European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 06, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doily Magazine medieval drawing of lovers. Unsung by Anatole Broyard new York times Omen Frances and Joseph Gies write in their new Book women in the Middle Ages Mcrowe have been silent and Unsung partners in medieval history they do not figure prominently in the politics wars and revolutions of unimaginative historians. When they Are mentioned their roles Are often distorted by the relentless misogyny of the Church fathers whose writings form an important part of the documentation of that time. It is difficult to understand the origin of this distrust for the common explanations seem inadequate. Anthropologists and psychologists have supposed according to the authors that men feared women s sexual functions or hated women because their mothers had failed to gratify their oedipal longings. It is not Clear Why men should fear women s sexual functions any More than that women should fear men a and the oedipal theory has always been an oversimplification. It might be that in the infancy of civilization every Man who was not a King Felt too threatened to be Able to afford Generos Ity or was insecure enough to despise any one weaker than himself. Refinement re quires Leisure. Men might have feared women in the most primitive sense because they did not understand them or because they needed them and Felt this need to be a source of vulnerability. Perhaps they were so beset themselves that they had to have women beneath them As a psychological Cushion. It is also Possi ble that men envied women their ability to Bear the Burden of medieval ways better than they did. Fighting for your life is no Frame of mind for falling in love. The Virgin Mary who was on the up of every Man s Tongue docs not seem to have helped women s image very much. She was More often compared to eve. The temptress whose curiosity and bold Ness caused Man to be expelled from Para Dise. This too might have been part of Man s ambivalence toward woman be might Nave seen her As pushing him for Ward disturbing his inertia ending his infantilism. It is Clear from women m the Middle Ages that feminine Wiles were indispensable to survival that denied so Many Basic human rights women had to become ingenious improvisors had to develop Indi rec Ness to a High Art had to think harder in Many cases than their husbands. Frances and Joseph Gies found Only one feminist in the Middle Ages the poet Christine de Pisan who lived at the close of the 14th Century. Women were too Busy staying alive to theorize about themselves. They suffered their feet and their height to be measured before marriage they put up with beating and bad mouthing by St. Paul who found them untouchable by Aristotle who called them a deformity by Thomas Aquinas who described them As defective and  the Church enjoined them to suf Fer not enjoy sex and they were penalized for every deviation from the Copula Tive Norm when they were inno cent enough to confess it. It was partly in this Way that the Convent came about As an alternative to marriage As an outlet for nonconformist As an Opportunity for women to perform and distinguish themselves with a minimum of interference from men. Women defended their convents with remarkable courage on one occasion. 200 nuns chose to be burned rather than renounce their Faith. Much of our information about the women of 700 years ago the authors Point out. Has been faulty and they have corrected this distortion by bringing us in the second half of women of the Middle Ages a peas ant s wife a City working woman and an italian merchant s wife As Well As a great lady an abbess and a Queen. These last three May strike some read ers As being the least interesting of the lot. For their lives seem to have been passed in ceaseless political mane vering and Bick ering which were the lot of powerful per sons in those Days. It is a Relief after them to read of women who were employed As ale tasters be cause they were Sadd and discrete per Sones or of those who ran comfortable Homes for their husbands without the Aid of machines and still found time to whisper Good advice to them in business and endearment in bed. Fourteenth Century lady hoists her Lover to her window. Peasant woman milking a cow in a 13th Century drawing. Sunday August 6, 1978 the stars and stripes Page