English Aristocratic Women, 1450-1550 : Marriage and Family, Property and Careers

Portraits of aristocratic women from the Yorkist and Tudor periods reveal elaborately clothed and bejeweled nobility, exemplars of their families' wealth. Unlike their male counterparts, their sitters have not been judged for their professional accomplishments. In this groundbreaking study, Barbara J. Harris argues that the roles of aristocratic wives, mothers, and widows constituted careers for women that had as much public and political significance and were as crucial for the survival and prosperity of their families and class as their husband's careers. Women, Harris demonstrates, were trained from an early age to manage their families' property and households; arrange the marriages and careers of their children; create, sustain, and exploit the client-patron relationships that were an essential element in politics at the regional and national levels; and, finally, manage the transmission and distribution of property from one generation to another, since most wives outlived their husbands. English Aristocratic Women unveils the lives of noblewomen whose historical influence has previously been dismissed, as well as those who became favorites at the court of Henry VIII. Through extensive archival research of documents belonging to more than twelve hundred families, Harris paints a collective portrait of upper-class women of this period. By recognizing the full significance of the aristocratic women's careers, this book reinterprets the politics and gender relations of early modern England. Barbara J. Harris is Professor of History and Women's Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her previous works include Edward Stafford, Third Duke of Buckingham, 1478-1521 . English Aristocratic Women combines a collective portrait of aristocratic women with an analysis of the particular, class-specific form of patriarchy and gender relations that flourished among the upper classes in Yorkist and early Tudor England. The first book on the subject based on extensive archival research, it examines the apparent contradiction between the patriarchal institutions that shaped women's lives and the wide range of their activities, control of resources, and power over themselves and members of their families. It demonstrates that the roles of aristocratic wives, mothers, and wideows constituted careers for women that had as much public and political significance and were as crucial for the survival and prosperity of their families and class as the careers of their husbands.; They managed their families' property and households; arranged the marriages and careers of their children; created, sustained, and exploited the client-patron relationships that were an essential element in politics at the regional and national levels and in the power of individual families; and, finally, managed the transmission and distribution of property from one generation to another, since most wives outlive their husbands. For women from the inner circle of court families, careers at court expanded and supported these roles. As in all careers, aristocratic women gained prestige, authority, power, and financial rewards for their activities. Recognising the full significance of aristocratic women's careers revises our understanding of Yorkist and early Tudor politics. In addition, the centrality of their roles means that reconstructing their activities creates a vivid picture of every aspect of aristocratic domestic, familial, economic, and political life Contents......Page 14 Introduction......Page 18 1. Structures of Patriarchy......Page 32 2. Daughters: Wives in the Making......Page 42 3. The Arrangement of Marriage......Page 58 4. Wives: Partnership and Patriarchy......Page 76 5. Single Women and Compulsory Marriage......Page 103 6. Motherhood: Bearing and Promoting the Next Generation......Page 114 7. Widows: Women of Property and Custodians of Their Families' Futures......Page 142 8. Beyond the Household: Family and Friends, Patronage and Power......Page 190 9. Their Brilliant Careers: Aristocratic Women at the Yorkist and Early Tudor Court......Page 225 Conclusion......Page 256 C......Page 260 I......Page 261 U......Page 262 W......Page 263 Abbreviations......Page 264 Notes......Page 266 Bibliography......Page 324 B......Page 348 C......Page 349 F......Page 351 G......Page 352 H......Page 353 L......Page 354 N......Page 355 P......Page 356 R......Page 357 S......Page 358 V......Page 359 W......Page 360 Z......Page 361 Contents 14 Introduction 18 1. Structures of Patriarchy 32 2. Daughters: Wives in the Making 42 3. The Arrangement of Marriage 58 4. Wives: Partnership and Patriarchy 76 5. Single Women and Compulsory Marriage 103 6. Motherhood: Bearing and Promoting the Next Generation 114 7. Widows: Women of Property and Custodians of Their Families' Futures 142 8. Beyond the Household: Family and Friends, Patronage and Power 190 9. Their Brilliant Careers: Aristocratic Women at the Yorkist and Early Tudor Court 225 Conclusion 256 Glossary 260 A 260 B 260 C 260 D 261 E 261 F 261 G 261 H 261 I 261 J 262 K 262 L 262 M 262 O 262 P 262 R 262 S 262 T 262 U 262 W 263 Abbreviations 264 Notes 266 Bibliography 324 Index 348 A 348 B 348 C 349 D 351 E 351 F 351 G 352 H 353 I 354 J 354 K 354 L 354 M 355 N 355 O 356 P 356 Q 357 R 357 S 358 T 359 U 359 V 359 W 360 Y 361 Z 361 This work, based on archival research, combines a collective portrait of aristocratic women with an analysis of the particular, class-specific form of patriarchy and gender relations that flourished among the upper classes in Yorkist and early Tudor England