ABSTRACT
In the classic image of the medieval city, men dominate the world of work. They can be found at their looms weaving the cloth which helped to fill urban coffers, in their market stalls trading grain, fish, and other commodities, and in their shops supervising the work of journeymen and apprentices. Women appear only at the margins of this traditional picture, occupied with less visible domestic tasks—cooking, caring for children, or mending clothing. But the past is full of surprises, and the inaccuracy of this image, rooted as it is in common assumptions about the roles men and women played in pre-industrial societies, is one of them. Women were, in fact, active participants in the economic life of medieval cities. Although their level of participation varied with age and with the century and geographical region in which they lived, medieval women can be found in a wide variety of employments. Women held positions such as moneychangers and lenders, jewelers, and mint workers. They were blacksmiths and jailers. They engaged in the wine trade as grape purchasers, vineyard keepers, and wine retailers. Women ran small-scale marketing enterprises and shipping businesses. They were actively involved in book production as authors, scribes, illuminators, and booksellers. Widows participated in the real estate market, buying and selling land and houses. Women also worked in the metal trades and sometimes helped in building and construction. They even made tennis rackets! Few trades were actually closed to them. The pages that follow will focus on the principal kinds of work women did, looking specifically at their roles in five areas: domestic service, petty retailing, textile manufacturing, healing, and prostitution.
