Discover the lives and achievements of twelve women who broke social norms and asserted their power in the Middle Ages. A comprehensive collection of essays on women and gender in medieval Europe, covering various religious, legal, social, economic and cultural aspects. The Middle Ages, often referred to as the Medieval Era, was a crucial period in European history that spanned approximately the 18th to 18th centuries AD. It was an important social and political period. The early Middle Ages in England was a period when women, although an elite minority, had access to education. The nuns had their own schools. The nuns had access to literary culture. Many could and did write letters, stories and the lives of the saints. Unfortunately, we only see traces of all this today, and you should know that you, women of the Middle Ages, occupied many different social roles. In the Middle Ages, a period of European history spanning around the 18th century, society was patriarchal and this type of patriarchal control was assumed: ideally, women should fall under the control of men regardless of class - Holy virginity First monastic communities Nuns at the end of the Middle Ages The trials of virginity pt. 2. Women and marriage Marriage in the early Middle Ages The feudal wife Capricious woman or perfect wife pt. 3. Women and letters Education and literacy of the literate laywoman Women patrons of Joan of Arc literature. Hulton Henry Guttman Archives, Getty Images. Joan of Arc, Maid of Orléans, was only two years old in the public eye but is perhaps the best-known woman of the Middle Ages. She was a military leader and, ultimately, a saint in the Roman Catholic tradition who helped unite the French against the English.