One of my regular readers has shared with me an article from Phys.org, which in turn originated as an article on The Conversation. It is one that I had not seen elsewhere which made it an all the more welcome addition to my in-box.
It summarises research on the role of women in the life of the Papal court and city of Avignon when the Popes resided in the city from 1309 until 1367, and again from 1370 to 1376. In those decades the city was not only the administrative centre of the Church but a centre for diplomacy and intrigue as well as a centre for artistic and literary achievement.
As the article shows women were involved in all - and I do mean all - the trades and professions a traditional society offered them. Indeed the view of historians tends towards the view that across Europe women had greater agency ( to use a fashionable word ) in a wide range of socio-economic matters in the later medieval era than did their sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century descendants.
The article can be read at Butchers, bakers, candlestick-makers, and prostitutes: The women working behind the scenes in papal Avignon
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