Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

Title: Henpecked Husband
Creator: Israhel von Meckenem, engraver
Description: This image is meant to evoke the carnivalesque in its depiction of a wife beating her husband with her distaff. As a symbol of industrious feminine virtue, the irony of this tool being used to beat a husband into submission would not have been lost on the viewer. The man holds a winding frame for wool and holds a spindle, tools traditionally associated with women's work. The woman is in the midst of pulling on her husband's breeches and her knees are spread apart. The wife's use of physical force, her denial of the distaff's traditional significance, and her flouting of traditional markers of femininity mark her as a virago.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Rights: Public Domain
Subject (See Also): Carnivalesque Distaffs Domestic Abuse Gender Reversal Misogyny Spinning Virile Women
Geographic Area: Germany
Century: 15
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Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Prints
Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Woodcuts
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