page_title: Women in Christianity
section_title: Middle ages
hierarchical_section_title: Women in Christianity / Women in church history / Middle ages
context_page_description: The roles of women in Christianity can vary considerably today as they have varied historically since the third century New Testament church. This is especially true in marriage and in formal ministry positions within certain Christian denominations, churches, and parachurch organizations.
  Many leadership roles in the organized church have been prohibited to women. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, only men may serve as priests or deacons; only males serve in senior leadership positions such as pope, patriarch, and bishop. Women may serve as abbesses. Most mainstream Protestant denominations are beginning to relax their longstanding constraints on ordaining women to be ministers, though some large groups, most notably the Southern Baptist Convention, are tightening their constraints in reaction. Most all Charismatic and Pentecostal churches were pioneers in this matter and have embraced the ordination of women since their founding.
  Christian traditions that officially recognize saints as persons of exceptional holiness of life do list women in that group.
context_section_description: Medieval views of women as found in Thomas Aquinas were based on earlier Aristotelian thinking: the male "principle" sought to reproduce itself and females were considered imperfect "defective" males. Because women were "incomplete" they were lustful, seeking fulfillment in sexual intercourse with men. Conversely, men were intellectual and in control of their passions.
  As Western Europe transitioned from the Classical to Medieval Age, the male hierarchy with the Pope at its summit became a central player in European politics. Mysticism flourished and monastic convents and communities of Catholic women became institutions within Europe.
  With the establishment of Christian monasticism, other influential roles became available to women. From the 5th century onward, Christian convents provided opportunities for some women to escape the path of marriage and child-rearing, acquire literacy and learning, and play a more active religious role. In the later Middle Ages women such as Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa of Avila, played roles in the development of theological ideas and discussion within the church, and were later declared Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church. The Belgian nun, St Juliana of Liège (1193-1252), proposed the Feast of Corpus Christi, celebrating the body of Christ in the Eucharist,  which became a major feast throughout the Church. In the Franciscan movement of the thirteenth century, religious women like St. Clare of Assisi played a significant part. Later, Joan of Arc took up a sword and achieved military victories for France, before being captured and tried as a "witch and heretic", after which she was burned at the stake. A papal inquiry later declared the trial illegal. A hero to the French, sympathy grew for Joan even in England. Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan in 1920.
  The historian Geoffrey Blainey, writes that women were more prominent in the life of the Church during the Middle Ages than at any previous time in its history, with a number of church reforms initiated by women. In the 13th century, authors began to write of a mythical female pope—Pope Joan—who managed to disguise her gender until giving birth during a procession in Rome.  Blainey cites the ever-growing veneration of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene as evidence of a high standing for female Christians at that time. The Virgin Mary was conferred such titles as Mother of God and Queen of Heaven and, in 863, her feast day, the "Feast of Our Lady", was declared equal in importance to those of Easter and Christmas. Mary Magdalene's Feast Day was celebrated in earnest from the 8th century on and composite portraits of her were built up from Gospel references to other women Jesus met.
  Other than the institution of the convent, monarchy was the major European institution allowing women an alternative to marriage and child rearing. Female monarchs of this period include: Olga of Kiev, who around AD 950, became the first Russian ruler to convert to Christianity; Italian noblewoman Matilda of Tuscany (1046-1115), remembered for her military accomplishments and for being the principal Italian supporter of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy; Saint Hedwig of Silesia (1174-1243), who supported the poor and the church in Eastern Europe; and Jadwiga of Poland, who reigned as monarch of Poland and, within the Catholic Church, is honoured as the patron saint of queens and of a "united Europe." Saint Elisabeth of Hungary (1207-1231) was a symbol of Christian charity who used her wealth to establish hospitals and care for the poor. Each of these women were singled out as model Christians by Pope John Paul II in his Mulieris Dignitatem letter on the dignity and vocation of women.
caption: A knight being armed. Catholic Europe developed the refined warrior code of chivalry during the Middle Ages.
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