#History of Women

[gardenofkore]

Thea is the fictitious name given to a female Homo sapiens skeleton found in the cave of San Teodoro (hence the name) in the territory of Acquedolci, province of Messina, in 1937.

The cave (measuring 60 meters in lenght, 20 meters wide, 10 to meters high) had been inhabitated since prehistoric times and had served throughout the ages as hideout from pirate raids, sheepfold and during World War Two as a repair from aerial bombing. It was first explored in 1859 by paleontologist and palethnologist Francesco Anca, baron of Mangalaviti. He uncovered remains of prehistoric mammals (dwarf elephants and horses, hyenas, bears, donkeys, deers) as well as flints and stone weapons, which made him determine the cave had been also inhabitated by ancient hunters. In the upcoming years, the cave kept being explored with many other animal fossils being unearthed. In 1937 the first human remains were found (in total 4 males and two females) and among them Thea's.

Her remains date back to Upper Paleolithic, between 14 to 11 thousands years ago and the moment of the discovery she was buried on the left side and covered with ochre. Apart from some missing ribs and her left hand, her skeleton is basically whole. Her sex was determined by the hip width and she might have been around 30 years old at the time of her death. Thea was 1.65m tall, with a long face and protruding lower jaw. Perfect teeth and bone structure along with the quality of her funerary equipment (she was found still wearing a necklace decorated with twelve pierced red deer's teeth) suggest she occupied a high status in her community (a noblewoman/princess or a priestess). It was speculated the cause of death might have been childbirth.

Thea's skeleton is currently preserved in Museo Gaetano Giorgio Gemmellaro, in Palermo. In 2007 a plastic model of her face was created in an attempt to give once again life to this Sicilian great-grandma.

Sources

Ambrusiano Eleonora, Thea, la prima donna siciliana – Acquedolci (ME)

Di Patti Carolina, THEA MADRE IL VOLTO DELLA PRIMA DONNA DI SICILIA E LA GROTTA DI SAN TEODORO

Grotta di San Teodoro: Sito Preistorico e Paleontologico di Sicilia

Il sito paleontologico e preistorico della grotta di “San Teodoro”

Il volto di Thea, donna siciliana nel Paleolitico

Thea, la principessa preistorica siciliana

[elizabeth-halime]

[elizabethan-memes]

When there are gaps in knowledge, the vacuum can be filled with myth, especially in reference to a woman, and an unusual woman at that.

Patricia Pierce, Jurassic Mary

[medievalistsnet]

In Defense of Women with Margaret L. King

One of the favourite pastimes of certain thinkers throughout history has been to demonstrate the supposed inferiority of women, something both modern people and people of the past have resisted with spicy arguments of their own. These days, we tend to use science and statistics to help us lend weight to our positions. But what did people lean on in the past? This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Margaret L. King about Renaissance man Pompeo Colonna, why he’s writing in defense of women, and how he crafts his argument.

[newhistorybooks]

"What the War Left Behind brings together oral histories of women from a range of political affiliations, socioeconomic classes, and religious identities. These histories present an alternative image of women during war, highlighting the actions of those who sought to make life better for themselves and their neighbors during conflict. By centering women’s voices in the war, Abisaab and Hartman present a new perspective on an oft-discussed historical era, demonstrating the power of resistance during difficult times. These translated texts showcase the active roles women take during wartime and how women’s political efforts are an essential part of Lebanese history."

[spiderfreedom]

John Stuart Mill appears to be the first Western philosopher to seriously think about women’s rights and have the courage to actually take action about it. Hundreds of years of milquetoast “remember the ladies” types and here he comes saying we change “men” to “persons” (! Something many people won’t do now) and demanding women’s suffrage in the House of Commons.

It is vindicating and maddening to read the same arguments feminists make today be made by a man two centuries ago. He’s clearly saying that men sexually prefer women who are “meek” and “submissive”. That men incentivize women subjugating and repressing themselves to attract husbands. In the full quote, he clearly points out how female dependency on men turns women’s whole world and interest on attracting and keeping a man, to the women’s detriment (and men’s gain ):

When we put together three things – first, the natural attraction between opposite sexes; secondly, the wife's entire dependence on the husband, every privilege or pleasure she has being either his gift, or depending entirely on his will; and lastly, that the principal object of human pursuit, consideration, and all objects of social ambition, can in general be sought or obtained by her only through him, it would be a miracle if the object of being attractive to men had not become the polar star of feminine education and formation of character. And, this great means of influence over the minds of women having been acquired, an instinct of selfishness made men avail themselves of it to the utmost as a means of holding women in subjection, by representing to them meekness, submissiveness, and resignation of all individual will into the hands of a man, as an essential part of sexual attractiveness.

Sometimes I wonder if there are no new feminist arguments and we actually have just been saying the same shit for years. Like, it seems men know what they’re doing, what they gain from it; most just don’t seem to care or are too afraid to give serious thought to the question of family reform. Or even worse - women no longer being hot to them.

[maaruin]

tags by @finelythreadedsky:

#y'all read sophocles fr. 583 (procne in tereus) #we have... quite a lot of things written by men in women's voices reflecting on the position of women in a patriarchal society #they're not like. necessarily progressive or feminist. #(often the women react to their social marginalization with extreme and misdirected violence as well as lucid speeches) #(at some point following that speech about the plight of women procne proceeds to kill her son and feed him to her husband) #and they were all written by men and performed by men in women's roles #but like. they absolutely were thinking about and trying to express the voices and silences of female characters #and i absolutely do think that sophocles in particular was really interested in the silences/silencing of women! it's not just euripides #also heyyy peliades!!!

"Nobody gave a voice to these Greek Mythology female characters."

Euripides after writing Andromache, Andromeda, Antigone, Danaë, Electra, Hecuba, Helen, Iphigenia in Aulis, Iphigenia in Tauris, Medea, Merope, Wise Melanippe, Captive Melanippe, Peliades, The Phoenician Women, The Trojan Women etc.

[trash-and-trash-accessories]

I do want to note that the whole "women are allowed to dress masculine and wear trousers" thing needs to be viewed in its historical context:

People fought for generations to be allowed to dress that way. They fought hard to be allowed to wear pants. Blue jeans were a symbol of feminist revolution. Women were barred from workplaces and schools for wearing them.

This is not some a natural fact that women dressing masculine is less shocking and humiliating. That normalization was fought for and hard-won.

And yet so many people erase the struggles of those people who fought to make that happen and pretend that it's just normal and natural that people don't see women "dressed like men" as ridiculous.

The Marriage of Figaro has what's called a "breeches role" which is a woman wearing men's clothes playing am ale role. This was done partly due to the vocal range requirements, but in many cases it was done comedically. It was risque and sexualized or comic relief that a woman was dressed as a man.

Anti-suffragette posters mock women wearing pants - well they were bloomers and split skirts back then - and mocking more masculine cut styles of clothes. This was meant to portray this as ridiculous.

They mocked the "new woman" in Weimar Germany, lamenting that they were too masculine.

This is a political cartoon from the 1920s depicting a woman in masculine dress deciding which bathroom to use:

Sorry but you're erasing these struggles and flattening history when you say this shit.

Women were killed and institutionalized in the struggle to make this happen. It really fucking bothers me the way it's framed as "people just don't find it as weird when women dress masculine."

Yes they fucking did. Until women and transmasculine people fought for their right to wear what they want. It's normalized because people struggled to normalize it.

And it's not normal everywhere. There are many countries where it's still illegal for women to wear pants. Afghanistan, for example.

Even in the US, it's forbidden and considered ridiculous in groups like the FLDS, the Amish, and the Hutterites.

We are flattening and erasing the struggles of women when we say these things. I know we're trying to build theory here but you can't build solid theory on a foundation of lies.

[wyntersart]

Nude at the Window by Paul Paede (1913)

[abwwia]

Sculpture of suffragists Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Let's read: Why the First Monument of Real Women in Central Park Matters—and Why It’s Controversial

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/monument-controversy-women-pioneer-central-park-180975662/

(2020 reminder) Today, New York City welcomed a public artwork honoring three suffragists. But some scholars argue that the statue obscures more than it celebrates | Photo by Spencer Platt / Getty Images

[anidala-for-ever]

Let me add my two cents. It absolutely matters where your story is set and the young woman's social class. For example women living in America in 1800s had a lot more freedom than women leaving in the United State of the Ionian Islands at the same time period. But even there, a woman from a wealthy family would be brought tutors and given an education. Educate yourselves, women didn't gain freedom for the first time in the sixties and where your character is living makes a huge difference.

I think if you’re going to write period fiction about girls set somewhere in the last two centuries, you should read fiction about girls written during that point in the last two centuries.

For instance, I happen to have a couple shelves full of girls’ books from the start of the 20th century, and I can tell you that–at least in America–Acceptable Young Woman Protagonists of the time tended to do things like

drive cars (some books are about “auto clubs,” which is an especially fun window into the time. I wish I liked my car as much as these girls do theirs)

fly planes (mostly in books about flying, but not only that)

go to women’s colleges (MOST of them do this!)

run their own social lives, very much including dating

get jobs

And that’s not even including the spy/crime book heroines, who also tend to Face Down Criminals and Solve Mysteries and Save The Nation. Which…is not and was never intended to be realistic, probably, but was clearly acceptable in books for girls.

So I really question the Historical Female Characters who absolutely must carve out their own anachronistic ways to get anything done under the Oppressive Social Norms Of Their Time. Like…Betsy of the Betsy-Tacy books was having a fairly modern high school experience and planning to go to college and become a professional writer in the 1910s, with her family and friends’ full support. Maybe just move to Minnesota, girls?

[gardenofkore]

Vere novo , priori jam mutato consilio , Alienora virgo regia , insignis facie , sed prudentia & honestate prestantior , futura Regina Sicilie , atque cum ea Nymphe obsequiis apte regalibus , accepta benedictione parentum , ab urbe Neapoli gloriosas discessit , per Calabriam , propter maris tedium , usque Regium iter agens : quam discedentem Neapolitane matres , quantum spectantes oculi capere potuerunt , effusis pre gaudio lacrimis affequute sunt.

Gregorio Rosario, Bibliotheca scriptorum qui res in Sicilia gestas sub Aragonum imperio retulere, I, p.456-457

Eleonora was born in Naples in the summer of 1289 as the tenth child (third daughter) of Carlo II lo Zoppo of Anjou, King of Naples, Count of Anjou and Maine, Count of Provence and Forcalquier, Prince of Achaea, and of Maria of Hungary.

Nothing, in particular, is known about her childhood, which she must have spent with her numerous siblings in the many castles of the Kingdom.

She is first mentioned in a Papal bull dated 1300 in which Boniface VIII annulled the marriage of 10 years-old Eleonora to Philippe de Toucy, Prince of Antioch and Count of Tripoli, (the contract had been signed the year before) on account of the bride’s young age and the fact that family hadn’t asked for the Pope’s dispensation.

Two years later, there were discussions of a match with Sancho, the second son (and later successor) of Jaume II of Majorca, but the engagement never occurred.

Finally, in 1302, Eleonora’s fate was sealed. On August 31st 1302 the Houses of Anjou-Naples and of Barcelona signed the Peace of Caltabellotta, which ended the first part of the War of the Sicilian Vespers and settled (or tried to) the problem of which House should have ruled over Sicily. Following this treaty, the old Norman Kingdom’s territory (disputed between the French and Spanish born ruling houses) was to be divided into two parts, with Messina Strait as the ideal boundary line. The peninsular part, the Kingdom of Sicily, now designed as citra farum (on this side of the farum, meaning the strait, later simply known as the Kingdom of Naples ), and the island of Sicily, renamed the Kingdom of Trinacria, designed as ultra farum (beyond the farum).

The Peace of Caltabellotta stipulated that Angevin troops should evacuate the island, while the Aragonese ones should leave the peninsular part. Foundation of the peace would have been the marriage between princess Eleonora of Anjou and King Federico III (or II) of Sicily (“e la pau fo axi feyta , quel rey Carles lexava la illa de Sicilia al rey Fraderich, que li donava a Lieonor, qui era e es encara de les pus savies chrestianes, e la millor qui el mon fos, si no tant solament madona Blanca, sa germana, regina Darago. E lo rey de Sicilia desemparava li tot quant tenia en Calabria e en tot lo regne: e aço se ferma de cascuna de les parts, e que lentredit ques llevava de Sicilia; si que tot lo regne nach gran goig." in Ramon Muntaner, Crónica catalana, ch. CXCVIII). The pact dictated also that once Federico had died, the two kingdoms would be reunited under the Angevin rule. This clause won’t be fulfilled.

The bridal party had to wait until spring 1303 before setting off for her new country since sea storms had damaged part of the fleet and thus delayed the departure. The voyage had cost 610 ounces, where the Florentine bankers Bardi and Peruzzi were asked to advance the payment, and the groom pledged to repay them 140 ounces.

By May 1303, Eleonora and her companions arrived in Messina where she was warmly welcomed and where on Pentecost, May 26th, of the same year she got married to Federico in Messina’s Cathedral (“E a poch de temps lo rey Carles trames madona la infanta molt honrradament a Macina, hon fo lo senyor rey Fraderich, qui la reebe ab gran solemnitat. E aqui a Macina, a la sgleya de madona sancta Maria la Nova, ell la pres per muller e aquell dia fo llevat lentredit per lola la terra de Sicilia per un llegat del Papa, qui era archebisbe, que hi vench de part del Papa, e foren perdonats a tot hom tots los pe cats quen la guerra haguessen feyts: e aquell dia fo posada corona en lesta a madona la regina de Sicilia, e fo la festa la major a Macina que hanch si faes.” in Ramon Muntaner, Crónica catalana, ch. CXCVIII).

After the wedding, most of the bridal party returned to Naples, while the newlyweds proceeded to Palermo.

On July 14th 1305 Eleonora gave birth to the heir, who was called Pietro in honour of the child’s paternal grandfather, Pere III of Aragon. To celebrate his son’s birth, Federico III gifted his bride of Avola castle and the surrounding land, to which will be added the city of Siracusa (in 1314), Lentini, Mineo, Vizzini, Paternò, Castiglione, Francavilla and the farmhouses in Val di Stefano di Briga. This gift would mark the creation of the Camera reginale, which would become the traditional wedding present given to Sicilian Queen consorts, and eventually would be abolished in 1537.

Including Pietro, she would give birth to nine children: Costanza (1304 – post 1344), future Queen consort of Cyprus, Armenia and Princess consort of Antiochia; Ruggero (born circa in 1305 - ?) who would die young; Manfredi (1306-1317) first among his brothers to hold the title of Duke of Athens and Neopatras; Isabella (1310-1349) Duchess consort of Bavaria; Guglielmo (1312-1338) Prince of Taranto and heir to the Duchy of Athens and Neopatras following the death of his brother; Giovanni (1317-1348) Duke of Randazzo, Count of Malta, later also Duke of Athens and Neopatras and Regent of Sicily; Caterina (1320-1342) Abbess of St. Claire Nunnery in Messina; Margherita (1331-1377) Countess Palatine consort of the Rhine.

Through these donations Eleonora became a full-fledged vassal, and had to pay homage to her husband the King. Thanks to official documents, we get the idea that Eleonora tried to manage her lands as much personally as she could do, naming herself vicars, administrators, and granting tariff reductions. Federico indulged his wife as much as he could, although in some cases (like the management of the city of Siracusa) his will was the only one taken into account.

Despite almost every time she was unsuccessful, Eleonora fully embraced her role as mediator between the Aragonese and Angevins. For example, in 1312 her brother-in-law, King Jaume II of Aragon, asked her to dissuade her husband (Jaume’s brother) to ally himself with the Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VII of Luxembourg since this alliance could generate new friction with the Angevin Kingdom, as well as with the Papacy (with the risk of stalling the Aragonese occupation of Sardinia). After the King of Aragon, it was Pope Clemente’s turn to ask Eleonora to convince Federico to make peace with Roberto of Anjou. In both cases, though, her conciliatory efforts didn’t work.

In 1321 she witnessed her son Pietro being associated to the throne and thus crowned in Palermo (“Anno domini millesimo tricentesimo vicesimo primo, dum Johannes Romanus Pontifex contra Fridericum Regem, & Siculos propter invasionem bonorum Ecclesiarum precipue fulminaret, Fridericus Rex primogenitum suum Petrum, convenientibus Siculis, coronavit in Regem, & patris obitum, inopinatum premetuens, & ut filius qui purus videbatur & simplex, ab adoloscentia regnare cum patre affuesceret patrisque regnando vestigiis inhereret […]” in Gregorio Rosario, Bibliotheca scriptorum ..., I, p. 482). Pietro’s coronation publicly violated the Treaty of Caltabellotta (as the Kingdom should have returned to the House of Anjou), causing the pursuing of warfare between Naples and Palermo. Once again Eleonora’s attempts at peace-making failed miserably, with her nephew, Carlo Duke of Calabria, refusing to even meet her in 1325, after he had successfully raided the outskirts of Messina.

The Queen didn’t have much luck in internal policy too as she failed to appease her husband and her protegé, Giovanni II Chiaramonte. After gravely wounding Count Francesco I Ventimiglia of Geraci (his brother-in-law and one of the King’s trustees), all that Eleonora could do was advise Chiaramonte to flee to avoid the death penalty.

Nevertheless, the Pope still hoped to use the Queen (who, at that time and alone in her Kingdom,  was exempted from the Papal interdict) as mediator with her husband, promising to lift the excommunication in exchange for Federico’s backing down. Once again nothing happened.

On June 25th 1337 Federico III died near Paternò. He was buried in Catania since it was too hot for the body to be transported to Palermo (“Feretrum humeris nobiliores efferunt. Adsunt Regii filii, proceresque Regni. Exequias Regina, illustribus comitata matronis, prosequitur.” in Francesco Testa, De vita, et rebus gestis Federici 2. Siciliæ Regis, p.225). After the death of her husband, the now Dowager Queen turned to religion, following the example of those in her family who had consecrated themself to Christ (“At Heleonora certiorem fe de illa consolandi rationem inivit. Ipsa enim , ut Rex excessit e vita, ei, qui omnis consolationis fons est, fese in Virginum collegio Franciscanæ familiæ Catinæ devovit; in hoc Catharinan , & Margaritam filias imitata, quæ in ætatis flore, falsis terrestribus, contemptis bonis, Christ, cui fervire regnare est, in sacrarum Virginum Messanensi Collegio, de Basicò dicto, ejusdem Franciscanæ familiæ fese consecrarant; quod Collegium posteaquam Catharina fancte gubernavit, sanctitatis opinione commendata deceffit” in Francesco Testa, De vita..., p.226).

If Eleonora might have hoped to exert some kind of influence as many other Queen mothers did in the past and would do in the future over their weak-willed royal children, she would soon realize she had a powerful rival in the new Queen consort, her daughter-in-law, Elisabetta of Carinthia. Like Eleonora, the new Queen supported the Latin faction (a group of Sicilian noblemen who opposed the Aragonese rulership over Sicily, hoping the island would be returned under the influence of the Angevins instead). But, while Elisabetta had managed to raise the Palizzis to the highest positions at court, her mother-in-law still supported the Chiaramonte, making it possible for the exiled Giovanni II to return to Sicily, be pardoned by the King and see all his goods be returned. Soon though Chiaramonte resumed his personal feud against the Ventimiglia (also part of the Latin faction) and once again Eleonora's attempt to bring peace failed miserably. Only through Grand Justiciar Blasco II d'Alagona's intervetion, the crisis was averted.

In 1340, the Dowager Queen made a last attempt to appease the new Pope, Benedict XII. Unfortunately, the Sicilian envoys sent to Avignon to take an oath of vassalage (since Norman times Sicily theoretically belonged to the Papacy, who granted it to the Sovereigns who acted as Papal Legates) were treated roughly by the Pope, who declared Roberto of Anjou (Eleonora's brother) as Sicily's legitimate King.

Deeply distraught, the Dowager Queen resolved to definitely retire from public life. She spent what it remained on her life visiting the monastery of San Nicolo' d'Arena (Catania), joining the monks in their religious life. She died in one of the monastery's cells on August 10th 1341. Her body would be buried in the Church of San Francesco d'Assisi all'Immacolata (Catania), the construction of which she had personally promoted in 1329 to thank the Virgin Mary for protecting the city from one of many Mount Etna's eruptions.

Sources

AMARI MICHELE, La guerra del Vespro siciliano

CORRAO PIETRO, PIETRO II, re di Sicilia in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Vol. 83

DE COURCELLES JEAN BAPTISTE PIERRE JULLIEN, Histoire généalogique et héraldique des pairs de France: des grands dignitaires de la couronne, des principales familles nobles du royaume et des maisons princières de l'Europe, Vol. XI,

FODALE SALVATORE, Federico III d’Aragona, re di Sicilia, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Vol. 45

GREGORIO ROSARIO, Bibliotheca scriptorum qui res in Sicilia gestas sub Aragonum imperio retulere, I,

KIESEWETTER ANDREAS, ELEONORA d'Angiò, regina di Sicilia, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Vol. 42

de MAS LATRIE LOUIS, Histoire de l'île de Chypre sous le règne des princes de la maison de Lusignan. 3

MUNTANER RAMON, Crónica catalana

Sicily/naples: counts & kings

TESTA FRANCESCO, De vita, et rebus gestis Federici 2. Siciliæ Regis

[elizabeth-halime]

[tskimberlee60]

Who’s ready to suck what’s down there 👇 🥵😈

Drop a ❤️ if you think you can suck that off🥵

Telegram: @Tskimberlee60

[animentality]