Exceptional Women Eleanor of Aquitaine and Hildegard of Bingen
Norman Cantor (1999) has noted that the lives of medieval women wereas diverse as those of men, and that women in this era contributed to allthe major movements that spelled success for an emerging Europeancivilization. Nevertheless, women in the Middle Ages were, regardless oftheir position, status or birth, regarded as legitimately inferior to menand as of necessity submissive to their fathers and husbands and brothers(Weir, 2000). Even in the case of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine - wife to twokinds and mother of two more - a misstep could result in imprisonment atthe behest of a husband (Cantor, 1994; Kaufman, 2002). Other women such asSt. Hildegard of Bingen, who chose the religious over the secular life, mayhave experienced a slightly greater degree of autonomy than even a queensuch a Eleanor. In both cases, however, the privileged status of these twowomen ensured that they would live longer, healthier, and more productivelives (including lives of the intellect) than their less well-placed peers Ordinary women in the Middle Ages could be roughly divided into threeor four groups. Women born into the ruling or noble families could count
Women who elected to choose thereligious life - or had it chosen for them by their fathers or otherrelatives - had many privileges as well, but limited freedom of activity(Labarge, 1986). Eleanor was, for example, Duchess of the productive and vital Aquitaine inher own right; she was the wife first of King Louis of France and later ofEngland's Henry I. Indeed, Labarge (101)stated that "Hildegard was a major intellectual figure of her time" and was(like Eleanor) remarkably well-educated "in a time when monastic housesstill served as lively centers of intellectual activity. She also assisted her son, John,when he came to the throne (Weir, 2000). Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that even extremely well-placed women such as Eleanor and Hildegard of Bingen were not fullyautonomous and independent. Cantor (1997) noted that as her fame grew and her books (especially Knowthe Way) gained readers, Hildegard entered into lengthy correspondenceswith such figures as Frederick I Barbarossa and St. Both of these extraordinary women were privilegedin ways that the vast majority of women of the time were not: they had theprotection of great names and of in Hildegard's case the Church. Despite these similarities, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Hildegard ofBingen enjoyed what Cantor (1994; 1999) characterized as fairly exceptionallives, enjoying a degree of fame and autonomy few other women approached. The rise of the universities further disadvantaged women, who were notpermitted to attend and thus reducing the role of women in medievalintellectual life. Eleanor of Aquitaine, as depicted in fiction by Pamela Kaufman(2002), emerges from history as an intellectually gifted women withenormous political savvy and skills. After Henry's death, she filledmuch the same position on behalf of her son, Richard I (the Lionhearted),as he was on crusade and then imprisoned. Eleanor found herindependence in her second marriage for a time, and was more independentafter Henry's death. Having spent some15 years in prison at the behest of Henry for aiding her sons in theirrebellion against him, she emerged from her captivity to take up the reinsof power on behalf of Richard (Cantor, 1997; Weir, 2000). Like Hildegard, Eleanor enjoyed many benefits that the ordinarywomen of the Middle Ages did not enjoy. Nevertheless, bothwomen were still subject to the rule of men.
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Acceptance Essays
