THE SOCIAL STATUS OF ALBANIAN WOMEN IN THE XIV - XV CENTURY
THE SOCIAL STATUS OF ALBANIAN WOMEN IN THE XIV - XV CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: It is of great interest to report a synthesized profile of the social status of Albanian women in the XIV - XV century, in the main civilization centers, such as Shkodra, Durrës, Ulqin, Tivar etc. In distinction from the data of the customary law, typical of the rural and mountainous areas ofthe Albanian local government, the documentary sources of the time give a significant information about the role and importance the woman living in the autonomous cities had, and also clarifies the judicial and penal protection of her personality, dignity and honor. The killing, the beating, the insults, the violations and raping of the women didn't spare nobody, whether be secular or religious men. The abuse or the misappropriation of the woman's dowry, her freedom to bequeath, or to represent the husband in a legal process, if the latter was not present, and also other situations and combination similar to these, prove that the respect and the protection of women's dignity in the Late Middle Ages was real and seriously taken. The general panorama of the social position of female citizen of the XIV - XV century in Albania was similar with the medieval municipal organization and practices of the Italian-Dalmatian cities and with those of the Western Adriatic of the Mediterranean realm. Also, the present paper informs about the political organization of the noble women in Albania during the end of the XIV century and the first half of the XV century and their privileges during this period, and their right to emigrate, mainly in the Queen of Adriatic (the Republic of Venice) and Southern Italy after the Ottoman occupation of the Albanian territories.

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