"Acta est fabula, plaudite!" : the role of women in late medieval England : the evidence from wills
Author(s)
Advisor
Date
2009Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to provide an insight into the role and place of
women in late medieval England through a qualitative and quantitative examination
of 403 women’s wills from 1300 to 1500. The sample used in this thesis is collected
from different sources to establish a general profile of women from different regions
of England as revealed by their distribution of property to wide range of relations
formed within and outside the household. A woman’s right to hold property, and in
relation to this, her testamentary behaviour were affected by her marital status, class,
and most especially, by her gender. Though disadvantaged under testamentary law,
women used an official arena such as wills to control the way their modest wealth
and property were distributed after death. Medieval women’s wills were almost the
only source in which women directly narrated their life stories, and by means of their
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wills, late medieval English women provided for their souls, their family and also
their friends. It is apparent from the evidence of their wills that women not only
followed the characteristics attributed to their sex but that the act of will-writing also
gave most women an opportunity to be autonomous and assertive. Thus, women
distributed freely their personal possessions for the well-being of those who were
important and dear to them at least when they were close to death.