Page 308 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

A Liberated Woman in the Fourteenth Century
During the High and later Middle Ages, women were increasingly viewed as weak beings who were unable to play independent roles. One exception in the fourteenth century was Grazida Lizier, a peasant woman of Cathar background who lived in the village of Montaillou in France. As recorded by a Catholic inquisitor who was questioning her about her potentially heretical views, she expressed some radical views on religion and sexuality.
The Testimony of Grazida Lizier
When I was married and made love with the priest Pierre, it did not seem more proper to make love with my husband—all the same it seemed to me, and I still believe, it was as little sin with Pierre as with my husband. Did I have any qualms at the time, or think that such deeds might displease God? No, I had none, and did not think my lying with Pierre should displease any living being, since it gave joy to us both.
Ifmyhusbandhadforbiddenit?Supposinghe had—even though he never did—I still would not have thought it a sin, because of the shared joy of love. If any man whatever lies with any women (unless she is
related to him by blood), whether she’s a virgin or has been seduced, whether in marriage or outside it—all such coupling of men and women gives displeasure to God, and yet I still do not think the partners sin, insofar as their joy is mutual. . . .
I don’t know but I’ve heard it said there is a paradise, and I believe it; I’ve also heard there is a hell, but that I don’t believe, though I won’t urge it is untrue. I believe there is a paradise, for it is something good, as I’ve heard tell; I don’t believe in hell (though I don’t argue against it), for that is something evil, as people say. I’ve often heard that we shall rise again after death—I don’t believe that, though I don’t discredit it.
I still believe it is no sin when love-making brings joy to both partners. I have believed that ever since Pierre first knew me. No one taught me these ideas except myself. I haven’t taught them to others—no one has ever asked me about them.
Q WhyweretheviewsofGrazidaLizieronreligion and sexuality so unusual? Did her Cathar background have any impact on her views?
Source: From Women Imagine Change by Eugenia Delamotte, Natania Meeker, and Jean O’Barr (New York: Routledge, 1977), p. 53.
thought about and used time. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, time was determined by natural rhythms (daybreak and nightfall) or church bells that were rung at more or less regular three-hour intervals, correspond- ing to the ecclesiastical offices of the church. Clocks made it possible to plan one’s day and organize one’s activities around the regular striking of bells. This brought a new regularity into the lives of workers and merchants, defin- ing urban existence and enabling merchants and bankers to see the value of time in a new way.
Invented earlier by the Chinese, gunpowder also made its appearance in the West in the fourteenth cen- tury. The use of gunpowder eventually brought drastic changes to European warfare. Its primary use was in cannons, although early cannons, being prone to blow up, were as dangerous to the people firing them as to the enemy. Continued improvement in the construction of cannons, however, soon made them extremely valua- ble in reducing both castles and city walls. Gunpowder made castles, city walls, and armored knights obsolete.
Chapter Summary
In the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, European civilization developed many of its fundamental features. Territo- rial states, parliaments, capitalist trade and industry, banks, cities, and vernacular literature were all products of that fertile
period. During the same time, the Catholic Church under the direction of the papacy reached its apogee.
Fourteenth-century European society, however, was challenged by an overwhelming number of crises that led to the disintegration
270 Chapter 11 The Later Middle Ages: Crisis and Disintegration in the Fourteenth Century
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