Anglo-Saxon Women

Typical female Anglo-Saxon dress in the pagan period

The Old English word mann means ‘adult human’ of either gender. And thus mean and women had equal standing both legally and within the community. Women could own property and were often educated. They could practice professions and run societies. There are even instances of women being buried with weapons, which indicated that they fought. That is certainly known of Queen Athelflæda, dohtor of Ælfred the Great. It was not equality as we strive for. But, it was equality in a society that valued all 'adult humans', whether they were Weapon Men or Wife Men.

Women could not be pressed into marriage. It is only the Norman invasion and the Catholic Church’s attitude towards women reinforced by the feudal system that suppressed women for 1000 years, led by appalling devices of female suppression such as the ducking stool. Not until 1978 did women regain the same rights as the enjoyed in free Anglo-Saxon society. Not until the Golden Age of Elizabeth I did England once again see a woman of the strength of Athelflæda. She led the Mercian army against the last vestiges of Vikings in what was the Dane Law in England. The deduction from that is that English women must have been cultured into certain military arts. Some must have worn armour and fought. That indicates an acceptance by Anglo-Saxon men of womanhood as equals and of Anglo-Saxon woman of the discipline and commitment to battle alongside men.  To be foolish enough to think that an enemy could wonder into an early English burgh when there were no men around would have been a mistake. Both the early English women and children were lethal.

What did an Anglo-Saxon woman do all day? This would naturally depend greatly on her social class as well as regional and period differences. The word wif 'wife, woman' might be connected with weaving, which implies that cloth-making was associated with women. In wills, the male line was called wæpnedhealf 'weapon half' or sperehealf 'spear half' and the female line was wifhealf 'wife half' or spinelhealf 'spindle half'. It would then seem that men were traditionally warriors or hunters, while women were cloth-makers and embroiderers.

This view is also supported by other literature from that time and by grave findings. Furthermore, the feminine occupational suffix stere was used to form words such as seamster, spinster and webster, all connected with cloth-making. From wills we know that a wealthy Anglo-Saxon household contained a variety of soft furnishings: bed-clothes, table-linen, seat-covers, wall-hangings and so on, so women would have had plenty of work in this field.

In the Anglo-Saxon household, food was prepared by male slaves alone or men and women equally, but preparing and serving drink was women's job. This is confirmed by surnames such as Brewster, Malster and Tapster, and by heroic poetry, where the lady is always the one to serve the drinks. Female cup-bearers (birele) are also mentioned in Æthelbert's laws:

14. If a man lie with an eorl's birele, let him make bot with twelve shillings.
16. If a man lie with a ceorl's birele, let him make bot with six shillings.

In monastic life, gardening was done by laywomen. Another possible occupation for a woman was that of an entertainer - there are a few examples of this in literature.

Daily life was far from easy for people in Anglo-Saxon England. Women especially had a high mortality rate because of the dangers of pregnancies, miscarriages and childbirth - lack of iron has also been suggested to as one reason. Examination of skeletal remains has revealed that common ailments included earache, toothache, headache, shingles, wounds, burns, and pain in the joints. Another source of information on this subject are manuscripts offering medical advice; some remedies deal specifically with female matters, often mixing common sense and superstition. Here is an example of quite practical advice for women (as cited in Fell):

A pregnant woman ought to be fully warned against eating anything too salt or too sweet, and against drinking strong alcohol: also against pork and fatty foods; also against drinking to the point of drunkenness, also against travelling; also against too much riding on horseback lest the child is born before the right time.

Marriage and Sex

As far as marriage is concerned, Anglo-Saxons generally had clear and sensible legislation for the rights of women. The husband was to pay morgengifu ('morning gift') in money or land to the woman herself, and she would have personal control over it to give away, sell or bequeath as she chose. Places with names such as Morgay Farm and Morgay Wood were probably given as morgengifu, so the amount of land given seems to have been fairly large at least in these cases. Marriage agreements were made between the two families but the girl did have a say in who she married, and her kin seem to have mainly acted as legal and financial advisers. The following is an example of an Anglo-Saxon marriage contract (as cited in Fell):

Here is declared in this document the agreement which Godwine made with Brithric when he wooed his daughter. In the first place he gave her a pound's weight of gold, to induce her to accept his suit, and he granted her the estate at Street with all that belongs to it, and 150 acres at Burmarsh and in addition 30 oxen and 20 cows and 10 horses and 10 slaves.

Within marriage, finances belonged to both the husband and the wife. This we know from wills and charters. Æthelbert's law number 79 from the seventh century says about divorce:

If she wish to go away with her children, let her have half the property.

This gave women independence and security. On the other hand, Æthelbert 77 shows that deception was not acceptable:

... if there be guile, let him bring her home again, and let his property be restored to him.

For the purpose of protecting married women, there was also a law that a wife shall not be held guilty for any criminal activity of her husband. Widows were protected in the issue of inheritance: Æthelræd's law stated that they should not be forced into second marriages, and Cnut had a law against forcing widows to become nuns.

Attitudes to women were more dominated by class than sex in Anglo-Saxon England. The basic class distinctions for women were slave vs. free, and virgin vs. married vs. widow. For example, in Ælfred's law the penalty for raping a free woman was ten shillings, while the penalty for raping a slave was only five shillings. In addition, a free woman would get the money for herself, but the fine for a slave would be paid to her master. However, heroic literature has several examples of slaves rising from their original class. Beowulf, for instance, mentions a queen called Wealhtheow, which means foreign (or Welsh) slave.

Because people were allowed to choose their spouses, marital relationships could be very rewarding. The word 'friendship' was often used for the relationship between husband and wife. Unsurprisingly, there is little evidence of organised prostitution in Anglo-Saxon England. Ecclesiastical writings from that time speak a great deal about incest, prohibiting it strictly; however, this does not mean that incest as we understand it was common, for their definition of incest covered marriages between wide degrees of kin.

We do not have much information about Anglo-Saxon sex life, but a few riddles depicting this aspect have survived. This is Riddle 54 from The Exeter Book of Riddles (as cited in Hunt-Anschütz):

A young man made for the corner where he knew she was standing; this strapping youth had come some way - with his own hands he whipped up her dress, and under her girdle (as she stood there) thrust something stiff, worked his will; they both shook. This fellow quickened: one moment he was forceful, a first rate servant, so strenuous that the next he was knocked up, quite blown by his exertion. Beneath the girdle a thing began to grow that upstanding men often think of, tenderly, and acquire.

Family and Kinship

In Anglo-Saxon England, sons and daughters were considered equally important. The wergild (the fine paid for killing somebody) of men and women was identical, but for pregnant women it was 1.5 times the usual. This passage from "The Fates of Men" (as cited in Fell) illustrates attitudes to children:

It happens very often through the power of God that a man and woman bring a child into the world and clothe it in colours. They encourage it and amuse it until the time comes, as the years pass, that the young limbs full of life are grown. Father and mother thus support it and nourish it, make gifts to it and clothe it. God only knows what the years will bring to the growing child.

From wills we know that foster-relationships were common: well-born children were brought up away from home. Perhaps it was thought that this was good for their education. As far as inheritance issues are concerned, no preference was given to men as heirs but women were in a slightly more vulnerable position, at least if they did not have somebody to defend their rights. Brothers and sisters could inherit from each other, and brothers took care of their unmarried or widowed sisters after the father.

Friendships could also be formed between men and women more remotely related, as proven by numerous wills, charters, chronicles and letters. Anglo-Saxon literature frequently describes how people's loyalty could shift from their own kin to their spouse's kin, which could cause problems if the relationships between the families grew tense. Heroic poetry often depicts the woman as a peace-weaver between the families.

Manor and Court

Well-born women were very powerful and did not need anyone else's consent to own and give estates and rings. The Mercian Register 914 describes the independence of the Lady of the Mercians as follows (as cited in Fell): "In this year by the grace of God, Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, went with all the Mercians to Tamworth, and built the fortress there in early summer, and before the beginning of August, the one at Stafford." Over a quarter of the wills we have from Anglo-Saxon England were made by women, and there are several more by husbands and wives jointly. Some place names, too, such as Eadburg (Aberford), suggest that women could own and even manage their estates.

Many women from wealthy families were well-educated and literate; wills even mention small private libraries owned by women, although books were rare those days. Letters show women as advocates and protectors, and people would praise women's wisdom rather than their exterior features. As to appearance, grave findings and manuscript illustrations suggest that a high-born woman would have had her head covered with a veil and worn rings, necklaces, pendants and brooches.

After 1066

The Norman Conquest brought with it the customs and laws of the Normans. This had a negative impact on the position of women. Now they had a very limited share in the feudal land-owning and politics; their role was 'to marry and to serve'. The wife was given in marriage as a token of land-transfer, and the husband owned everything. Children were married off young; women were sold to whoever offered the most to the lord. Only peasants could marry out of love. The only women with relative freedom to do what they wanted were rich widows who paid the fee for self-determination to their lord.

The canon law and Gregorian Reform led to anti-feminism; women were to be silent in public and submit to the will of their husbands or fathers, as Eve was inferior to Adam. The law said that spiritual love should exist between spouses, so consent was needed from both parties and only them. However, the age of valid consent was 12 for girls, so they were probably easily intimidated into marrying.

The law also put priests' wives in an insecure position, as clerical celibacy was now demanded. Furthermore, the canon law stated that no married woman could make a valid will without her husband's consent. Still, marriage was a means to social promotion for a woman; it was her job to be the mistress of her own household. Ladies were not totally helpless, and would play their part even in war if necessary.

Secular literature, too, was Frenchified; the heroic epic was replaced by the chivalric romance, which depicted woman as a remote, unattainable idea of beauty and virtue. In real life, of course, this was impossible; husband was the wife's head, for better or for worse. "The Owl and the Nightingale" (as cited in Fell) shows us a glimpse of a neglected housewife:

When her husband comes home she dares not utter a word. He rants and raves like a madman, and that is all he brings home. She can do nothing, say nothing that pleases him and often, when she has done nothing wrong, she gets his fist in her teeth.

Urban life from the twelfth century onwards opened up more opportunities for women as shopkeepers, cloth-makers, entertainers, etc. - only when married, of course. The only alternative to marriage were cloisters, but nunneries had fewer patrons than monasteries and thus had to struggle with a constant lack of resources. Women's access to schooling was very limited. Illness and early death were common; women's ailments were not considered worth studying and treating so they had to retreat to private traditions of healing.

Conclusion

For many women, Anglo-Saxon England was a golden age of power and wealth, culture and education; women's role in marriage had (for the free-born) immense potential. Unfortunately, the Norman Conquest and the Gregorian Reform caused literature to lose touch with reality and women to lose their status in reality.

Women's Clothing

Women's costume in this period is a lot easier to reconstruct than men's, since it seems to have involved much jewellery which helps determine the whole costume's appearance. There are consistent features of all early Anglo-Saxon women's costume, although there are also several regional variations. These are usually referred to as the Anglian, Saxon and Kentish or Jutish styles (and certainly their distribution coincides with Bede's description of which people settled where.

The basic item of clothing was a 'peplos' dress. This is usually a tubular garment (although it can be just a rectangle of cloth) clasped at the shoulders by a pair of brooches, leaving the arms uncovered. This type of garment has been worn by women in countless cultures from the earliest times and was clearly a feature of Germanic costume for many centuries. Excavated examples vary in size from 54" (1.37m) to 66" (1.68m) in height and 94" (2.40m) to 106" (2.68m) in circumference. It is interesting to note that these measurements correspond closely to the measurements of the two cloaks mentioned above, so the cloaks could have been worn as open sided peplos dresses (it also gives us a clue as to the size and type of loom in use). The height of these dresses would mean that the top of the dress would have to be folded over into a cape and/or the dress would have to be heavily bloused over a girdle, both features seen in continental pictorial representations. There are numerous ways of wearing a peplos dress, involving anything from one to three brooches, although two is definitely the most common number. It seems the early Germanic settlers were fond of a symmetrical look and most of the pairs of brooches are identical, or at least very similar. The girdle is usually worn around the waist or hips, although at least one source shows the women wearing the gown pulled in just below the breasts, then hanging loose, an arrangement which may have been comfortable during early pregnancy. The folds of the gown usually conceal the belt, but a few sources show a second visible belt. This garment was usually worn ankle length, although, if worn over an underdress, it may sometimes have been worn calf length. These garments were often edged with tablet weave, at least at the top edge, and probably sometimes also at the bottom. The style of brooches worn seem to form a regional pattern: quoit brooches were worn only south of the Thames and, like the equal armed brooch, were known only in the earliest period. Radiate headed brooches, bird-shaped brooches and inlaid brooches were largely characteristic of Kent. Cruciform brooches were particularly popular in Anglian areas; annular brooches were especially favoured by the Northumbrian Angles. Saucer brooches were most popular in Saxon areas, as were disc brooches. Long brooches, in all their forms seem to have been fairly universal. (For more details on these terms see the jewellery section. [to be added soon]) Some poorer female graves have lacked the pairs of shoulder brooches, and it is probable that in these cases the two edges were sewn together, rather than pinned with brooches. Peplos gowns were usually made of wool, although a few were made of linen. We do not know what name was given to this garment, although slop and wealca are the most likely.

In warm weather the peplos gown would have been worn on its own, but in cold weather, or on special occasions, an underdress would have been worn. The style of this seems to have varied, in some cases perhaps only being a bodice, and in others being a full length 'gown'. The sleeves also seem to have varied in length from almost non-existent to full length. The main types seem to be: a bodice with long, tight sleeves with an aperture at the front closed by a brooch, with the peplos fastened to this by another central brooch. (There may have also been a full length version of this garment, or it may have been worn with a 'petticoat'. [see below]) This style is most often represented in Anglian areas, where wrist clasps were used to fasten the sleeves (this is a custom which seems to be almost exclusive to Anglian women), although a version without the wrist clasps may well have been worn in other areas. Another type would be a full length sleeveless, or short sleeved, underdress (perhaps pleated like later Scandinavian examples), similar to the man's tunic and reaching to somewhere between the knee and ankle. This garment seems to be more typical of the Saxon woman, although it may have been worn under, and in addition to, the bodice mentioned above. Finally, there is some continental pictorial evidence to suggest that a long 'petticoat' may have been worn under the peplos. This would probably have taken the form of a cylinder of cloth worn around the waist or hips, drawn tight with a drawstring around the top edge. These undergarments would usually have been of linen or fine wool. There are several Old English words for undergarments but it is unclear which of them refer to women's garments. The words are cemes, ham, hemeđe, scyrte, serc and smoc.

The costume of Anglo-Saxon women in Pagan times was certainly girdled or belted, as demonstrated by the survival of the leather or textile from which the belt was made, by the numerous preservations in situ of fasteners such as buckles, and the regular discovery of objects at the hip or waist which had obviously been attached to belts. Women's belts seem to have been fastened by many different ways including buckles, tie-belts, knotting, or perhaps, toggles. Many items hung from the belt including knives, shears, keys, toilet implements, cosmetic tools (tweezers, brushes, etc.), amulets, spindles, pouches, etc..

As well as the underdress and peplos, many women also wore cloaks, capes or shawls. Cloaks would have been of the square or rectangular type worn by the men, although some representations show the cloak fastened centrally on women, rather than just at the shoulder. Shorter capes and shawls could also have been worn. Names for outer garments are many, and it is not usually clear which were worn by men and which by women, but they include loţa, rift, mentel, hacele, ofer-slop, pad and sciccing. The crusene and heden were of fur or skin, the rocc and sciccels could also be of fur. One cloak type garment exclusive to women seems to be the hwitel which was made of white (undyed) wool and was probably fringed.

There is no evidence that in Pagan times women habitually covered their heads like the later Anglo-Saxon women, but a number of types of headgear are known. A cloak or shawl could easily be drawn up over the head, to form a hood, and rectangular scarves, sometimes fringed are known from archaeology. Caps or hairnets of a technique known as sprang are known from pictorial and archaeological sources, often covering plaits or braids of hair. Pictorial and archaeological evidence also suggest the use of veils, often of linen, draped loosely over unbound hair. A veil is prone to slip, or be blown by the wind, so if a veil was to be worn it would either have a band over it to secure it, or a fixed base, such as a braid of hair and/or a cap, could be used to pin it to. A few wealthy Kentish women were buried with gold brocaded fillets (perhaps known by the Latin word vitta, or the Old English words nostle, snod and ţwćle), a fashion imported from the Frankish Kingdom. Possibly women in humbler circumstances wore fillets made entirely of textile which has since rotted away. The linguistic evidence suggests a wider range of headgear than archaeology and sculpture. The word hćt (hat) was in use as were cuffie (loose fitting hood or scarf) and scyfel (some kind of cap or hat). The binde, a fillet, seems to have been worn by married women.

We do not know how Anglo-Saxon women kept their legs warm, they may have simply added extra layers of gowns and petticoats, or they could have used some other method. They probably would have made use of short linen trousers (brec) and puttee type leg bindings (hose-bendas, winingas).

Women's costume in Kent, where settlement seems to have been mainly by Jutes and Frisians from the Frankish areas, seems to have been different from the Germanic norm, at least amongst the upper classes. Apart from the gold brocaded fillets mentioned above (which may have been restricted to those of royal birth), it appears they may also have worn an open fronted robe, fastened with brooches at the chest and/or waist over, or in place of, the peplos gown. It seems that a pair of brooches may also have sometimes been used to pin the two sides of the robe open, revealing the garment beneath. From the lowest brooch a silver caged crystal ball, often with a perforated silver spoon, would hang, in addition to the items normally found hanging from the belt. The exact purpose of this ball and spoon is uncertain, and it is usually ascribed ritual significance. A buckled belt and abundance of jewellery are also common features of Kentish costume. The veil was also a common part of Kentish costume, and it is very likely to have covered the ears since ear-rings have been found, but worn on necklaces rather than in the ears. This style of head-dress may have come from the continent, where Christianity was influencing dress and lifestyle. This costume is more typical of Frankish than English styles, and has its ultimate source in Byzantium. The strong Frankish influence is probably caused by a combination of the Kentish Jutes Frankish origin and their closeness to the Frankish Empire. However, differences between the Kentish and Frankish costumes show that Kentish costume was not a slavish following of Frankish fashion, just that a number of Frankish, ultimately Byzantine, trends influenced Kentish women in the upper strata of society.

(A good reference for women in early English society: Kathleen Herbert ‘Peace Weavers and Shield Maidens’). ISBN-10: 1898281114 - ISBN-13: 978-1898281115. Is it through this strength of English females and those who associate with their values that is changinging world politics since World War II? Is it this ancient strength that is producing equality? One would like to think so. Princess Athelflæda, Elizabeth I, and Emmeline (Emily) Pankhurst the English suffragette , (15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928), are females of Global standing.