Bouchères, Bakers, Prostitutes: The Roles of Women in Avignon During the Papal Era

When we evoke the Middle Ages and the role of women in the Church, the dominant image is that of cloistered nuns or exceptional figures like Joan of Arc. The church imposed a strict framework on women. However, a much more nuanced reality takes shape in the Vatican archives. Recent research by Jenna Phillips (University of Durham) and Jennifer Thibodeaux (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) reveal that in Avignon, where the papacy had settled in the 14th century, many women, of all conditions, worked in the shadow of religious power.

Lavandières, seamstresses, traders and even tenants of brothels, they actively participated in the economy and the functioning of the pontifical court. The Vatican archives attest to their presence in the pay registers, but their role has long been overlooked. This historical investigation highlights the unknown place of women in an institution dominated by male clerics, at a time when the Church hardened its rules on sexuality and female exclusion.

Women paid by the Vatican

Unlike the image of a church exclusively led by men, the archives of the Papal Court of Avignon therefore attest that many women were employed and employed for essential tasks for the functioning of the medieval Vatican. The 14th century financial registers reveal the presence of washerwas in charge of the maintenance of the papal linen. There were seamstresses making priestly ornaments. Between 1364 and 1374, several women appeared namely, such as Katherine, wife of Guillaume Bertrand, and Bertrande de Saint-Esprit, who took care of the washing of pontifical linen from the election of a new pope. These women were all the wives of officers of the papal court.

These explicit mentions remain rare for women at that time. They demonstrate that their work was recognized and listed by the pontifical administration. However, as Jennifer Thibodeaux explains, in The Conversationthis visibility did not mean economic autonomy. Their wages were systematically paid to their spouses.

However, over the decades, this administrative recognition is diminishing. From the 1380s, women appeared in documents under more vague identities. They are often reduced to their link with a man: “Pierre Bertrand's wife”, a doctor of law, or the “wife of doctor François Ribalta”, without mention of their first name. Only Marie Quigi Fernandi Sanci de Turre is registered without reference to a husband or a male tutor. A notable exception. This progressive erasure illustrates a broader trend in marginalization of women in the official archives of the Church. Although essential to the economy of the medieval Vatican, their role was gradually relegated to invisibility, as the institution reinforced a strictly male hierarchy and consolidated its monopoly of religious and economic power.

A flourishing female economy in Avignon

Avignon, booming under the influence of the papal court, attracted a varied female active population. Their presence was essential to the economic dynamics of the city. A survey conducted in 1371 reveals that 15 % of households were women, a figure that includes widows managing their houses, independent merchants and qualified craftsmen. Many of them had migrated since other regions of Europe, including Italy and Germany.

A woman in the process of laundry appears in the Germani Palatini codices, a German medieval manuscript. © Library of Heidelberg University

If some devoted themselves to traditional professions such as the bakery or the sale of fruit, others exercised more unexpected professions: forgerons, goldsmiths, binders of books or even manufacturers of swords. Their work went far beyond domestic tasks and was part of key sectors of the local economy. However, their presence in public space remained scrutinized and supervised. In particular for those whose activity was deemed morally ambiguous by the church. The latter was trying to maintain control over these workers despite their essential role.

The ambiguous control of the church on prostitution

In Avignon, as in other medieval cities, prostitution remained a job recognized and supervised by the church. The archives show that some women held brothels legally, such as Marguerite Busaffi, daughter of an influential banker. Others paid taxes directly to the diocese, like Marguerite de Porcelude, nicknamed “the hunter”, which paid an annual tax on her accommodation. Several prostitutes praised housing at the Sainte-Catherine convent.

However, this tolerance had its limits. In 1337, the Marshal of the Roman Court established a weekly tax on prostitutes and their pimps. But this measure was abolished in 1358 by Pope Innocent VI, scandalized by this practice. In addition, the church regularly tried to reform these women by enclosing them in the convent of repentants. It was an institution where they had to atone for their past. This house gradually became a real place of imprisonment for women deemed “unruly”, especially those pregnant outside marriage. However, some of these former prostitutes managed to manage their convent affairs with a remarkable grip. In 1384, the repentors even obtained the reimbursement of funds due by a priest. Few medieval women had the cheek to ask a court to settle their debts, and even less from the Pope.

The shadow of male clericalism on the place of women

The role of women in the Papal Court of Avignon is part of a broader context of evolution of the clergy. The church has gradually imposed a model of single and “virile” priest, according to Thibodeaux, strengthening the exclusion of women. If the first centuries of Christianity tolerated married priests, a series of reforms between the 11th and 13th century radically transformed this standard.

Far from being a simple question of morality, the celibacy of the priests also aimed to cut hereditary links. Indeed, a married priest was likely to transmit his post to his son. This would have transformed ecclesiastical charges into family posts. This obsession with the clergy for purity was accompanied by a hardening of speeches on women. They were considered dangerous for male spirituality.

The idea of ​​a priest who has constantly fighting his sexual desires to assert his virility became central. As Thibodeaux notes, ” A man who no longer feels desire no longer fights, and therefore no longer proves his masculinity ». This ideology was carried by figures like Pierre Damien, who denounced the priests “soiled” by their relations with women. Asceticism then became a means of excluding the female presence, making even more invisible those which nevertheless worked at the heart of the ecclesiastical system.