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Hanawalt, Barbara A. 2007. The Wealth of Wives: Women, Law, and Economy in Late Medieval London. Oxford University Press, New York. ISBN 978-0-19-531176-1
As my regular readers are aware, I have this series (hey, two is a series, right?) of survey essays on topics relevant to writing historic fiction about lesbians. (The previous topics have been cross-dressing/passing and sex.) The next essay I have in mind covers the issue of types of women's economic independence from the traditional structures of (heterosexual) marriage. That is: when creating fictional historic characters, what are the plausible and viable economic situations I can place that character in where she can survive and thrive without being married to a man. (Mind you, not all my fictional lesbians are unmarried, but the majority of my storylines involve some level of economic independence.) This is all a very long prelude to why I'm interested in studies on the economic situation of women in various historic societies.
Hanawalt is looking specifically at women in 14-15th century London -- largely using the lens of legal documents and records -- in terms of how they managed their own wealth. How it came to them, under what circumstances they had control over its disposition, and how they chose to dispose of it. Although the title makes reference to "wives" the discussions cover women of all statuses: unmarried, married, and widowed. The discussion is very detailed and full of personal correspondence and anecdotal examples. One of the major themes is the contrast between the "northern european" pattern where daughters received shares of family wealth equivalent to sons and where widows stood in a strong position with regard to finances, compared to the "mediterranean" pattern where women's access to familial wealth or to marital wealth after a spouse's death were much more constrained. I haven't had a chance to do more than leaf through it briefly at this point, but I expect to mine the chapters deeply when I eventually sit down to do my economic survey.
As my regular readers are aware, I have this series (hey, two is a series, right?) of survey essays on topics relevant to writing historic fiction about lesbians. (The previous topics have been cross-dressing/passing and sex.) The next essay I have in mind covers the issue of types of women's economic independence from the traditional structures of (heterosexual) marriage. That is: when creating fictional historic characters, what are the plausible and viable economic situations I can place that character in where she can survive and thrive without being married to a man. (Mind you, not all my fictional lesbians are unmarried, but the majority of my storylines involve some level of economic independence.) This is all a very long prelude to why I'm interested in studies on the economic situation of women in various historic societies.
Hanawalt is looking specifically at women in 14-15th century London -- largely using the lens of legal documents and records -- in terms of how they managed their own wealth. How it came to them, under what circumstances they had control over its disposition, and how they chose to dispose of it. Although the title makes reference to "wives" the discussions cover women of all statuses: unmarried, married, and widowed. The discussion is very detailed and full of personal correspondence and anecdotal examples. One of the major themes is the contrast between the "northern european" pattern where daughters received shares of family wealth equivalent to sons and where widows stood in a strong position with regard to finances, compared to the "mediterranean" pattern where women's access to familial wealth or to marital wealth after a spouse's death were much more constrained. I haven't had a chance to do more than leaf through it briefly at this point, but I expect to mine the chapters deeply when I eventually sit down to do my economic survey.
