach that were able to share the woman’s perspective in a male dominated world, and give women a voice, however the arguments from her publications only reiterates my point more on the benevolence and roles of women in the reformation.

**Sources:** Peter Matheson, <span style="background: white; color: blue; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> [|//The Sixteenth Century Journal//] <span style="background: white; color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Vol. 27, No. 1 (Spring, 1996), pp. 97-109, Retrieved on Sept, 14, 2010 from: <span style="background: white; color: blue; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> []
 * <span style="color: blue; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> [|Breaking the Silence: Women, Censorship, and the Reformation]

<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Merry E. Wiesner, <span style="background: white; color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[|The Sixteenth Century Journal] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Vol. 18, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 311-321, Retrieved September 20, 2010 from: <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[]
 * <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[|Beyond Women and the Family: Towards a Gender Analysis of the Reformation]

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Jeffery R. Watt, <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[|//The Sixteenth Century Journal//] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Vol. 24, No. 2 (Summer, 1993), pp. 429-439, Retrieved on Sept, 14, 2010 from: <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[] > > > > > >
 * __<span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Women and the Consistory in Calvin's Geneva __
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Lindberg, C. (2010) //The European Reformations//. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">**_** <span style="display: block; font-family: Elephant,serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">**Article Analysis:** <span style="display: block; font-family: Elephant,serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">**(I).** __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">**Beyond Women and the Family: Towards a Gender Analysis of the Reformation** __ **Focus:** In this chapter Merry Wiesner explores the impact that the reformation had on women and the family. She argues that the reformation‘s ideas and institutions brought about no major improvements for the women of that time. Wiesner analyzes gender differences, and the roles men and women operated in during the reformation. Merry concludes with the theory that the real reformation had nothing to with women. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">**Differences during the Reformation** ||
 * || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">**The Impact the Reformation had on Women/ Family and Men** || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">**Gender**
 * **The Roles of Women and the Family** || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Women and family were almost always classified in the same category. Women were expected to tend to the home, and were criticized for any public speech or actions that went against this label that was imposed upon them. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Women were able to share with the men of their class, and were identified by goals and ambitions of their husbands and fathers, but were unable to achieve the same goals. ||
 * **The Roles of Men** || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Men were the head of households, and were the authority figures in families || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">M ale attitudes and thoughts dominated the way of life, and systems that men and women operated in. ||

**Implications:** Merry Wiesner begins her chapter by discussing how hard it has been in the last fifteen years to find materials on women that have been included in the readings and explanations of the reformation. She then challenges us to think about gender differences as a reason for the separation of sources found on the reformation. Wiesner’s research strengthens the fact that women had nothing to do with the reformation and I agree.

** Article Analysis **

(II). <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">**Breaking the Silence: Women, Censorship, and the reformation** **Focus:** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">This article focuses on the breaking of silence to women during the reformation. Women had been restricted to all forms of public debate until the introduction of printing. This enabled women to access the knowledge in the privacy of their homes that they had been denied publicly. One woman named Argula Von Grumbach took a stand, and broke the silence through a publication of eight from 1523-1524. These publications argued women’s rights to speak out on religious and social issues. Grumbach used biblical principles to combat her arguments


 * || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">**Breaking the silence of woman in the reformation** || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">**Breaking the restrictions of women in the reformation**  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">**Argula Von Grumbach** || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">She was the first protestant female author to break the silence and become an author in the reformation.  || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">She was the first protestant woman to protest the restriction and benevolence of woman, giving women a small voice in the reformation  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt;">**Women** || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">More woman began to use free speech in their homes and a some in public, converting family and husbands as a result  || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Woman educating themselves on biblical principles and seeing that the restrictions were not justifiable in biblical terms.  ||

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Implications: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">This Journal shows how one woman broke the silence and spoke out about the restriction and mistreatment of women during the reformation. It show how woman where introduced to printings and began educating themselves on biblical principals enabling them to gain a voice in the male dominated world around them.