The medieval woman was granted greater freedom and status than the usual image we have of the Middle Ages. Women could own property and inherit from their family. Some women were employed and others were business managers. Among the upper classes, women were as educated as their male counterparts. In Europe, women could inherit property from both their fathers and their husbands. In most cases, whatever the woman brought to the marriage in the form of a dowry was hers, even if her husband divorced her. If a woman had no children or her children were too young to inherit, she would control her husband's estate after his death. This was common due to the tendency of teenage women to marry men 10-20 years older. Some women gained control of their husband's property because they went on crusades and the wife ran the business in her husband's absence. Some men left for years and others never returned. Women had control of some areas of trade of their own free will. Silk spinning was almost exclusively “women's work”. Women also made women's handbags and hats. And in some parts of Europe, like Paris, they could run brothels and taverns. In the Hollister Sourcebook, there is an image from a French manuscript that depicts a woman as an artist paints a woman. The caption states that women of the Middle Ages participated in business in a way that only men could in later times, which included "commerce, banking, running commercial enterprises, textile production, brewing , the collection of taxes, the lending of money". , illuminating and copying books,... and a variety of other activities. Women might also belong to guilds, and some taught their knowledge, not only in craft occupations, but also in reading, writing, and arithmetic. A woman could be as educated as her male counterpart. Women were also midwives and often served as a kind of doctor who gave medical advice and dispensed medications. The city in Sardinia offers an interesting look at the life of medieval women. In Sardinia, a woman could own property and maintain separate title to her assets brought into marriage. It was customary... middle of paper... ld membership in the guilds. They could conduct business and own property. Not only that, but in the Middle Ages their status in the church changed to one of greater acceptance and they became the subject of artistic expression in pictures, poems, songs and books. It was a unique time in history for women. BIBLIOGRAPHY Erler, Mary and Maryanne Kowaleski. “Women and power in the Middle Ages”. The University of Georgia Press. 1988.Hollister, C. Warren. “Medieval Europe: a brief history”. The McGraw-Hill Companies. 1998.Hollister, C. Warren, Joe W. Leedom, Marc A. Meyer, David S. Spear. “Medieval Europe: A Brief Sourcebook.” The McGraw-Hill Companies. 1997.LeGoff, Jacques. “Medieval Civilization”. Basil Blackwell Ltd. 1988. Shafar, Shulamith. “The Fourth Estate”. Methuen & Co., Ltd. 1983.