Male slaves were in charge of preparing food but serving drinks was a woman’s job.

Anglo-Saxon women had a high mortality(death) rate. The most common cause of death was from pregnancy, miscarriage and childbirth. The reason suggested for this was from lack of iron. Common ailments(sicknesses) were earaches, toothaches, burns, wounds, headaches and shingles.

Pregnant women in this period were advised not to eat anything too salty or sweet, not to eat pork or any other fatty food, not to drink to the point of drunkenness, not to travel, not to travel much on horseback and not to drink any strong alcoholics drinks.

When a woman was going to marry another man, the soon-to-be husband had to pay “morgengifu” (a morning gift) of money or land to the woman. The woman could control the land and do what she wanted with it as she pleased. She could give it away, sell it, keep it or bequeath it. Land that was named somethin

The vast majority of clothing was made of wool shorn from sheep. Of secondary importance was the relative luxuriousness of linen for under clothing. Silk, exceedingly rare and costly, was limited to the very rich, and to the burials of the sainted.

The very rich - kings, king’s kin, archbishops - might cherish one or more garments of silk. Imported from the East at fabulous cost, silk’s ability to take and hold the most brilliant of colours, coupled with its natural shimmer, must have particularly delighted our Anglo-Saxon ancestors. Silk was worked into gowns for women, tunics for men, and most especially cloaks or hooded mantles for both sexes. Certainly such a garment would only be worn in fair weather, perhaps as part of ceremonial display, but since timber halls could be cold and draughty places, these sumptuous garments could be enjoyed indoors as well.

Some topics in this essay:
Throughout Anglo-Saxon, Godwine Brithric, Family Children, Expectancy Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Saxon England, Imported East, , Wight Anglian, Morgay Wood, Roles Women, marriage agreement, anglo-saxon england, own own property, well-born women, husband wife, own own, own property, anglo-saxon women, land woman, women wore, wife husband,