On City Women's Social Status Of The 11～(th)-17～(th) Century In The Western Europe

The period from the 11th to the 17th century witnessed the social transition of the West Europe. Having experienced the urban re-emergence and the Renaissance, the society was involved in the notable changes of all sides. Following the cities'acquiring the self-governing power, citizens began to enjoy their decision-making right in politics, business, marriage and education. The thought of Renaissance swept over all cities and resulted in the change of people's mind.This period of time, when the autarchy regime got weakened, commodity economy occurred, social attitudes evolved and knowledge was recognized, offered many opportunities for the urban women to move in the stage of history. Whether in the field of politics, economy, family or culture, they were all entitled certain rights, and their social status was generally improved. Different from those before the social transition, city women of this period in the West Europe had more chances to participate in politics and economic life, taking their own place in the families. More importantly, their literacy was also increased.The thesis consists of three parts of introduction, main body and conclusion. The part of introduction covers the trend of research both in and out of China and described its learning value and practical meaning. The main body is of three chapters. The first chapter is about the general situation of pre-11th-century women in the West Europe. The author demonstrated their social status by the use of comparison respectively from the aspects of politics, economy, family and education. In the next chapter, the author gave points of the new features that were involved in the above-mentioned aspects, in order to reveal the trend of improvement of the city women's social status from the 11th to the 17th century. In the last chapter, the author tried to analyze the improvement causes of urban women's social status, from aspects of the Crusades Expeditions, love of the knights', urban ideology, thought of the Renaissance and religious reform. As the conclusion, the author made a brief introduction of the current social situation and gave comments on the general status of women in the society.