... in society and especially the home, for women once they had fulfilled their 'duty' of marriage and there are also examples of women who chose a path in life which did not involve marriage. The historian, Elisabeth van Houts makes a very important point about the lives of medieval aristocratic women; she says, 'Modern historians have often underestimated the strong feeling amongst women destined to be exchanged and given to whomever provided their fathers of uncles with the best political deal'. (1) This idea is often one which is overlooked when looking at medieval women and this is why a statement as general as 'marriage is as much about the transmission of property as it was about the raising of children' can be used to describe life for a majority of aristocratic women. Understanding the contemporary opinions of women in the Middle Ages is crucial to understanding why their families and ...

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