Examines the role of women in medieval law and society

This new collection of essays brings together brand new research on widowhood in medieval and early modern Europe. The volume opens with an introductory chapter by the Editors which looks generally at the conditions and constructions of widowhood in this period. This is followed by a range of essays which illuminate different dimensions of widowhood across Europe - in England, Italy, France, Germany and Spain. A particular attraction of the volume is the attention given to widowers, and the comparisons made between the male and female experience of widowhood. It is an exciting reinterpretation of the subject which will do much to undo the traditional stereotype of the widow. Contributing to the volume are: Jodi Bilinkoff, Giulia Calvi, Sandra Cavallo, Isabelle Chabot, Julia Crick, Amy Erikson, Dagmar Freist, Elizabeth Foyster, Margaret Pelling, Pamela Sharpe,Tim Stretton, Barbara Todd, and Lyndan Warner.

"Through an examination of Alice's "Household Book," and using other extant contemporary sources, the author has been able to illuminate the experiences of medieval women in general. The resulting work provides a vivid picture of life in the medieval household, examining marriage and widowhood, daily household and estate management, hospitality and entertainment, education, patronage, religious concerns and the private and public roles of medieval women of the estate-owning class."--BOOK JACKET.

This volume provides a comprehensive study of widowhood in Medieval Britain based on literary and historical sources from the seventh to the 15th centuries. It devotes much attention to family structures and to the legal and social aspects of inheritance.

Did the expanding economic life of England after the Black Death improve the lot of women, as is commonly thought? This study argues not. It has long been thought that the post Black Death period offered unparallelled opportunities for women. However, through a careful consideration of economic and legal changes affecting women of all social classes and conditions, the author shows that this was not the case, taking issue with orthodox opinion. She argues that marriage at a late age was not customary for women, and that the ability of wives to supplement their income with intermittent paid labour (at harvest time, for example) was not so great as has been supposed: rather, most married women spent more time on unpaid agricultural labour on their own land than their peers had done in the pre-plague economy. ProfessorMate also demonstrates that there is little evidence to support the current belief that widowhood was the period in a woman's life when she enjoyed most power, freedom, and independence; moreover, legal changes were a mixed blessing for women, leaving some widows with a larger portion and a more secure title to land, but totally depriving others. Throughout, the book pays much attention to class as well as gender, showing how many things were determined byit, from what a woman wore or ate to the age at which she married, her power within the household, and even her vulnerability to rape. The late MAVIS E. MATE was Professor of History Emerita, University of Oregon.

Here are ten substantial essays, plus an introduction, by the well-known historian and editor of 'The Ricardian', Anne Sutton, on women in medieval London. The book is thoroughly footnoted and indexed and there is a bibliography. The women in these studies, and their husbands, came from all over England to make their fortunes in London. Many trades and crafts, from pewterers, ironmongers, clothiers, and mercers, to the clerk of the king's council, are represented, but the silkwomen are the most numerous. The persistent historiographical problem of the 'femme sole' is addressed. The emphasis is on women who married several times, their wealth sought by men ambitious for the highest civic offices, who in turn could offer the role of lady mayoress. As widows these women bought and managed properties, ran businesses, founded chantries, dispensed charity, often while bringing up their grandchildren and children of other women. Their multiple marriages created complex networks of families within the parish and company structures of London. The period covered is the 1130s to the 1530s. The book contains several family trees.--amazon.com.