<h1>XX <br/> THE WOMEN OF THE CENTURY.</h1>
<p>In generations whose men proved so unending in initiative and so
forceful in accomplishment, so commanding in intelligence, so
persistent in their purposes, so acute in their searching, so
successful in their endeavors, the women of the time could not have
been unworthy of them. Some hints of this have been already given, in
what has been said about the making of furnishings for the church,
especially in the matter of needlework and the handpainting of various
forms of ornaments. There are further intimations in the histories of
the time, though unfortunately not very definite information, with
regard to even more ambitious accomplishments by the women of the
period. There are, for instance, traditions that the designs for some
of the Cathedrals and certainly for portions of many of them came from
women's hands. It is in the ethical sphere, however, that women
accomplished great things during the Thirteenth Century. Their
influence stood for what was best and highest in the life of the time
and their example encouraged not only their own generation, but many
people in many subsequent generations "to look up, not down, to look
within, not without" for happiness, and to trust that "God's in his
heaven and all's well with the world."</p>
<p>There are a number of women of the time whose names the race will not
let die. While if the ordinary person were asked to enumerate the
great women of the Thirteenth Century it would be rare to find one
able properly to place them, as soon as their names are mentioned, it
will be recognized that they succeeded in accomplishing work of such
significance that the world is not likely to let the reputation of it
perish. Some of these names are household words. The bearers of them
have been written of at length in quite recent years in English as
well as in other languages. Their work was of the kind that ordinarily
stands quite apart from the course of history and so dates are
usually not attached to it. It is thought of as a portion of the
precious heritage of mankind rather than as belonging to any
particular period. Three names occur at once. They are St. Clare of
Assisi, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and Queen Blanche of Castile, the
mother of St. Louis. To these should be added Queen Berengaria, the
sister of Blanche, and the mother of Ferdinand of Castile; Mabel Rich,
the London tradesman's wife, the mother of St. Edmund of Canterbury;
and Isabella, the famous Countess of Arundel.</p>
<p>The present day interest in St. Francis of Assisi, has brought St.
Clare under the lime-light of publicity. There is no doubt at all that
her name is well worthy to be mentioned along with his and that she,
like him, must be considered one of the strongest and most beautiful
characters of all time. She was the daughter of a noble family at
Assisi, who, having heard St. Francis preach, became impressed with
the idea that she too should have the opportunity to live the simple
life that St. Francis pictured. Of course her family opposed her in
any such notion. That a daughter of theirs should take up with a
wandering preacher, who at that time was looked on not a little
askance by the regular religious authorities, and whose rags, and
poverty made him anything but a proper associate for a young lady of
noble birth, could not but seem an impossible idea. Accordingly Clare
ran away from home and told Francis that she would never go back and
that he must help her to live her life in poverty just as he was doing
himself. He sent her to a neighboring convent to be cared for, and
also very probably so as to be assured of her vocation.</p>
<p>After a time a special convent home for Clare and some other young
women, who had become enamored with the life of poverty and simplicity
was established, and to this Clare's sister Agnes came as a postulant.
By this time apparently the family had become reconciled to Clare's
absence from home, but they would not stand another daughter following
such a foolish example. Accordingly Agnes was removed from the convent
by force after a scene which caused the greatest excitement in the
little town. It was not long, however, before Agnes returned to the
convent and within a few years their mother followed them, and became
one of the most fervent members of the little community.</p>
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<p class="image">
<ANTIMG alt="" src="images/i_opp320.jpg" border=1><br/>
ST. CLARE'S FAREWELL TO THE DEAD ST. FRANCIS (GIOTTO)</p>
<p>The peace and happiness that came with this life of absolute poverty
soon attracted many other women and Clare was asked to establish
houses at a distance. Gradually the order of Poor Clares, the second
order of St. Francis, thus came into existence. When it was necessary
to draw up constitutions for the order, Clare showed not only the
breadth of her intelligence, but the depth of her knowledge of human
nature, and her appreciation of what was absolutely necessary in order
to keep her order from degeneration. Against the counsels of all the
ecclesiastics of her time, including many cardinals and even a Pope,
she insisted on the most absolute poverty as the only basis for the
preservation of the spirit of her second order of St. Francis. Her
character was well manifested in this contest from which she came out
victorious.</p>
<p>Her body has been miraculously preserved and may still be seen at
Assisi. Anyone who has seen the strongly set lips and full firm chin
of the body in the crypt of San Damiano, can easily understand the
strength of purpose and of character of this young woman who moulded a
generation to her will. The story is told of her, that once when the
Saracens invaded Italy and attacked the convent, she mounted the walls
with a monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament in her hands, and
the marauders turned away in consternation from the stern brave figure
that confronted them, and bothered the nuns no more. After St.
Francis' death she, more than anyone else, succeeded in maintaining
the spirit of the Franciscan order in the way in which St. Francis
would have it go. Long after her death a copy of the original rules
was found in the fold of her garments and did much to restore the
Franciscan life to its primitive simplicity and purpose, so that even
after she was no more on earth, she was still the guardian and
promoter of St. Francis' work.</p>
<p>If one wants to know how much of happiness there came to her in life
one should read the famous passage which describes her visit to St.
Francis, and how she and he with sisters and brothers around them
broke bread together, with a sweetness that was beyond human. The
passage is to be found in the "Little Flowers of St. Francis of
Assisi" which was written within a century after the occurrences
described. It recalls nothing so much as the story of the disciples at
Emaus and is worthy to be thought of beside the Scripture story.
[Footnote 26]</p>
<p class="footnote">
[Footnote 26: When came the day ordained by Francis, Saint Clare
with one companion passed forth from out the convent and with the
companions of Saint Francis to bear her company came unto Saint Mary
of the Angels, and devoutly saluted the Virgin Mary before her
altar, where she had been shorn and veiled; so they conducted her to
see the house, until such time as the hour for breaking bread was
come. And in the meantime Saint Francis let make ready the table on
the bare ground, as he was wont to do. And the hour of breaking
bread being come, they set themselves down together. Saint Francis
and Saint Clare, and one of the companions of Saint Francis with the
companion of Saint Clare, and all the other companions took each his
place at the table with all humility. And at the first dish, Saint
Francis began to speak of God so sweetly, so sublimely and so
wondrously, that the fulness of Divine grace came down on them, and
they all were wrapt in God. And as they were thus wrapt, with eyes
and hands uplift to heaven, the folk of Assisi and Bettona and the
country round about, saw that Saint Mary of the Angels, and all the
House, and the wood that was just hard by the house, were burning
brightly, and it seemed as it were a great fire that filled the
church and the House and the whole wood together: for the which
cause the folk of Assisi ran thither in great haste to quench the
flames, believing of a truth that the whole place was all on fire.
But coming closer up to the House and finding no fire at all, they
entered within and found Saint Francis and Saint Clare and all their
company in contemplation rapt in God and sitting around that humble
board. Whereby of a truth they understood that this had been a
heavenly flame and no earthly one at all, which God had let appear
miraculously, for to show and signify the fire of love divine
wherewith the souls of those holy brothers and holy nuns were all
aflame; wherefor they got them gone with great consolation in their
hearts and with holy edifying. Then after some long space. Saint
Francis and Saint Clare, together with all the others, returning to
themselves again and feeling of good comfort from the spiritual food
took little heed of the food of the body.]</p>
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<p class="image">
<ANTIMG alt="" src="images/i_opp322a.jpg" border=1><br/>
CHURCH (DOBERAN, GERMANY)</p>
<p class="image">
<ANTIMG alt="" src="images/i_opp322b.jpg" border=1><br/>
SAN DAMIANO (ASSISI)</p>
<p>What Saint Clare accomplished as her life work was the making of a new
vocation for women. There are always a certain number of women who
look for peace and quiet rather than the struggle for existence. For
these the older monasteries did not supply a place unless they were of
the wealthier class as a rule. Among the Poor Clares women of all
classes were received. In this way a great practical lesson in
equality was taught. Women did not have to marry, perhaps
unsuitable, often even objectionable men, simply in order to have a
mode of life. They could join one of these communities and though in
absolute poverty, with many hours each day devoted to meditation and
prayer, had time to give to beautiful needlework, to painting and book
illumination, and to other feminine occupations; and might thus pass
long, happy lives, apart from the bustle of the strenuous time.</p>
<p>Italy at this time, it must be recalled, was a seething cauldron of
political and military strife. Wars were waged, and struggles of all
kinds engaged in for precedence and power. These women got away from
this unfortunate state of affairs. Occasionally in times of
pestilence, when they were specially needed, as happened at least once
in Saint Clare's life, they took care of the ailing and lent their
convent as a hospital. Above all they stood in the eyes of their
generation for chosen people who saw things differently from others.
They taught the great lesson of not caring too much for the things of
this world and of not living one's life in order to get admiration
though usually envy comes, nor idle praise for qualities they either
do not possess or that are not worthy of notice. They showed people
the real value of this life by its reflection upon the other. Many a
man turned aside from ambitious schemes that would have injured
others, because of the kindly influence of these unselfish women and
because of the memory of a sister, or an aunt whose sacrificing life
was thus a rebuke to his foolish selfishness. Other women learned
something of the vanity of human things by learning to value the
character of these Poor Clares and realizing how much of happiness
came to them from the accomplishment of their simple duties. Professor
Osler said, in his lecture on Science and Immortality, of these
self-forgetting ones:—"The serene faith of Socrates with the cup of
Hemlock at his lips, the heroic devotion of a St. Francis or a St.
Teresa, but more often for each one of us the beautiful life of some
good woman whose—</p>
<p>Eyes are homes of silent prayer,<br/>
…<br/>
Whose loves in higher love endure.<br/></p>
<p>do more to keep alive among the Laodiceans a belief in immortality
than all the preaching in the land." This is what St. Clare
accomplished for her own generation and her influence is still a great
living force in the world.</p>
<p>What especially should attract the attention of the modern time is the
perfect basis of equality on which the Franciscan and Dominican orders
of men and of women were organized. Each community had the opportunity
to elect its own superiors. The rules were practically the same for
the first (for men) and the second (for women) order of St. Francis,
except that while the first order were supposed to live on alms
collected by begging from door to door, this menial obligation was not
imposed upon the women, who were expected to be supported by alms
brought to their convents by the faithful, and by the labor of their
own hands. This equality of men and women in the monastic
establishments became widespread after the Thirteenth Century and made
itself felt in the social order of the time as a factor for feminine
uplift. Undoubtedly Saint Clare's work in the foundation of the second
order of St. Francis must be held responsible to no small degree for
this. Before her death, there were half a dozen scions of royal
families in various parts of Europe who had become members of her
order, and literally hundreds of the daughters of the nobility, many
of them of high rank, had put off their dignity and position in the
world, to become poor daughters of Saint Clare. They did so for the
peace and the happiness of the vocation, and the opportunity to seek
their souls and live their lives in their own quiet way, which her
convents afforded them.</p>
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<p class="image">
<ANTIMG alt="" src="images/i_opp325.jpg" border=1><br/>
ST. ELIZABETH'S CATHEDRAL (MARBURG)</p>
<p>After Saint Clare, the best known woman of the Thirteenth Century is
undoubtedly Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, of whom the world knows some
pretty legends, while the serious historian recognizes that she was
the first settlement worker of history. As a child she wandered down
from the castle walls in which she lived and saw the poor in their
suffering. She felt so much for them that she stripped herself of most
of her garments and finally even of her shoes in order to clothe them.
When she was taken to task for this, she said that she had suffered
whatever inconvenience there was in it only for a few minutes while
the poor had suffered all their lives. She became the wife of
the Duke of Thuringia, and there were three years of ideal happiness
with her husband and her children. When he went away on the Crusade
she gave herself up to the care of the poor. When he died, though she
was only twenty, and according to tradition one of the handsomest
women of her time, she devoted herself still more to her poor and even
went to live among them. She tried to teach them, as do the settlement
workers of the modern time, something of the true significance of
life, to bring them to realize to some degree at least, that so many
of the things they so vainly desire are not worth thinking about, but
that happiness consists in lopping off one's desires rather than
trying vainly, as it must ever be, to satisfy them. It is no wonder
that throughout all Germany she came to be called "the dear St.
Elizabeth." Literally thousands of women since her time have turned to
read the story of her beautiful devotion to charity, and have been
incited by her example to do more and more for the poor around them.
Those who know it only through Kingsley's, "The Saint's Tragedy,"
though this is disfigured by many failures to understand parts of her
career and her environment, can scarcely fail to realize that hers was
one of the world's sublimely beautiful characters. All she attempted
in the thorny paths of charity was accomplished in such a practical
way that the amount of good done was almost incalculable. The simple
recital of what she did as it has often been told, is the story of a
great individuality that impressed itself deeply upon its generation
and left the example of a precious life to act as a leaven for good in
the midst of the social fermentations of succeeding generations.</p>
<p>Yet Elizabeth succeeded in accomplishing all this in spite of the fact
that she was born the daughter of a king and married the reigning
prince of one of the most important ducal houses in Germany. One would
expect to find that her life had been long, so many traditions have
gathered around her name. She was twenty when her husband died, and
she survived him only four years. Literally she had accomplished a
long space in a short time and her generation in raising in her honor
the charming Gothic Cathedral at Marburg, one of the most
beautiful in Germany, was honoring itself nobly as well as her. It is
the greatest monument to a woman in all the world.</p>
<p>The next great woman of the century also belonged to a reigning family
and is for obvious historical reasons better known, perhaps, than her
Saint contemporaries. This was Blanche, daughter of the King of
Castile, but intimately related to the English royal family. Married
to Louis VIII of France she is known principally as the mother of
Louis IX. She ruled France for many years while her boy was a minor
and when he came to the age, when he might ordinarily assume the reins
of government, he voluntarily permitted his mother to continue her
regency for some time longer. France was probably happier under her
than under any ruler that the country has ever had with the possible
exception of her son Louis. She succeeded in suppressing to a great
extent the quarrels so common among the nobility, she strengthened and
centralized the power of the crown, she began the correction of abuses
in the administration of justice which her son was to complete so
well, she organized charity in various ways, and the court was an
example to the kingdom of simple dignified life, without any abuse of
power, or wealth, or passion. No wonder that when Louis went on the
Crusade, he left his mother to reign in his stead confident that all
would go well. If one needed a demonstration that women can rule well
there is an excellent example in the life of Blanche.</p>
<p>Personally she seems to have had not only an amiable but a deeply
intellectual character. She encouraged education and beautiful
book-making and the Gothic architecture which was developing in France
so wonderfully during her period. Of course she also worshipped her
boy Louis, but how much her motherly tenderness was tempered with the
most beautiful Christian feeling can be understood from the famous
expression attributed to her on good authority, that she "would rather
see her boy dead at her feet, than have him commit a mortal offense
against his God or his neighbor." One might almost say that it is no
wonder that Louis became a saint. As a matter of fact he attributed to
his mother whatever of goodness there was in himself. There is a touch
of humanity in the picture, however, a trait that shows, that Blanche
was a woman, though it is a fault which draws our sympathy to
her even more surely than if she were the type of perfection she might
have been without it. She did not get on well with her daughter-in-law
and one of the trials of Louis' life, as we have said, was to keep the
scales evenly balanced between his mother and his wife, both of whom
he loved very dearly. After Blanche's life there could be no doubt
that a woman, when given the opportunity, can manage men and
administer government quite as well as any masculine member of the
race, and the Thirteenth Century had given another example of its
power to bring out what was best in its fortunate children.</p>
<p>One of the most interesting women of the Thirteenth Century was
neither a Saint nor a member of the nobility, but only the wife of a
simple London merchant. This was Mabel Rich, the mother of Saint
Edmund of Canterbury. Edmund is one of the striking men of a supreme
century. He had been a student at Paris, and later a professor at
Oxford. Then, he became the treasurer of the Cathedral at Salisbury
about the time when, not a little through his influence, that
magnificent edifice was receiving the form which was to make it one of
the world's great churches for all time. Later he was the Archbishop
of Canterbury and while defending the rights of his church and his
people, came under the ban of Henry III, and spent most of the latter
years of his life in exile on the continent. Edmund insisted that he
owed more to his mother than to any other single factor in life. With
her two boys, aged ten and fourteen, Mabel Rich was left to care for
the worldly concerns of the household as well as for their education.
When they were twelve and sixteen, with many misgivings she sent them
off to the University of Paris to get their education. Edmund tells
how besides packing their linen very carefully she also packed a
hairshirt for each of them, which they were to wear occasionally
according to their promise to her, to remind them that they must not
look for ease and comfort in life, above all must not yield to sensual
pleasures, but must be ready to suffer many little troubles
voluntarily, in order that they might be able to resist temptation
when severer trials came. Mabel Rich believed in discipline, as a
factor in education, and thought that character was formed by habits
of fortitude in resisting petty annoyances until, finally, even
serious troubles were easy to bear.</p>
<p>Both of her sons proved worthy of her maternal solicitude. Edmund
tells how the poor around her home in London blessed her for her
charity. All during his life the thought of his mother was uppermost
in his mind, and in the immortality that has been given his name,
because of the utter forgetfulness of self which characterized his
life, his mother has been associated. Unfortunately details are
lacking that would show us something of the manner of living of this
strong woman of the people, but we know enough to make us realize that
she was a fine type of the Christian mother, memory of whose goodness
means more not only for her children but for all those who come in
contact with her, than all the sermons and pious exhortations that
they hear, and often, such is the way of human nature, even than the
divine commandments or the personal conscience of those whom she
loves.</p>
<p>There were noble women among the gentlewomen of England at this time
too, and though space will not let us dwell on them, at least one must
be mentioned. This is the famous Isabella, Countess of Arundel, who
with a dignity which, Matthew Paris says, was more than that of woman,
reproached Henry III (1252), when he sought to browbeat her. She made
bold to tell the king, "You govern neither us nor yourself well." On
this the king, with a sneer and a grin, said with a loud voice, "Ho,
ho, my lady countess, have the noblemen of England granted you a
charter and struck a bargain with you to become their spokeswoman
because of your eloquence?" She answered, "My liege, the nobles have
made no charter, but you and your father have made a charter, and you
have sworn to observe it inviolably, and yet many times have you
extorted money from your subjects and have not kept your word. Where
are the liberties of England, often reduced to writing, so often
granted, so often again denied?" [Footnote 27]</p>
<p class="footnote">
[Footnote 27: Medieval England, English Feudal Society, from the
Norman Conquest to the Middle of the Fourteenth Century, by Mary
Bateson.]</p>
<p>The question of womanly occupations apart from their household duties
will be of great interest to our generation.</p>
<SPAN name="opp328">{opp328}</SPAN>
<p class="image">
<ANTIMG alt="" src="images/i_opp328.jpg" border=1><br/>
MARRIAGE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN (GIOTTO, PADUA)</p>
<p>A hint of one form of woman's occupation has already been given
in discussing the needlework done for the Cathedrals and especially
the Cope of Ascoli. It must not be forgotten that this was the age not
alone of Cathedrals but also of monasteries and of convents. In all of
these convents every effort was made to have whatever was associated
with the religious ceremonial as beautiful as possible. Hence it was
that needlework rose to a height of accomplishment such as has never
been reached since according to the best authorities, and many
examples of it have come down to us to confirm such an opinion. This
needlework was done not only for religious purposes, however, but also
as presents for Kings and Queens and the nobility, and such presents
proved to be exemplars of artistic beauty that must have helped to
raise the taste of the time. This was essentially woman's work, and in
their distant castles the women of the households of the nobility
occupied themselves with it to much better effect than their sisters
of the modern time with the grievous burden of their so-called social
duties.</p>
<p>Miss Bateson [Footnote 28: Ibidem.] has given a pretty, yet piquant
picture of woman at these occupations. She says:—"There are not
wanting Thirteenth Century satires to tell the usual story of female
levities, and of female devotion to the needle, to German work and
pierced work, Saracen work and combed work, cutout work and wool-work,
and a multitude of other "works" to which the clue seems to be now
wholly lost. Whilst the women are thus engaged, the one who knows most
reads to them, the others listen attentively, and do not sleep as they
do at mass, 'pur la prise de vanite dont ont grant leesce (joy).' The
'opus anglicum' consisted of chain-stitch in circles, with hollows,
made by a heated iron rod, to represent shadows. A cope of this work
was made by Rose de Burford at Edward II's order, and sent to Rome.
One, known as the Syon cope, passed into the possession of the nuns of
Syon, Isleworth, and can be seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum."</p>
<p>Another form of woman's work that came to prominence during the
century was the service in hospitals. While the records of the
hospitals of the Holy Ghost, which under Innocent Third's fostering
care spread so widely throughout Europe in this century, are mainly
occupied with the institutions of the Brothers of the Holy
Ghost, there were many hospitals under the care of women, and indeed
there was an almost universally accepted idea, that women patients and
obstetrical cases should be cared for by women rather than men. It is
easy to make little of the hospitals of this time but any such thought
will be the result of ignorance rather than of any serious attempt to
know what was actually accomplished. The sisters' hospitals soon
usurped the most prominent place in the life of the time and during
succeeding centuries gradually replaced those which had been
originally under the control of men. It was recognized that nursing
was a much more suitable occupation for the gentler sex and that there
were many less abuses than when men were employed. The success of
these hospitals in gradually eradicating leprosy and in keeping down
the death-rate from St. Anthony's fire, or erysipelas, shows how
capable they were of accomplishing great humanitarian work.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most interesting feature of the story of woman's position
during the Thirteenth Century is that at the Italian universities at
least, co-education was not only admitted in principle but also in
practice, and many women were in attendance at the universities. In
the West of Europe this feature did not exist. It is a startling
comment on how comparatively trivial a thing may change the course of
history, that the lamentable Heloise and Abelard incident at the
University of Paris during the Twelfth Century, precluded all
subsequent possibility of the admission of women students to the
University of Paris. Oxford, it will be remembered, was formed by the
withdrawal of students from the University of Paris, and the same
tradition was maintained. Cambridge was a grand-daughter of the
University of Paris and the French and Spanish universities must all
be considered as standing in the relation of its direct descendants.
The unfortunate experience at Paris shaped the policy as to the
co-education of the sexes for all these. It would have been too much
to expect that university authorities would take the risks which had
been so clearly demonstrated even with regard to a distinguished
professor, and so co-education was excluded.</p>
<p>It is not easy to say what proportion of women there were in
attendance at the university of Bologna during the Thirteenth Century.
Apparently it should not be difficult to take the lists of the
matriculates as far as they have been preserved and by a little
calculation obtain rather exact figures. Italy, like most of the Latin
countries, differs from the Teutonic regions in not being quite so
exact in the distribution of names to the different sexes, that the
first name inevitably determines whether the individual is male or
female. It is not an unusual thing even at the present day for a man
to have as a first name in Italy, or France, or Spain, the equivalent
of our name Mary. On the other hand, not a few girls are called by
men's names and without the feminine termination which is so
distinctive among the English speaking peoples. In the olden times
this was still more the case. Until very recently at least, if not
now, every child born in Venice was given two names at its
baptism—Maria and Giovanni—in honor of the two great patron saints
of the city and then the parents might add further names if they so
desired. A matriculation list of the University of Bologna then, tells
very little that is absolute with regard to the sex of the
matriculates.</p>
<p>All that we know for sure is that there were women students at the
University of Bologna apparently from the beginning of the Thirteenth
Century, and that some of them secured the distinction of being made
Professors. Of one of these there is a pretty legend told, which seems
to illustrate the fact that charming young women of profound
intellectual qualities did not lose the characteristic modesty and
thoughtfulness for others of their sex, because of their elevation to
university professorship. This young woman, Maria di Novella, when
only twenty-five became the Professor of mathematics at the University
of Bologna. According to tradition she was very pretty and as is usual
in life was not unaware of that happy accident. She feared that her
good looks might disturb the thoughts of her students during her
lessons and accordingly she delivered her lectures from behind a
curtain. The story may, of course, be only a myth. One of the best
woman educators that I know once said to me, that if the tradition
with regard to her beauty were true, then she doubted the rest of the
story, but then women are not always the best judges of the
actions of other women and especially is this true when there is
question of a grave and learned elderly woman passing judgment on a
young and handsome professor of mathematics.</p>
<p>The Italians became so much impressed with the advisability of
permitting women to study at the universities, that a certain amount
of co-education has existed all down the centuries in Italy and not a
century has passed since the Thirteenth, which has not chronicled the
presence of at least one distinguished woman professor at some Italian
university. Indeed it was doubtless the traditional position of
tolerance in this matter that made it seem quite natural for women,
when the Renaissance period came around, to take their places beside
their brothers and their cousins in the schools where the new learning
was being taught.</p>
<p>It may be rather difficult for some to understand how with this
opening wedge for the higher education of women well placed, the real
opportunity for widespread feminine education should only have come in
our own time. This last idea, however, which would represent ours as
the only generation which has given women adequate opportunities for
intellectual development, is one of those self-complacent bits of
flattery of ourselves and our own period that is so irritatingly
characteristic of recent times. There have been at least three times
in the world's history before our own when as many women as wanted
them, in the class most interested in educational matters, were given
the opportunities for the higher education. As a matter of fact
whenever there have been novelties introduced into educational
systems, women have demanded and quite naturally—since, "What a good
woman wants," said a modern saint, "is the will of God"—have obtained
the privilege of sharing the educational opportunities of the time.
This was true in Charlemagne's time when the women of the court
attended the lectures in the traveling palace school the great Charles
founded and fostered. It was true four centuries later, as we have
seen, when a great change in educational methods was introduced with
the foundation of the universities. It was exemplified again when the
"New Learning" came in and the study of the classics took the place of
the long hours spent in scholastic disputation, that had previously
occupied so much university attention. In our own time it was
the introduction of the study of the social sciences particularly,
with the consequent appearance of many novelties in the educational
curriculum, that once more was the signal for women asking and quite
naturally obtaining educational privileges.</p>
<SPAN name="opp333">{opp333}</SPAN>
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MOSAIC (ST. MARK'S, VENICE, 1220)</p>
<p>Each of the previous experiences in the matter of feminine education
has been followed by a considerable period during which there was a
distinct incuriousness on the part of women in educational matters. Of
course that is only an analogy and though history is worth studying,
only because the lessons of the past are the warnings of the future,
yet this does not foretell a lessening of feminine interest in
educational matters, after a few generations of experience of its
vanity to make up to them for the precious special privileges of their
nature, the proper enjoyment and exercise of which it is so likely to
hamper. It would be interesting to know just why feminine education,
after a period of efflorescence during the Thirteenth Century,
retrograded during the next century. There have been some ungallant
explanations offered, which we mention merely because of their
historical interest but without any hint of their having any real
significance in the matter.</p>
<p>A distinguished German educational authority has called attention to
the fact that a well-known prepared food, for which Bologna is famous,
is first heard of about the time that the higher education for women
came into vogue at the Italian universities. Towards the end of the
same century a special kind of pudding, since bearing the name of its
native city, Bologna, which might very well have taken the place of an
ordinary dessert, also began to come into prominence. This German
writer suggests then, that possibly the serving of meals consisting of
these forms of prepared food, which did not require much household
drudgery and did not necessitate the bending over the kitchen range or
whatever took its place in those days, may have led the men to grumble
about the effects of the higher education. After all, he adds, though
the women get whatever they want, when they ask for it seriously, if
it proves after a time that the men do not want them to have it, then
women lose interest and care for it no longer. This, of course, must
be taken with the proverbial grain of salt, though it
illustrates certain phases of the domestic life of the time as well as
affording a possible glimpse into the inner circle of the family life.</p>
<p>The real story of woman's intellectual position in the century is to
be found in its literature. How deep was the general culture of the
women of the Thirteenth Century, in Italy at least, can be judged from
the Sonnets of Dante and his friends to their loved ones at the end of
this century. Some of the most beautiful poetry that was ever written
was inspired by these women and like the law of hydrostatics, it is
one of the rules of the history of poetry, that inspiration never
rises higher than its source and that poetry addressed to women is
always the best index of the estimation in which they are held, the
reflection of the highest qualities of the objects to which it is
addressed. Anyone who reads certain of the sonnets of Dante, or of his
friends Guido Cavalcanti or Gino da Pistoia or Dante da Maiano, will
find ready assurance of the high state of culture and of intellectual
refinement that must have existed among the women to whom they were
dedicated. This same form of reasoning will apply also with regard to
the women of the South of France to whom the Troubadours addressed
their poetry; to those of the north of France who were greeted by the
Trouvères; and those of the south of Germany for whom the Minnesingers
tuned their lyres and invoked the Muses to enable them to sing their
praises properly. It would seem sometimes to be forgotten that poetry
generally is written much more for women than for men. Everyone
realizes that for one man who has read Tennyson's "Idyls of the King"
there are probably five women to whom they have been a source of
delight. When we think of the Thirteenth Century as not affording
opportunities of intellectual culture for its women, we should ask
ourselves where then did the Meistersingers and the poets of England,
Germany and France who told their romantic tales in verse find an
audience, if it was not among the women. The stories selected by the
Meistersingers are just those which proved so popular to feminine
readers of Tennyson in the Nineteenth Century, and the chosen subjects
of interest in the stories show that men and women have not changed
much during the intervening centuries. The literature of any
period reflects the interest of the women in it and, as interest is
itself an index of intellectual development, Thirteenth Century
literature must be taken as the vivid reflection of the cultural
character of the women of the time, and this is of itself the highest
possible tribute to their intelligence and education.</p>
<p>On the other hand the best possible testimony to the estimation of
women during the Thirteenth Century, is to be found in the attitude of
the men of the generations towards them, as it is clearly to be seen
in the literature of the time. In the Holy Graal, the Cid, the
Minnesingers and the Meistersingers, woman occupies the higher place
in life and it is recognized that she is the highest incentive to
good, unfortunately also sometimes to evil, but always the best reward
that men can have for their exertions in a great cause. The supreme
tribute to woman comes at the end of the century in Dante's apotheosis
of her in the Divine Comedy. In this it is a woman who inspires, a
woman who leads, a woman who is the reward of man's aspirations, and
though the symbolism may be traced to philosophy, the influence of an
actual woman in it all is sure beyond all doubt. Nor must it be
thought that it was merely in this highest flight of his imagination
that this greatest of poets expressed such lofty sentiments with
regard to women. Anyone who thinks this does not know Dante's minor
poems, which contain to women in the flesh and above all to one of
them, the most wonderful tributes that have ever been paid to woman.
Take this one of his sonnets for instance.</p>
<p>So gentle and so fair she seems to be.<br/>
My Lady, when she others doth salute,<br/>
That every tongue becomes, all trembling, mute,<br/>
And every eye is half afraid to see;<br/>
She goes her way and hears men's praises free.<br/>
Clothed in a garb of kindness, meek and low.<br/>
And seems as if from heaven she came, to show<br/>
Upon the earth a wondrous mystery:<br/>
To one who looks on her she seems so kind,<br/>
That through the eye a sweetness fills the heart,<br/>
Which only he can know who doth it try.<br/>
<br/>
And through her face there breatheth from her mind<br/>
A spirit sweet and full of Love's true art,<br/>
Which to the soul saith, as it cometh, "Sigh."<br/></p>
<p>It will be noted that though this contains the highest possible praise
of the woman whom he loved, it has not a single reference to any of
her physical perfections, or indeed to any of those charms that poets
usually sing. We have already called attention to this, that it is not
the beauty of her face or her figure that has attracted him, but the
charm of her character, which all others must admire—which even women
do not envy, it is so beautiful—that constitutes the supreme reason
for Dante's admiration. Nor must it be thought that this is a unique
example of Dante's attitude in this matter; on the contrary, it is the
constant type of his expression of feeling. The succeeding sonnet in
his collection is probably quite as beautiful as the first quoted, and
yet is couched in similar terms. It will be found in the chapter on
Dante the Poet. Need we say more to prove that the women of the
century were worthy of the men and of the supreme time in which they
lived; that they were the fit intellectual companions of perhaps the
greatest generation of men that ever lived?</p>
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STONE CARVING (AMIENS)</p>
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