Female role constructions in the age of the hungarian reformation

Abstract

The Hungarian history of the 16th century was full of trauma. The Mohács disaster, the division of the country into two, and then three parts, the Ottoman presence caused the disruption of the traditional structure of society and the fragmentation of many social roles. In this situation, men were burdened with many responsibilities outside the home, women were almost widowed, and these facts created conditions for them that caused them to reevaluate and expand their traditional roles, many times new situations were brought by life itself, other times it depended on the ingenuity of the women themselves, their personalities. In addition to the classic maternal and economic duties, women learned to read and write, and the reformation program on general reading of the Bible gave these activities an argumentative basis. Girls’ schools did not exist in Hungary at that time, women were educated at noble courts, but increasingly they expanded their knowledge in theological issues as well. The women presented in the study lived in northeastern Hungary, which alternately belonged to Transylvania and Royal Hungary. Their husbands performed active military service, and they were often involved in this area as well. These nobles also acted independently in the field of theology, there were many examples of this in their lives. In addition to their traditional duties, all three also got involved in previously unknown areas and devoted themselves, for example, to organizing synods, founding schools, patronage duties of their husbands or political negotiations. The new conditions of the time are also shown by the fact that, despite the violation of traditional female roles, the violation of social norms, their actions were perceived positively by society and preserved in historical memory.