Abstract:
In this article, based on different historical sources, the author makes an analysis of the problem of violence against women in the Romanian society of the XVI-XVII century. The violence against women was part of everyday life in the Romanian medieval society. This study identifies the factors that favored the violence against women. The conclusion of the author is that the political rivalry among the social elite lead to the fact that women from the families of the opposition were being punished using different methods: from economic violence to sexual abuse. In the private life, women were being subjected to physical, psychological, emotional, economical and sexual abuse.
The codes of laws reinforced the position the man within his family and gave him the freedom to control it. The church, the law, but also the tradition accepted the violence against women as a method of control and discipline.