Women in Early Britain, 1450-1640

by Peters, Christine

• ISBN13: 9780333633588
• ISBN10: 033363358X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-01-17
• Publisher: Red Globe Pr

Summary

The history of women in Wales and Scotland is in its infancy compared to England. This book draws on both historiographical traditions to examine the significance of contrasting social, economic and religious conditions in shaping the lives of women in different parts of Britain.Although gender assumptions were broadly similar around Britain, female experience varied.Christine Peters explores changes in clanship and inheritance, the employment of single women, the punishment of pregnant brides and scolds, the introduction of protestantism, and the fusion of fairy beliefs with ideas of demonological witchcraft, all of which contributed to the diversity of women's lives in Britain during the early modern period.

Author Biography

Christine Peters is Lecturer in History, The Queen's College, Oxford.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(6)
Marriage, Kinship and Inheritance	7	(38)
Work and the Household Economy	45	(23)
Disorderly Women	68	(39)
Witchcraft, the Devil and the Elfin Queen	107	(25)
Female Piety and Religious Change	132	(32)
Notes	164	(23)
Further Reading	187	(9)
Glossary	196	(4)
Index	200