The Wealth of Wives: Women, Law, and Economy in Late Medieval LondonOxford University Press, 2007 M10 11 - 336 páginas London became an international center for import and export trade in the late Middle Ages. The export of wool, the development of luxury crafts and the redistribution of goods from the continent made London one of the leading commercial cities of Europe. While capital for these ventures came from a variety of sources, the recirculation of wealth through London women was important in providing both material and social capital for the growth of London's economy. A shrewd Venetian visiting England around 1500 commented about the concentration of wealth and property in women's hands. He reported that London law divided a testator's property three ways allowing a third to the wife for her life use, a third for immediate inheritance of the heirs, and a third for burial and the benefit of the testator's soul. Women inherited equally with men and widows had custody of the wealth of minor children. In a society in which marriage was assumed to be a natural state for women, London women married and remarried. Their wealth followed them in their marriages and was it was administered by subsequent husbands. This study, based on extensive use of primary source materials, shows that London's economic growth was in part due to the substantial wealth that women transmitted through marriage. The Italian visitor observed that London men, unlike Venetians, did not seek to establish long patrilineages discouraging women to remarry, but instead preferred to recirculate wealth through women. London's social structure, therefore, was horizontal, spreading wealth among guilds rather than lineages. The liquidity of wealth was important to a growing commercial society and women brought not only wealth but social prestige and trade skills as well into their marriages. But marriage was not the only economic activity of women. London law permitted women to trade in their own right as femmes soles and a number of women, many of them immigrants from the countryside, served as wage laborers. But London's archives confirm women's chief economic impact was felt in the capital and skill they brought with them to marriages, rather than their profits as independent traders or wage laborers. |
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Página 3
... merchant guilds gained in power, and—although revolts of the ordinary people occurred—London's government became more oligarchic and more stable. Major officers, such as the mayor, were selected from among citizens who were members of ...
... merchant guilds gained in power, and—although revolts of the ordinary people occurred—London's government became more oligarchic and more stable. Major officers, such as the mayor, were selected from among citizens who were members of ...
Página 10
... merchant house and married her master when his wife died. He died soon afterward, and she married another merchant. When he died, she again married. Since she did not have children, she had a considerable accumulation of dower property ...
... merchant house and married her master when his wife died. He died soon afterward, and she married another merchant. When he died, she again married. Since she did not have children, she had a considerable accumulation of dower property ...
Página 11
... merchant class, this book explores all classes, not simply daughters, wives, and widows of citizens with substantial wealth. The women appearing in these pages are contextualized within the framework of greater London's society and ...
... merchant class, this book explores all classes, not simply daughters, wives, and widows of citizens with substantial wealth. The women appearing in these pages are contextualized within the framework of greater London's society and ...
Página 15
... merchant-class children who enjoyed legal protection. If the girl was an orphan, she could be assured that the mayor and aldermen would protect her inheritance. But laws can be broken and twisted, and this chapter investigates the ...
... merchant-class children who enjoyed legal protection. If the girl was an orphan, she could be assured that the mayor and aldermen would protect her inheritance. But laws can be broken and twisted, and this chapter investigates the ...
Página 19
... merchants.30 One might presume that only the children of the well-to-do London citizens fell under the protective laws of the mayor and aldermen, but impoverished orphans of citizens were reared at the city's expense.31 The Mayor's ...
... merchants.30 One might presume that only the children of the well-to-do London citizens fell under the protective laws of the mayor and aldermen, but impoverished orphans of citizens were reared at the city's expense.31 The Mayor's ...
Contenido
3 | |
14 | |
2 Education and Apprenticeship | 35 |
3 Inheritance Dowry and Dower | 50 |
4 The Formation of Marriage | 69 |
5 Recovery of Dower and Widows Remarriage | 95 |
The Marital Experience | 116 |
7 Standard of Living and Women as Consumers | 135 |
8 Women as Entrepreneurs | 160 |
9 Servants Casual Labor and Vendors | 185 |
Conclusion | 208 |
Glossary | 217 |
Notes | 221 |
Bibliography | 283 |
Index | 299 |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
The Wealth of Wives: Women, Law, and Economy in Late Medieval London Barbara A. Hanawalt Vista previa limitada - 2007 |
The Wealth of Wives: Women, Law, and Economy in Late Medieval London Barbara A. Hanawalt Vista previa limitada - 2007 |
The Wealth of Wives: Women, Law, and Economy in Late Medieval London Barbara A. Hanawalt Vista previa limitada - 2007 |
Términos y frases comunes
Agnes Alice appear apprentices apprenticeship arrangements Barron Betson Black Death Cambridge Cely child Church Courts CIPM claimed clothing CLRO MC Commissary court couple CPMR craft daugh daughter death debt deeds died dower dowry economy Elizabeth English executors father female femme sole fifteenth century girls godparents guardian guild Hanawalt heirs household husband’s Husting court Ibid inheritance Joan Johanna John Katherine Late Medieval letter lived London law London Widows London women lord chancellor male Margaret Margery marital marriage marriage contracts married master mayor Mayor’s court Medieval England Medieval London merchants Middle Ages mistress mother orphans parish partible inheritance patriarchy percent prostitution real estate records remarriage remarried rented Richard role servants sexual shops silk silkwomen silver single women social Statute of Laborers Stonor streets taverns tenement Thomas trade wardship wealth wife’s William wives woman young