Christine de Pizan:
Now we must speak of the lifestyle of women married to the artisans who live in the cities and good towns, both in Paris and elsewhere. Of course, these women will find valuable the good advice already given to others if they so wish. However, slthough certain trades are more highly regarded than others (for instance, goldsmiths, embroiderers, armorers and tapestry weavers are thought more distinguished than masons or shoemakers), we address the wives of all craftsmen. All of them should be attentive and diligent.[A Mediaeval Woman's Mirror of Honor: the Treasury of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan. Translated by Charity Canon Willard. Persea Books: New York, 1989]
If they wish to earn money honorably, they should urge their husbands and their workmen to take up the trade early in the monring and leave it late. No trade is so good that if one is not hard-working one barely lives from one crust of bread to the next. Urging the others to action, she herself should put her hand to the task, making sure that she knows the craft so well that she can direct the workmen if her husband is not there and reprove them if they do not work well. She must admonish them against laziness; a master is deserted often by irresponsible, lethargic workmen. When her husband gets a commission for some difficult and unusual task, she firmly must convince him not to accept any work through which he might suffer a loss. If he does not personally know his client, she should advise him to produce as little work as possible on credit. Several already have been ruined by this. Sometimes greed to earn more or the importance of the tendered offer tempts one to such risks.
The artisan's wife should keep her husband attracted to her by love, so that he will stay at home the more willingly, not tempted to join those foolish bands of young men in taverns and not likely to dissipate his earning with superfluous, outrageous expenses, as many young artisans do, especially in Paris. Rather, treating him with tenderness, she should keep him nearby. Common wisdom has it that three things drive a man from his home: a quarrelsome wife, a smoking hearth, and a leaking roof.
Furthermore, she should be willing to stay home, not running here and there every day, gossiping in the neighborhood to find out what everyone else is doing, nor frequenting her cronies. All this makes for poor housekeeping. Neither is it good for her to go to so many pilgrimages across town, nor to go travelling off needlessly on pilgrimages, which invariably would cause unnecessary expense.
She should encourage her husband to let them live within their income so that their expenses will not be greater than their earnings, which would force them into debt at the year's end. If she has children, she should first have them taught at school so that they will better know how to serve God; then she ought to have them apprenticed to some trade so that they can earn their living. For a great gift to one's child is knowledge, a skill, or a trade. Beyond these, a mother must above all protect the child from affectation and indulgence. These greatly discredit children of the good towns - and reflect badly on their fathers and mothers, otherwise expected to be the source of virtue and good habits. Sometimes, however, parents so spoil their children by pampering them during their years of growing up that they cause their offsprings' ultimate misfortune and ruination.