Adamnain Gender Roles

The spread of Christianity brought about considerable changes in the late antique world, with similar reactions to the ‘new’ monotheistic religion among the Anglo-Saxons and Irish as could be seen among the Gauls. Not only did the subsequent religious conversion effect the balance of authority in the region, but it also changed the society’ values regarding morality and ethics, as well as gender roles. Conversion itself meant different things to the different social classes. Additionally, the rise of Christianity in England altered the relationship of the Anglo-Saxons and Irish with the post-Roman world, building a connection to the Italians and setting the scene for the medieval period. In this paper I will argue that Christianity greatly influenced the development of the English world and fundamentally altered the political power …show more content…
According to the text, Adamnain reversed that behavior and freed women from that barbarous role, moving them into a position in the household and hidden from sight. He raises up the woman through calling her a treasure and the mother of righteous men. Adamnain was specifically placing church, and therefore divine, authority on women in order to change the gender roles of the region. If the text is to be believed, the lives of laywomen had drastically improved. However, the complete veracity of the text can be called into question considering the descriptions of the women’s duties before the arrival of Adamnain, and even the struggles Adamnain endures under his mother in preparation for this task. The church potentially used this as a means of attributing female influence in communities as a contribution of the church. Cain Adamnain was a text designed, though certainly possessing the elements of mythology, as propaganda for the church and as a means of spreading the church’s values on the role of women in