A Survey Of Women’s Live In Medieval Rural England Around The Black Death

Based on the Walsham Court Rolls, this paper presents an analysis of women’slives in medieval rural England, especially their participation in the manorialadministration and litigation, their laboring and economic status, and their marriage,as well as the impact of the Black Death on their lives. The women in Walsham wereinferior to men in manorial management, and they could not be manorial officials.However, they took part in various litigations, tried to protect their benefits on themanor court, and sometimes even acted as the applicant and witness. Economically,they shouldered various works inside and outside of their houses, and occasionallyeven went out for a short-term job. They could also hold inheritance from theirparents, manage their dowry, and hand their possession down to their children. Insome cases, they even dealt with these possessions independently. When it comes tomarriage, women partly subjected to their lord, and had to pay merchet beforemarriage. However, lord’s control was limited before the Black Death, and the penaltyof women’s cohabiting and premarital pregnancy, and that of widow’s remarriagewere not so much high. But after the Black Death, landlords strengthened their controldue to lack of labor and decline of manor income. Such information from WalshamCourt Rolls shows us that women’s social status in medieval rural England is certainlyinferior to that of men, but is higher than scholars used to evaluate.