During the medieval period women had specific roles which were usually classified as daughter, mother, sister, wife, the one who endures all hardships but still does not receive the same recognition of a man. They are recognized solely by the identity of their male counterparts: the man's wife, the man's daughter, and the man's mother, etc. So what happens when they no longer have their male counterparts to rely on? What happens when I am no longer the father's daughter but the wife of another man? And what happens when that man dies and the woman has to face society under the title of widow? What then becomes his role in society and what is his title? What is expected of the widow? In some medieval societies, when a woman's husband died, she had no rights to property and domestic matters and, to survive in society, she had to start over and enter into a relationship with another male. In some societies women were not allowed to remarry, while in others for the sake of the family and the betterment of the woman she was allowed to remarry. In medieval England women held many roles in different areas, in many cases women had a lot of say in their own lives whilst in others they lived in the shadow of men. Widows had many expectations and ideals that they had to live up to, they had to live a virtuous life as deemed by the Bible, take care of the land left behind by their deceased male counterpart with the help of the administration made up of married men and women, however , if stricken by poverty, were still expected to take part in society through self-sufficiency and struggle. The expectations of a woman in medieval England were to remain chaste, maintain her virtue until marriage, give birth.... .. middle of paper ......will have no other relationship with another man unless that he doesn't remarry. Bibliography Cavallo, Sandra and Lyndan Warner. Widowhood in medieval and modern Europe. Harlow, Essex, UK: Longman, 1999.Clark, Katherine. "Purgatory, punishment and the discourse of holy widowhood in the High and Late Middle Ages". Journal of the history of sexuality 16, n. 2 (2007): 169-203. French, Katherine L. “Loving Friends: Surviving Widowhood in Late Medieval Westminster.” Blackwell Publishing 22 (2010): 21-37.Rice, Nicole R. “‘Temples of the Abode of Christ’: Forms of Chastity in a Barking Abbey Manuscript.” Journal of the history of sexuality 19, n. 1 (January 2010): 115-132Walker, Sue Sheridan. "Feudal Bond and Free Consent in the Celebration of Marriages in Medieval England: Widows in the King's Gift." Historical Documents 14, n. 1 (1979): 97-109.