Overview

Providing an indispensable resource for students and scholars studying the history of medieval women and gender, this book provides a comprehensive depiction of women's lives in the 14th and 15th centuries. The late medieval period in England was one rich with opportunities for women, who played fundamental roles in family businesses as well as in the peasant community and economy, and who wrote letters, created autobiographies, and documented their spiritual journeys. Their lives fit into a pattern of seasonal celebrations and rituals shaped, for the majority of women, by work, marriage, and motherhood. The text further considers status distinctions, then shifts to experiences that affected all women, such as the ritual year, disease, food and drink, sex or celibacy, and religion. By providing an overview of the history of English women and gender in the 14th and 15th centuries, the book provides a background suitable for students as well as for academics beginning work in this field.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jennifer C. Edwards (Manhattan University, USA)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN:  

9798216443339

Pages:   328
Publication Date:   22 January 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Primary & secondary/elementary & high school ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Educational: Primary & Secondary
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Preface Introduction Chaucer Geography of England Women’s Lives Political Background Crises of the Fourteenth Century Writing and Sources Money Timeline Glossary 1. MARRIAGE Expectations Property and Negotiations Wardship Ceremony Love and Affection Marital Relations Concubinage Dissolution Feme Sole Widowhood 2. MOTHERHOOD Women’s Health Pregnancy Childbirth Baptism Churching Infertility Contraception and Abortion Child Rearing Single Mothers 3. ROYAL AND NOBLEWOMEN Ladies Charity and Spirituality Queenship The Queens 4. URBAN AND RURAL WOMEN Women’s Work Shape of the Year Manor Town Singlewomen Housing Clothing Food and Drink Markets Disease and Disability Death, Burial, Afterlife 5. SEX AND SEXUALITY Norms and Expectations Adultery and Fornication Mistresses and Concubines Prostitution Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Homosexuality Cross-Dressing 6. RELIGION Charity Lay Devotion Saints and Pilgrimage Monasticism Anchoresses and Alternative Religious Lives Church Architecture Heresy Jews in England Further Reading Index

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Author Information

Jennifer C. Edwards, PhD, is professor of history at Manhattan University, Riverdale, NY, USA.

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