The medieval woman had greater freedom and greater status than the usual image we have of the Middle Ages. Women were allowed to own property and inherit from their family. Some women were employed and others were managers of businesses. In the upper class, women were as educated as their male counterparts. In Europe, women were allowed to inherit property from their fathers and husbands. In most cases, whatever the woman brought to the marriage in the form of dowry belonged to her, even if her husband divorced. If a woman had no children or her children were too young to inherit, she would control her husband's assets after his death. This was common due to the tendency for teenage girls to marry men 10 to 20 years older. Some women took control of their husband's assets because they went to the Crusades and the wife ran the business in her husband's absence. Some men left for years and others never returned. Women controlled certain areas of commerce of their own free will. Silk spinning was almost exclusively “women’s work”. Women also made ladies' handbags and hats. And in some parts of Europe, like Paris, they were allowed to run brothels and taverns. In the Hollister Sourcebook there is an image from a French manuscript depicting a woman as an artist painting a woman. Legend states that women in the Middle Ages participated in the business world in ways that only men would later be allowed to do, which included "trading, banking, running commercial enterprises, textile manufacturing, the brewery, tax collection, money lending.” , illuminating and copying books,... and various other activities. » Women could even belong to corporations and some taught their knowledge, not only in craft trades, but also in reading, writing and arithmetic. A woman can be as educated as her male counterpart. Women were also midwives and often served as a sort of doctor giving medical advice and dispensing medicine. The Sardinian city offers an interesting insight into the life of the medieval woman. In Sardinia, a woman could own property and retain separate title to the property she brought into the marriage. It was the custom of ...... middle of paper ...... membership in guilds. They could do business and own property. Not only that, but their status in the Church changed in the Middle Ages to become more accepted and they became the subject of artistic expressions in the form of images, poetry, songs and books. It was a unique period in women's history.BIBLIOGRAPHYErler, Mary and Maryanne Kowaleski. “Women and power in the Middle Ages”. University of Georgia Press. 1988. Hollister, C. Warren. “Medieval Europe: a brief history”. The McGraw-Hill Companies. 1998. Hollister, C. Warren, Joe W. Leedom, Marc A. Meyer, David S. Spear. “Medieval Europe: a short source book”. The McGraw-Hill Companies. 1997. LeGoff, Jacques. “Medieval civilization”. Basil Blackwell Ltd. 1988. Shafar, Shulamith. “The Fourth Estate”. Methuen & Co., Ltd.. 1983.