- [Lecturer] In this video I want to talk about
the lives of Frankish women
who lived during the Carolingian Dynasty
in the eighth and ninth century.
You can see here in blue the Carolingian Dynasty
and the Carolingian Dynasty ruled over
much of the former territory
of the Western Roman Empire.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire,
Europe was controlled by many decentralized kingdoms
including the Carolingian Dynasty.
And in this context, powerful clans and families
became increasingly important.
This undoubtedly had effects on the lives of women
who were often the heads of these households
and who helped manage the complex economy of these clans.
I want to look at a primary source
that might give us some insight
into the lives of women at this time.
I want to read something written by Dhuoda,
the Duchess consort of Septimania
and the Countess consort of Barcelona.
Dhuoda was a noble woman
and in the excerpt we will read
she is addressing her son.
She wrote a manual called the Liber Manualis
which is meant to teach her son certain values.
Let's read it together and talk about it.
The purpose of this was to instruct her son
on proper behavior.
I'm not reluctant to teach you as well as I can
how you should fear, love,
and be faithful in all ways to Bernard,
your lord and father,
both when you are with him and when you are apart.
On this matter, you have a teacher and the wisest authority,
namely Solomon;
he chastens and advises you, my son, saying,
"God has honored the father who flourished in his children."
And again, he who honors his father
shall rejoice in his own children
and shall live a longer life.
He who obeys his father will give heavenly solace
to his mother and he who honors his father
is like one who lays up many good treasures.
He who fears the lord honors his parents.
You then, my son, honor your father
and pray diligently for him
so that you may reach an advanced age
and live on earth a long time.
If we look at this excerpt we can pull out
some information about the society
in which Dhuoda lived.
First of all, she's writing this
in order to instruct her son.
And this is really representative
of the way in which women at this time
were important as the heads of household
and important in educating their children,
particularly, their children's moral education.
And as we see here, she talks a lot about
certain Christian values.
She says that his wisest authority and his teacher
is Solomon who's a biblical figure.
So, here she is referring to Christian ideas
and she even notes that God has honored the father
who flourished in his children.
And she uses these biblical references
in order to advise her son
to be a better son to his father.
And she really emphasizes this respect
and love towards the father.
Now, why this emphasis?
Well, it makes sense that she's emphasizing the father
because around this time
patrilineage became more important
and patrilineage is basically
descent that goes to the line of the father.
And this might seem like something
that's always been around
but this was a shift from this broader,
extended clan into a smaller family unit
where there is a father and a mother and children,
rather than so many other family members.
For Dhuoda to enforce this respect
and deference towards the father
is perfectly in line with this value of
a smaller family unit.
And these families were very important
especially these powerful families
because they were the fundamental social unit
in Frankish society.
To summarize some of the insights that we can gain
by looking at this excerpt,
mothers played key roles in households
particularly as the moral educators of their children.
The ones who are responsible for making sure
their children understood the moral ideas
of their society.
And secondly that patrilineage really defines
smaller family units and within that
fathers and mothers were important.
But in this excerpt, Dhuoda's really reinforcing
the respect and deference towards the father.
And through this excerpt we can also see
the importance of Christian values
which are really informing the advise
that she gives to her son.