Garver's Influence On Carolingian Women

For some historians, it is difficult to come to terms with the overwhelming number of sources centered on the male gender. It would be foolish to discount the impact of women on society when they consist of half the population. Valerie L. Garver’s Women and Aristocratic Culture in the Carolingian World illuminated the feminine nature within the Frankish cosmos by showing off how women’s roles downplayed the idea of a masculine dominated social construct. Though she admitted to her argument involved much speculation due to the impossibility of separating ideals from reality, she used a “disciplined imagination” to embrace the limited sources that uncover elite women’s responsibilities and impact. I further speculate Carolingian women’s influence …show more content…
The language of The Life of Lady Balthild, Queen illustrated her as having a humble reputation, willing to serve others, and obedient to the king. This account of her life related her role as a woman in great detail to the monastic life, such as feeding the needy, clothing the naked, and devoting time to prayer, which supports Garver’s argument about the experience of different female occupations as religious or lay being strongly allied. However, the writer of Lady Balthild did not display her motherly characteristics with raising Clovis’ sons. Instead, she was remembered more so as an upright noble women than an instructor of royal princes. Where this source failed to demonstrate the household itself, it revealed Balthild’s duties as a queen prioritized domestic management as it applied to the court to compliment the king’s authority. The sense of supervision implied a hierarchy within elite women where the more prominent women increased their dedication to state affairs, still with the family in mind, but with the purpose to support their husbands politically. Thus, they would extend themselves further from the domestic sphere and toward estate organization and diplomatic …show more content…
Consequently, definitions of a woman’s beauty would be at the mercy of male authors. Carolingian texts used beauty to associate attractiveness with vanity or virtuosity, depending on the writer’s intent. These conflicting classifications gave aristocratic women less objective examples to embrace while offering men subjective reasoning to either praise or condemn women for their looks. Dhuoda contested the difficult expectations of female conduct and attractiveness by recognizing she could manipulate a certain external charm, but she resented men for causing women to risk becoming examples of haughtiness by valuing aesthetically pleasing characteristics. In a Frankish society becoming increasingly fearful of internal heresy, imitating holy women like Leoba would be just as ideal, but probably not as consistent on the ground. For example, the “conspiracy” against Judith, Louis the Pious’ queen, showed how royalty was vulnerable to accusations of royal reform-minded elites. The plot against Louis the Pious illustrated a male dominated culture that still held tightly to its ability to deprecate even the empress’ security by way of attacking her moral