Were women allowed to read in the 16th century?

Question

did they even know how to read? ?.?

Answer 1

yes, of course they were.  Upper-class children were often taught by tutors, children in less well-off households might attend elementary schools, where they would learn reading,writing and arithmetic.  

There were a great many books published which were specifically aimed at a female audience, books on good behaviour, especially on how a good wife should behave.  There were also books on practical skills like needlework, music, housekeeping, and so forth.

Many women also learnt to write, merchants wives in particular would need to write so that they could keep business records and write letters to their husbands who were often away.  Some upper-class women kept diaries.

Certainly there would have been women who could not read, but there would also have been men who couldn't read, schooling was not universal in those days, and there would certainly have been boys and girls who grew up without being able to read.

there were also quite a number of well-known women writers in the 16th century.  Saint Teresa of Avila, the theologian and mystic is a notable woman writer of the 16th century.  And then there were Gaspara Stampa, Laura Battifera, Louise Labe, Isotta Brambate, Tarquina Molza all well-known poets.  Mildred Cooke Cecil and Anne Cooke Bacon were well-known humanist scholars. Anne Locke Prowse was a Protestant writer very active in the English Reformation.  Henry VIII's sixth wife, Katherine Parr, was an accomplished humanist scholar as well.  And lady Jane Grey, who was queen of England for nine days, was famous for her erudition.    The French poet Gabrielle de Coignard wrote religious poetry which is still in print.  Olivia Sabuco des Nantes Barreta was an important natural philosopher (what we would call a scientist today) who made important contributions to the philosophy of medicine.  The French midwife Louise Bourgeois Boutsier published a major work on obstetrics.  There were women publishers as well, Katherine Bischoff Berg Gerlach, of Nuremberg, Germany, became the founder of a publishing dynasty that lassted over a century.

There has never been a time in history when at least some women have not been able to read and write.

it is not true (as a comment above suggest) that only the clergy and nobility were taught to read and write.  many ordinary people also learnt to read, and to write.  In medieval times for instance, many peasants could read, they were often very familiar with legal documents, peasants were often very well up on common law.

Answer 2

i dunno but if in my religion's history, the men did take the responsibility well to ensure their women's education as it's an obligatory. so that women could be smart and know their rights well. the women then were even being approached by the public for knowledge.

Answer 3

Less than 1% of people where taught how to read. Only the clergy and nobles. Yes, noble women where allowed to read. But not encouraged.

Answer 4

Almost nobody could read back then, just the clergy and anybody rich and powerful enough to get tutored by the clergy.

Noble women were allowed to learn to read, as i recall, so were queens and such.

Answer 5

Before public schooling, I doubt if too many people knew how to read, unless they, like Lincoln, were self-taught or helped by family members.

If women knew how to read, I believe they were allowed to do so. They just weren't allowed to do anything they learned through reading, unless it was bake a batch of cookies.

Answer 6

It all depends upon the circumstances. For instance, many HUMANS who were peasants did not read for lack of time and formal education. A lively hood was more important. However, the people who had the time and money were all taught to read that was their only form of communication. Not all women were sent to school but they were taught to read for that purpose.

Answer 7

Before the Gutenberg Bible many people could not afford books. They were printed by hand by Scribes and only the wealthy could afford them. The secret of making paper was learned from the Moslems who learned it from the Mongols.

Prior to that many documents were written on animal skins. Peasants not nobility seldom were educated and knew how to read. We know that William Wallace of Scotland was a noble because he was educated, spoke several languages and could read. Most peasants were not.

The printing press made the Bible universally available to all. And the end of the Dark Ages came as more people could read and learn history. This truly began the Age of Enlightenment.

Answer 8

nah. take it from  a man