Maria di Francia intent on studying
The Middle Ages it is probably the historical period on which an exaggerated amount of prejudices continues to persist, which obviously end up invalidating a truly truthful and objective reading.
We think of the woman and her role in society :who has never heard that she only had to get married and have children?
Which is true, but that's not all.
In medieval times, girls could get married as early as 12 years old and generally became mothers of a number of children that seems impressive to us (9-10 was not a rarity), moreover a correct female behavior, according to the canons of the time, provided that they were always humble, modest, chaste, faithful and hardworking (the good running of the house, with all the tasks that it entailed, fell in practice only on their shoulders), but this was not true for all and did not happen everywhere.
A woman in the Middle Ages collects medicinal herbs
From the numerous notarial deeds dating back to the medieval centuries, as well as from documents otherwise, it appears that there were then many economically independent women , teachers, artisans, midwives, pharmacists, workers who worked profitably and regularly paid taxes.
Studying it was not always an impossible dream for young medieval women, so much so that there was no shortage of women writers and scientists, who did not hesitate to close themselves in a convent in order to establish themselves in their field, the only place where it was possible to indoctrinate to perfection.
And it doesn't stop there: women voted in both city and rural assemblies and their vote had the same value as that of men.