Women in Anglo-Saxon society

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The study of the role of women in the society of early medieval England, or Anglo-Saxon England, is a topic which includes literary, history and gender studies. Important figures in the history of studying early medieval women include Doris Stenton, Christine Fell, and Pauline Stafford.

The opportunities and influence that a woman had in early medieval England depended on her class status. Fell summarises that, in general, women were "near equal companions to the males in their lives, such as husbands and brothers, much more than in any other era before modern time".^[1][2] They could have private influence, and had a wide liberty of intervention in public affairs.^[2] Women led religious houses, an important example being the abbess Hilda of Whitby (Hild), and at the time such a position meant having significant political and cultural influence.^[3] Despite this sense of equality in some strata of society, some Anglo-Saxon women were still subject to slavery.^{[citation needed]}