Conclusions

Abstract

Perhaps more than any other issue, religion was central to everyone’s life in sixteenth-century France. Life-choices were governed by it, life-stages marked by it, people’s life-purpose judged by it. Rich and poor, young and old, women and men, participated in defining religious cultures and expressions in myriad ways. This study has focused on women’s contributions to religion in various aspects during the century of reforms. In doing so, it has acknowledged how people’s fashioning of religious speech and actions was often governed by things other than their gender. A number of the avenues for contribution examined in this text are by no means the exclusive preserve of women. Nevertheless, this work has also revealed how the opportunities for and the nature and meanings of female participation in facets of religious cultures could be distinctly different to those of men. Moreover, a focus on female religious contributions, rather than the perceptions of men, suggests that women frequently disregarded or were simply unaware of expectations and limitations placed upon them. Women accepted responsibility as individual Christians to secure their own salvation and acted accordingly.