Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 1760
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Archer , Janice
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Watching Women Work in Late Thirteenth-Century Paris: Official and Unofficial Visibility
  • Source: Seeing Gender: Perspectives on Medieval Gender and Sexuality. Gender and Medieval Studies Conference, King's College, London, January 4-6, 2002.. 2002.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Conference Paper Abstract
  • Subject (See Also): Boileau, Etienne, Livre des Metiers Economics Roles de la Taille de Philippe le Bel, Tax Records Work
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: France
  • Century: 13
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: Women in Paris in the last half of the thirteenth century were officially allowed to practice many métiers, though with restrictions that did not apply to men. Tax rolls, in which women make up 13.6% of the heads of workshops, reveal women working both within and outside official parameters. They also suggest that many women supported themselves or supplemented family income while avoiding official notice, though some were highly visible in the physical sense. Drawing primarily from the Livre des métiers of Etienne Boileau, drawn up in 1268, and the tax rolls commonly known as the rôles de la taille de Philippe le Bel, this paper will examine three levels of visibility in women’s work. Some women worked within the prescriptions of guild rules; others pushed the boundaries of guild strictures but did not escape the notice of the tax collectors. Women active in the underground economy, neither taxpayers nor guild members, are more difficult to see, but one can catch glimpses of them through the cracks—the discrepancies, the prohibitions, the allegations of deceit and misconduct. [Reproduced by permission of the Gender and Medieval Studies Conference organizers].~~
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: Art Institute of Portland, Oregon
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2002.
  • Language: Anglo-Norman
  • ISSN/ISBN: Not Available