Medieval Women and Urban Justice: Commerce, Crime and Community in England, 1300-1500
By Teresa Phipps
Manchester University Press
ISBN: 978 1 5261 7179 5
What can medieval court records reveal about the lives of women? This book examines the legal disputes involving women in three English towns, uncovering their roles in cases ranging from debts and trade regulations to local trespass laws and public disorder.
Excerpt:
This book examines and compares the records of urban justice from Nottingham, Chester and Winchester, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis to compare the legal status, roles and experience of ordinary, middling status women living in these towns across the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It does this by combining the analysis of six sample years for each town with a broader survey and discussion of women’s legal actions and experiences across the period c.1300–c.1500. This was a period during which town courts developed to become key institutions for the administration of justice in England, as well as one of demographic and economic development and upheaval.
The women at the heart of this study all lived in medium-sized towns and made their living by buying, selling or making various goods, or providing different services. We cannot, however, assume that all townswomen, their status or their experiences were the same. A key finding of this study is that, despite shared characteristics, each town and its court(s) were different, and women’s experiences of and engagement with the law were a product of local interpretations of legal practice, as well as their own personal lives and personalities. All of these factors intersected to create a unique experience of the law for every individual woman that is discussed within this book, as well as many thousands more who are not, a fact which speaks to the instability of ‘woman’ as a category.
Who is this book for?
This book will appeal to two key groups of historians: those focused on medieval women and those exploring medieval towns. Although it centres on a case study of three towns—Nottingham, Chester, and Winchester—it provides a framework for comparative analysis that can enrich similar research in other contexts.
“Medieval Women and Urban Justice demonstrates the value of comparative analysis of local litigation and regulation in understanding women’s status as commercial actors as well as their standing to sue and be sued. Relatedly, the book adds nuance to legal historians’ account of coverture by showing the doctrine in action, applied differently in various locales and over time, as the common law intersected with local custom and sociocultural differences.” – review by Elizabeth Papp Kamali in Speculum.
“Phipps concludes that although women were always a minority among litigants and those who came under the purview of local justice, they like men actively used their local courts to manage their relationships, enforce business obligations and seek restitution for attacks on their person, property or honour.” ~ review by Shaun D. McGuinness in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire
The Author
Teresa Phipps is a PGR Senior Officer at Swansea University.
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website.
You can buy this book on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
Medieval Women and Urban Justice: Commerce, Crime and Community in England, 1300-1500
By Teresa Phipps
Manchester University Press
ISBN: 978 1 5261 7179 5
What can medieval court records reveal about the lives of women? This book examines the legal disputes involving women in three English towns, uncovering their roles in cases ranging from debts and trade regulations to local trespass laws and public disorder.
Excerpt:
This book examines and compares the records of urban justice from Nottingham, Chester and Winchester, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis to compare the legal status, roles and experience of ordinary, middling status women living in these towns across the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It does this by combining the analysis of six sample years for each town with a broader survey and discussion of women’s legal actions and experiences across the period c.1300–c.1500. This was a period during which town courts developed to become key institutions for the administration of justice in England, as well as one of demographic and economic development and upheaval.
The women at the heart of this study all lived in medium-sized towns and made their living by buying, selling or making various goods, or providing different services. We cannot, however, assume that all townswomen, their status or their experiences were the same. A key finding of this study is that, despite shared characteristics, each town and its court(s) were different, and women’s experiences of and engagement with the law were a product of local interpretations of legal practice, as well as their own personal lives and personalities. All of these factors intersected to create a unique experience of the law for every individual woman that is discussed within this book, as well as many thousands more who are not, a fact which speaks to the instability of ‘woman’ as a category.
Who is this book for?
This book will appeal to two key groups of historians: those focused on medieval women and those exploring medieval towns. Although it centres on a case study of three towns—Nottingham, Chester, and Winchester—it provides a framework for comparative analysis that can enrich similar research in other contexts.
“Medieval Women and Urban Justice demonstrates the value of comparative analysis of local litigation and regulation in understanding women’s status as commercial actors as well as their standing to sue and be sued. Relatedly, the book adds nuance to legal historians’ account of coverture by showing the doctrine in action, applied differently in various locales and over time, as the common law intersected with local custom and sociocultural differences.” – review by Elizabeth Papp Kamali in Speculum.
“Phipps concludes that although women were always a minority among litigants and those who came under the purview of local justice, they like men actively used their local courts to manage their relationships, enforce business obligations and seek restitution for attacks on their person, property or honour.” ~ review by Shaun D. McGuinness in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire
The Author
Teresa Phipps is a PGR Senior Officer at Swansea University.
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website.
You can buy this book on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
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