Transcript Period 3: Aim: How did labor management and religious

Period 3: Aim: How did labor management & religious
conversions affect gender relations and family life?
• Gender Relations and Peasant Revolts
• Post Classical Diffusion of Religion led to significant changes in gender
relations and family structure
DO NOW: 1) What did Saint Benedict see & how did he react? 2) How does
Christianity view women in this instance?
“The venerable woman returned to her Nunnery, & the man of
God to his Abbey: who three days after, standing in his cell,
raising up his eyes to heaven, beheld the soul of his sister
(which was departed from her body), in the likeness of a dove
to ascend into heaven: who rejoicing much to see her great
glory, with hymns & lauds gave the almighty God, & did impart
the news of this her death to his monks, whom also he sent
presently to bring her corpse to his Abbey, & had it buried in
that grave which he had provided for himself; by means wherof
it fell out that, as their souls were always one in God whiles
they lived, so their bodies continued together after their death.”
Buddhism, Christianity and Gender
How are they similar/different?
• Confucian ideals of
patriarchy clashed
with Buddhist
spiritual equality
with little lasting
gender change
• Footbinding began
in this era- How did
this effect women?
• Christian Convents
like Buddhism
• Provided women a
way out of the cycle
of marriage/
childrearing and
provided a path to
literacy and learning
• Many female saints,
Mary symbol of
veneration
Islam, Neoconfucianism and
Gender
• Islamic teachings of
gender equality (see
Khadijah)
• 1st wife of Mohammed
and a merchant herself
• Overshadowed by
Persian traditions of
veiling, seclusion and
the harem
• How did Islam effect
women?
• Neoconfucianism
• Women were
subordinate to men
• “Disorder is produced
by women”
• “A woman ruler is a hen
crowing.”
• “Woman’s greatest duty
is to produce a son.”
• “Women are to be led
and to follow others.”
Peasant Revolts: Free peasants resisted attempts
to raise dues and taxes by staging revolts
• Byzantine Empire - BASIL THE COPPER HAND Back in the
10th Century, there lived a man named Basil. Basil’s most
notable physical feature was his copper hand. How did he get
a copper hand? Well, he tried to impersonate a dead general
to take power in Bithynia (North Anatolia). His ruse was
discovered and he was quickly taken back to Constantinople
and given history’s most infamous slap on the wrist. Sanshand, he had it replaced with a copper one. Hence the name.
Looking like a Super Villain, he attempted to lead a peasant
rebellion against the Byzantine Empire. He gathered the
destitute and downtrodden peasants of the region who were
upset at the Byzantine taxes they were forced to pay. Noticing
the lack of tax funds coming in from Bithynia, the Emperor
sent in the Byzantine Army. Used to fighting Persians and
Arabs, the peasant army of Basil the Copper Hand didn’t stand
a chance. He was caught, chained, and returned to
Constantinople. After a quick trial, he was burned at the stake.
How did the map change over time? Why?
• PEASANT REVOLT IN
FLANDERS
• In the 1320s, a series of small
scale peasant revolts joined
forces into an all-out rebellion
that lasted for 5 years.
• Reason? TAXES. The people
were mad at Louis I for raising
taxes.
• Revolted & took majority of the
Flanders region. Even captured
the Count of Flanders, Louis I!
• King of France had to step in
and quell the insurrection.
• Peace treaty was signed, but
quickly forgotten as the rebellion
continued.
• Finally at Battle of Cassel rebel
army and its peasant leaders
were defeated.
European Peasant
Revolt
Chinese Peasant Rebellion
• Red Turban Rebellion: AKA White Lotus Rebellion WHY
would anyone want to rebel against the Mongols?
• Group of Chinese peasants in the 1340s fed up with the
Yuan (Mongol) rule. The Yellow River had been constantly
flooding (along with other natural disasters).
• A Mahayana Buddhist sect known as the White Lotus Society
(who worshipped a Mother Goddess who would gather her
children at the millennium) started the rebellion against
Mongol rule.
• After 30 years of war, the rebellion was successful. The
Mongols were constantly fighting themselves and therefore
couldn’t handle the rebellion.
• In 1368, the Zhu Yuanzhang, former beggar/Buddhist monk,
claimed the Mandate of Heaven and declared himself the
Hongwu Emperor of the new Ming Dynasty.