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In different places in Ashkenaz, women would pray in separate synagogues intended for them. The services at those synagogues would be led by women and were conducted in the vernacular because most of the female worshippers did not know hebrew. We know the names of a few women who served as cantors in their respective communities, including Urania, the daughter of the cantor in Worms, Richenza from Nuremberg, who was murdered in the Rindfleisch Massacres (1298), and Dulcia, the wife of Rabbi Eleazar of Worms, who was killed in the pogroms in Mainz (1196). We know about Dulcia’s work from the lament her husband wrote for her:
A poetess of hymns and prayers and a reciter of supplications…
In all the cities she taught women so they could chant songs
She knows the order of the morning and evening prayers
And she comes to the synagogue early and leaves late.
