The Economic Rights And Economic Activities Of Townswomen In England In The 14^th And 15^th Centuries

In recent years,the academic study of medieval women economic activity is increasingly attracting the attention of scholars of traditional patriarchy view,women have been as male appendages,their economic activities also has the characteristics of subjunctive.Women in English towns have higher legal status than women in continental Europe.Their economic rights and interests are protected by law,guild and urban customs.Thus women contributed to the development of the English economy in the late middle ages.This article will combine English urban women's economic rights and economic activity,put their economic activity in the legal perspective,and then define its economic status,indicates that in the late medieval England town women gained a certain degree of economic and social autonomy.The paper is divided into four chapters.The first chapter analyzes the background of British urban women's participation in economic activities.The English society of the 14th and 15th centuries was a time of danger and coexistence.On the one hand,a series of disasters represented by the famine and the black death have led to a population crisis in England,and a large number of women have gone out of their families and taken to work.on the other hand,Agricultural commercialization,the growth of trade and commerce makes English economy recovery after disaster,and obtain further development,which in turn provides a good business environment for the female employment.The second chapter discusses the economic rights of English urban women.In the late middle ages,the economic rights related to women in English towns were mainly:daughters' inheritance rights,widows' property inheritance rights and independent business rights.Independent business rights include two parts.One is that urban women can operate independently as "femme sole"(single women).The second is that the widow of a city artisan can inherit the rights of the deceased husband.Their economic rights provide material and legal protection for their economic activities.The third chapter introduces the main economic activities of English urban women in the 14th and 15th centuries.They are mainly active in the field of commodity circulation and handicraft industry.In the business sector,the size of women's business operations can be divided into commodity retailing and wholesale business.In the field of handicraft,women mainly engaged in silk industry and ale brewing,and a small number of female artisans were active in various fields of handicraft industry.The fourth chapter elaborates the influence of the economic activities of women in English towns in the 14th and 15th centuries.Mainly from the enhancement of female marital autonomy and economic status,and the development of city's economic in late middle age three aspects to discuss the late medieval England town women engaged in economic activities on the impact of involving women themselves and country two levels.In conclusion,The English social economy in the 14th and 15th centuries was in the transitional period,and it was in the transitional period from feudalism to capitalism.The economic activity of the women has driven the economic transformation of English society.The English urban women in the late middle ages obtained a certain degree of economic and social autonomy.