ABSTRACT
Women traders and craftswomen made their own decisions and managed their businesses, while many women probably exerted pressure on their husbands to achieve family goals. Joan of Arc appears to have been an outstanding exception to this lack of non-noble women in politics. She bridges the divide between religious and secular life. Her hearing of voices at Domrmy and her conviction that she was acting in obedience to Gods will set her in the same tradition as the French women following a religious life who uttered prophecies. Politics were an integral element in the lives of noblewomen and queens from their earliest years and played a prominent part in their marriage. When women were heiresses to a kingdom there was intense competition over their marriages, often combined with conflict over the succession. Women of the nobility and those destined to become queens were expected to adapt to life in their new homes.
