Women of Kievan Rus

The women of Kievan Rus were in a much different setting and brotherly structure than their western counterparts. With the arrival of Christianity in Kievan Rus can new changes to family traffic and positions of women in ordination and the household. The church shared out women into two groups, the good and the mephistophelean women. The determination of who fell into what group was determined on how they compared to the norms of behavior of saints. With women divided into two groups the church focused more on the conduct of plague women.The church handed down instructions on the conduct of women. The eye of these instructions was based on the submissiveness of women to god and their husbands. They urged women to stay si bring and be socially dependent. But womens lives were not totally controlled and they were not hardened sub-humanly. As seen in the treaty between Novgorod and Gotland slave women had rights and were defended against harm. The example it gives is the defens e reaction to rape or harm slave women. Their social roles were protected and offenders would project to stand trial and pay a heavy fine.Their counterparts, free women were similarly protected and held interesting privileges. Women were well protected from anything stemming from simple insults to rape. They also had a choice in their conjugal union partner and if they were forced into a marriage then the parents would have to pay a hefty fine. There were documents unearthed, which showed that Novgorod women lent money and owned land. Women in Novgorod and Kievan Rus were a unique sect of society with both freedoms and restrictions.