My Account Log in

3 options

Female Servants in Early Modern England.

British Academy Scholarship Online Available online

View online

DOAB Directory of Open Access Books Available online

View online

JSTOR Books Open Access Available online

View online
Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Mansell, Charmian.
Series:
British Academy Monographs
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Women household employees--England--History.
Women household employees.
Households--England--History.
Households.
England--Social life and customs.
England.
Physical Description:
1 online resource (438 pages)
Edition:
1st ed.
Place of Publication:
Oxford : British Academy, 2024.
Summary:
Excavating experiences of over a thousand women in service from church court testimony, Mansell argues that early modern service was unstable, but finely graded, fluid, and contingent. Intervening in histories of labour, gender, freedom, and law, Female Servants in Early Modern England rethinks our understanding of the institution of service.
Contents:
Cover
Half-title
A British Academy Monograph
Title page
Copyright information
Table of contents
List of Figures
List of Plates
List of Tables
Note on the Text
Abbreviations
Conventions
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Service in early modern England
Church courts
Methodology
Landscapes, economies, and people
How to use this book
Part I
1 Church Courts and Their People
Charting litigation
Types of litigation
Record survival
Coming to court
Gendered litigation
Witnessing across the life cycle
Means to testify
Female servants in the church courts
Identification
Participation
The servant witness
The litigating servant
Shadowy servants
Conclusion
2 Tracing Lives
Servants and status
Signs and marks
Expressing wealth
Masters and mobility
Hiring households
Servant prospects
3 Time for Service
The age structure of service
Early years
Life-cycle servants
Married women
Never married
Widowhood
Part II
4 On the Move
Migration patterns
Beyond the parish
Patterns of service
Length of employment
The labour market
On hiring fairs
Finding work
Family connections
5 Navigating Service
Patterns of labour
With or without covenant
Terms of agreement
Wage negotiations
Breaking agreements
6 Working Lives
Counting and categorising labour
Time for work
Seasonality of work
The working week
Time of day
Accounting for labour
Household economies
Division of labour
Calculating labour
Training and skills
Part III
7 The Home and Beyond
Categorising space
Imagining space
The home
Beyond the home
(En)forcing hierarchies
Policing intimacy
Discipline and labour.
Conclusion
8 Neighbours and Networks
Familiarity and acquaintance
Acquaintances
Familiars
Friendship
Friendships and alliances
Witnessing after service
Reputation
9 Remembering Service
Retrieving memories
Memories of labour
Local histories
National horizons
Appendix
Bibliography
Subject Index
Place Index
Person Index.
Notes:
Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.
ISBN:
1-80596-102-0
0-19-890865-2
0-19-890866-0
OCLC:
1461997208

The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.

Find

Home Release notes

My Account

Shelf Request an item Bookmarks Fines and fees Settings

Guides

Using the Find catalog Using Articles+ Using your account