Introduction to Medieval and Early Modern Experiences of Gender and Faith

Abstract

The pre-and early modern world has often been described as an inherently religious one. There was no sphere of life where religion was irrelevant. Religion explained the basics of cosmology and society. Belief systems inf luence social relations even today, and in the medieval and early modern eras, religious ideas shaped some of the most important secular institutions as well as the overall social theory: the three estates were God-ordained with specific duties, and the idea of the two swords -that is, religious and secular power governing the world -was well established (even if constantly debated) by the Late Middle Ages. As such, religion was played out within the web of power relations inherent in societies. In addition, religion stipulated times of work, worship and leisure for everyone; it instructed what people were supposed or allowed to eat and when, and how, they lived, woke up and went about their daily tasks. Furthermore, religion justified social hierarchies, relationships of power and taxation, economic relationships, and politics and warfare. There were, however, many different interpretations of how exactly religion's demands were to be interpreted. Everyone had their own opinions about which of the many aspects of religious or more mundane life was to be given priority in any situation. More importantly, the relationship between religion and mundane private or social life was not one-way. Rather, religion developed in society to meet society's needs, and society developed in a religious culture that guided both expectations or aims and the means to meet them.This book has two thoroughgoing themes that we intend to investigate from the late medieval period (ca. the 14th century) to the early modern period (until ca. the 18th century). These themes are religion (or faith) and gender, both of which we also understand in a specific way, as lived and experienced. The meaning of these two concepts, religion and gender, has changed in time, space and culture: people in the 14th century understood them differently from those of the INTRODUCTION TO MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EXPERIENCES OF GENDER AND FAITH