What is better than wisdom? Woman. And what is better than a good woman? Nothing.
Geoffrey Chaucer
Although women have categorically been excluded from the conversation around literature throughout history, gender is not the only element in play in terms of literacy and consumption of books. One of the most important elements of readership during the middle ages was the class systems established amongst the populace—people like the mercantile and gentry classes were learning that elite traditions and lifestyles were superior, while simultaneously rejecting some of the pleasantries that came with it (like manners and chivalry). Because of this, certain manuscripts were edited in order to appeal to specific households.
Children, both male and female, were taught how to behave in their societies from stories in books. The female interest, on how to become a good mother and wife, was written about in a multitude of books—particularly, poems like How the Good Wife Taught Her Daughter. Through literary devices like homilies, the poem guides young female readers on how to be a proper lady in society, including the right ways to enter a courtship, the dangers of being too outspoken in public, and the inherent domesticity of women. These poems were typically shared between a mother and daughter, as a parenting tool.
These poems also dealt with the morality behind female behavior. One in particular, The Thewis of Gud Women, warns against visiting places like taverns and alehouses, which had reputations of being immoral. The author places shame on females in such places, equating it to the poverty and promiscuity often on display there, and establishing shame in girls who enjoy those communities:
And if thou be on eni stede thar god drinke is alofte
Whether that thou serue or that you sitte softe
Mesureli tak therof that the falle no blame
For if thou be ofte drunk it fallet the to schame.
Through this poem, we can see the dangers that await young women who decide to partake in unsavory activities- particularly drinking. It doesn’t matter to the author if she’s the one serving or being served; any involvement with alcohol, in pubs and brewhouses, will bring “schame.” Through the practice of reading to their children, mothers were able to set them on the right track- something that is still a common practice today.
Although women reading to their children was commonplace for the middle and upper classes, it’s important to remember the access to education that existed at the time. Poorer women, and women without the tools for literacy, weren’t able to participate in this parenting/bonding activity. Arguably, this is an important element in the divide between classes at the time, and the rise of elite lifestyles.
Work Cited
Hodgson, Phyllis. The Review of English Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 1950, pp. 61–62. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/511778.