Garthine Walker reveals that women were not treated leniently by the courts and that beliefs about gender and order impacted on real legal outcomes in early modern England. She demonstrates that the household role had as much to do with the nature of criminality as the individual in this period. Challenging hitherto accepted views regarding gender stereotyping, this book illuminates the complexities of everyday English life in the early modern period.
Author(s): Garthine Walker
Series: Cambridge studies in early modern British history
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 332
City: New York
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Dedication......Page 9
CONTENTS......Page 11
FIGURES AND TABLES......Page 13
PREFACE......Page 15
NOTE ON QUOTATIONS AND DATES......Page 17
ABBREVIATIONS......Page 18
HISTORIES OF CRIME AND GENDER......Page 19
HOUSEHOLD......Page 27
THE SETTING......Page 31
THE SCOPE OF THIS BOOK......Page 40
2 Men’s non-lethal violence......Page 41
MEASURING VIOLENCE......Page 42
Narrative conventions......Page 47
Household honour......Page 51
A code of honour and a language of law......Page 55
Hierarchy and status......Page 58
Restraint versus fisticuffs......Page 62
MEN’S VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN......Page 67
The denial of female defences......Page 68
Breaking women’s boundaries......Page 70
Sex......Page 73
The pregnant body......Page 78
Domestic abuse......Page 81
Household concerns......Page 93
Tooth and nail......Page 95
Hammer and tongs......Page 97
WOMEN’S VIOLENCE, MEN’S SILENCE......Page 99
ASSERTIONS OF FEMALE FORCE......Page 104
WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN......Page 114
SCOLDING......Page 117
The scold......Page 118
Prosecution......Page 121
Punishment......Page 126
4 Homicide, gender and justice......Page 131
CATEGORIES OF CULPABILITY......Page 132
Murder most foul......Page 134
Manslaughter......Page 139
Excusable homicide......Page 148
WOMEN, DISORDER AND DEEDS AGAINST NATURE......Page 153
The petty traitor and the poisoneress......Page 156
No natural mother?......Page 166
5 Theft and related offences......Page 177
PATTERNS OF CRIMINALITY......Page 178
Networks of exchange......Page 180
Criminal associations......Page 188
BEFORE THE COURTS......Page 194
Larcenists......Page 195
Burglars and housebreakers......Page 199
Cutpurses and pickpockets......Page 203
Robbers......Page 208
Horse-thieves......Page 213
Benefits of belly and clergy compared......Page 215
The feme covert......Page 219
6 Authority, agency and law......Page 228
AN ELITE MECHANISM......Page 231
PLEBEIAN USE OF THE LAW......Page 239
Bastard bearers......Page 245
Poor cottagers......Page 255
RESISTANCE: FORCIBLE RESCUES......Page 267
POPULAR RESISTANCE......Page 280
7 Conclusion......Page 288
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES......Page 298
PRIMARY PRINTED SOURCES......Page 299
BOOKS AND ARTICLES......Page 307
UNPUBLISHED DISSERTATIONS......Page 323
INDEX......Page 324
