SOCIETY — 133/262 — Educated women
Medieval education unfortunately favoured men, as women were not allowed entry into universities and were generally not expected to be literate or pursue education, regardless of their wealth or lineage. However, there are a few exceptions known to us.
One of them is Christine de Pisan (1364-1430), the first female author in the history of French literature, who wrote philosophical, political, legal, and even militarily oriented works and advocated for women's rights.
Another example could be Maria Hebraea, a famous Jewish alchemist whose life is surrounded by legends, or another alchemist known as Cleopatra, who lived in Alexandria during the 3rd-4th century and allegedly could produce the philosopher's stone.
Notable mention also goes to Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), a Christian mystic, naturalist, physician, musical composer, and writer who was highly influential in her time and later cited author of works such as Ordo Virtutum (morality play) and Causae et Curae (medicine), among others.
In later centuries, women's contributions to education and literature gradually increased, although the first admission of women to a university did not occur until 1836 in Zurich.
— “Women were generally not expected to be literate or pursue education, regardless of their wealth or lineage.” That is not entirely true. While there was no obligation for noble girls to be educated, many of them still were, and moral and educational codes suggested at least a certain literacy for girls so that they could understand the most basic Latin prayers and fulfil their duties in taking part in courtly life and managing a household. The education was managed by nurses, then older noblewomen, tutors and priests, teaching the girls morals and conversational etiquette, often rudimentary medicine and of course reading and writing. Some researchers even argue that noble women might have had a higher literacy than noble men, ascribing this phenomenon to the popularity of adventure romance stories.
“They were not allowed entry into universities”. While most universities did, in fact, open only to men, there were many scholastic options for girls too, with the most central one being convents. From the 7th century onwards, the church required all members of religious societies, regardless of their sex, to be literate in Latin, and so nuns would be educated in reading and writing, religion and morals, music and handicraft, in some convents even law, medicine and the Seven Liberal Arts – grammar, dialect, rhetoric, music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. Next to that, there were also public schools, Cathedral schools and court schools available to girls, with one of the first court schools being established by Charlemagne in the 8th century, creating a centre for teaching of reading, writing, and the liberal arts.
“In later centuries, women's contributions to education and literature gradually increased, although the first admission of women to a university did not occur until 1836 in Zurich.” No — in Spain and Italy, universities such as that of Salamanca, Salerno – in the 12th century, the only medical school in Europe teaching both men and women – or Bologna were in fact open for women. As early as 1239, the University of Bologna saw not its first female student, but its first female professor. After first studying philosophy, Bettisia Gozzadini went for another study in law, earning her a doctor's degree. It is assumed that she studied at the university and taught there afterwards. She became a home teacher, before being offered a professorship at Bologna, likely becoming the first (European) woman to teach at a university.
Women were also always contributing to literature, as is evident in authors such as Hrotsvit, who, in the 10th century, became the first (known) German female writer, and the first to write dramatic texts since antiquity. However, due to a poor handling of authorship and preservation efforts – anonymous texts most often being ascribed to men, and centres of female studying such as convents historically facing more neglect – many examples remain unknown.
