Lustful Laundresses and Unsuspecting Scholars: The Employment of Women at Medieval University Colleges

In the 1274 statutes of Merton College, Oxford, rulings were put in place that services in the house were to be done by men to avoid ‘plagues [spreading to] the unsuspecting through the lures of the flesh’. Although unnamed here, women are frequently presented as temptresses within college statutes, praying on innocent scholars; therefore, these institutions placed limitations on female employment to protect their scholars, their institutions, and their reputation. But how realistic was this in practice? This paper will explore the work undertaken by women within the academic setting under direct employment of these institutions. J. M. Fletcher and C. A. Upton have already shed light on female labour within college life in the early Tudor period through the case study of Merton College. I will build on their research to not only understand the role of women within other Oxford colleges, but also at colleges in Paris and Bologna. Through examining statutes alongside college accounts, we can witness the contrast between the theoretical framework for female employment and the practicality and need for women to undertake work within colleges.