ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with more than half of the medieval population in East-Central and Eastern Europe. First will be examined how women were imagined and idealized in myths and legends and then the conditions that shaped the stages of women’s lives. This will be followed by a discussion of the roles of women in the various social categories that made up medieval societies. Finally, the lives of children will be considered with an emphasis on how the living conditions of women and children in the various regions of East-Central and Eastern Europe were different from those of the western half of the continent.
