Medieval Single Women The Politics of Social Classification in Late Medieval England

by Beattie, Cordelia

• ISBN13: 9780199283415
• ISBN10: 0199283419
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-25
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The single woman is a troubling and disruptive category. Does it denote all unmarried women, therefore creating a group which every female was part of at some stage in her life? Or, were the categories "maiden" and "widow" so culturally significant in late medieval England that "single woman" was a residual category for women seen as anomalous? Was the category "single man" used in an equivalent way and, if not, why? This study offers a way into the complex process of social classification in late medieval England. All societies use classifications in order to understand and impose order. In this book, Cordelia Beattie views classification as a political act, an act of power: those classifying must make choices about which divisions are most important or about who falls into which category, and such choices have repercussions. Defining how a group or an individual should be labelled, means variables such as social status, gender, or age, are prioritized. Rather than isolate gender as a variable, this book examines how it relates to other social cleavages. Using a variety of approaches, from social and cultural history, to gender history, and medieval studies, its original methodology offers an innovative approach to a range of historical texts, from pastoral manuals to tax returns, and guild registers.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Medieval classification schemes

Single woman as a category of difference

Classification in Cultural Context

Clean maids, true wives, and steadfast widows

Femmes soles

Marriage, social change, and the politics of classification

The Single Woman in a Penitential Discourse

Penitential discourse, women, and sexual sin

Fourteen degrees of active lechery

Seven states of chastity

The Single Woman in a Fiscal Discourse

The schedule for the 1379 tax and the classification process

The Bishop's Lynn poll tax return of 1379

Widows, daughters, and work

Thinking with single women

The Single Woman in Guild Texts

Single sisters and the guild returns of 1388-9Maidens and single men: the register of the guild of the Holy Cross,Stratford-upon-Avon (1406-1535)

'Singlewoman' as a Personal Designation

Early examples of 'singlewoman'York's civic records c.1475-c.1540From the medieval to the early modern

Conclusion

Cultural Intersections

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