Women as Patronesses of Culture

Queens, abbesses, and widows functioned as patronesses of culture. McCash states that since patronage for women was sanctioned, it provided "rich opportunities for women to make their voices heard" (McCash, 1). Eleanor of Aquitaine herself commissioned art in the Great Abbey of Fountevrault. Her daughters promoted literature and culture all over Europe. Marie de Champagne was the patroness of Chretien de Troyes who created some of the great Arthurian romances; her sister Mathilda of Saxony commissioned romances and introduced courtly poetry into her husband Henry the Lion's circle; their sister Leonor and her husband Alfonso of Castile welcomed troubadours and minstrels. The period of the crusades gave women the economic resources to promote cultural activities. Many other royal and noble women supported the copying and dissemination of books. Eleanor of Castile (d 1290), a Queen of England, included a scriptor in her royal apartments that employed both a writer and an illustrator to create books on saint's lives, Psalters, as well as books of romance.

Rich widows whose husbands died on crusade often commissioned works of art after raising children. Examples include Agnes, the countess of Bar, who was Eleanor of Aquitaine's sister-in-law though her marriage to Robert, brother of the king of France. Between 1188 and 1204 Agnes gave large gifts to a church at Braine, even getting glass from England, with the help of Eleanor, for stained glass windows. Agnes made sure that the artists depicted feminist themes. Topics in the windows include a Jesse Tree, a symbol often used by women, and a female personifications of the liberal arts. Despite gender restrictions, McCash states, "the pattern of female cultural patronage provides a growing awareness of women's worth and intrinsic value to society" (McCash, 33).

Patronesses and Troubadours

Chretien de Troyes states that that in composing the Arthurian romances he just elaborated on the basic material and interpretation that his patroness Marie, Countess of Champagne, wanted him to express. (McCash, 18). The livelihood of Troubadours often depended on pleasing their patronesses. After the death of her husband on crusade, Marie found herself in a harsh world where she had trouble collecting taxes and enforcing marriage agreements that they had made for the children. McCash adds that because of the difficulties involved in ruling alone, Marie was especially interested in sponsoring works that enhanced the "power or reputation of women."

Influenced by Arab love songs, troubadours flourished at the courts of Europe in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Noble women themselves such as Marie de France and the female troubadours in Occativa in France between 1160-1260 composed romances and songs of love. The poems of women were more personal and candid than those of their male counterparts. Here in an abstract from a poem (translated by Meg Bogin), two sisters Alais and Iselda discuss candidly their feelings about marriage:

Lady Carneza of the Lovely Gracious Body
give some advice to us two sisters
shall I marry someone we both know?
or shall I stay unwed? that would please me,
for making babies doesn't seem so good
and it's too anguishing to be a wife (p.144)

The advice Carenza gives shows that no matter how active their role, women were still encouraged to either marry or become nuns:

I therefore advise you, if you want to plant good seed
to take as husband Coronat de Scienza
from whom you shall bear as fruit glorious sons
saved is the chasity of she who marries him

Romantic songs and stories were popular with women all over Europe. After all , love is the opposite of war and these songs were good escape literature. McCash quotes from Denis Piramus:

The lais most usually please women
with joy they hear them willingly
for they are in accordance with their desire
Kings, princes, courtiers,
counts, barons and vavasserus
like talkes, songs, and fables
and good verses which are amusing (p.24)

This world could take time out to be entertained.