Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England Women's Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600

by Bennett, Judith M.

• ISBN13: 9780195073904
• ISBN10: 0195073908
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-11-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Women brewed and sold most of the ale drunk in medieval England, but after 1350, men slowly took over the trade. By 1600, most brewers in London--as well as in many towns and villages--were male, not female. Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England investigates this transition, asking how, when,and why brewing ceased to be a women's trade and became a trade of men. Drawing on a wide variety of sources--such as literary and artistic materials, court records, accounts, and administrative orders--Judith Bennett vividly describes how brewsters (that is, female brewers) slowly left the trade. She tells a story of commercial growth, gild formation, changingtechnologies, innovative regulations, and finally, enduring ideas that linked brewsters with drunkenness and disorder. Examining this instance of seemingly dramatic change in women's status, Bennett argues that it included significant elements of continuity. Women might not have brewed in 1600 as often as they had in 1300, but they still worked predominantly in low-status, low-skilled, and poorly remunerated tasks.Using the experiences of brewsters to rewrite the history of women's work during the rise of capitalism, Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England offers a telling story of the endurance of patriarchy in a time of dramatic economic change.

Author Biography

Judith M. Bennett is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has published extensively on the history of women, particularly women in the middle ages. Her books include Women in the Medieval English Countryside (Oxford, 1987) and Sisters and Workers in the Middle Ages (co-editor, 1989).

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations	xiii
A Brief Note on Conventions and Terms	xv
Brewsters	3	(11)
When Women Brewed	14	(23)
New Markets, Lost Opportunities: Singlewomen and Widows as Harbingers of Change	37	(23)
Working Together: Wives and Husbands in the Brewers' Gild of London	60	(17)
New Beer, Old Ale: Why Was Female to Male as Ale Was to Beer?	77	(21)
Gender Rules: Women and the Regulation of Brewing	98	(24)
These Things Must Be if We Sell Ale: Alewives in English Culture and Society	122	(23)
Women's Work in a Changing World	145	(42)
APPENDIX
Interpreting Presentments under the Assize of Ale	158	(29)
Notes	187	(50)
Bibliography	237	(14)
Index	251