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During the Middle Ages, French society, along with the rest of Europe, revolved around the warrior class. In order to gain land and power nobles gave their services in the military and lived violent lifestyles. Treatment toward women during this period was harsh. "In a society of landed nobility dispersed fairly loosely across the country in their castles and estates, the likelihood of a preponderance of the man over the woman and thus of a …

…critique of others, the role of women in France was dramatically heightened. The absolute monarchy that existed in France under Louis XIV and others allowed for the woman to flourish and blossom, liberating her from the previous cruelties that the Middle Ages embodied. The creation of court life and the refinements it offered such as poetry, emotion, and beauty brought females into the public eye which gave them a greater form of power in society.