| Description |
In this seminar we will explore women's lives in early modern England, ideas about gender and sex, and the interactions of people and ideas. While we will cover exceptional women (queens, witches, writers), we will focus on the ordinary women who made up the majority of the population. Readings will be drawn largely from primary texts, including letters, memoirs, testimony, ballads, ephemera, and advice books. By exploring how legal and religious institutions shaped women's lives, we will gain insight into major issues (family, law, poverty, consumption, crime, the social order, etc.) in early modern English society as a whole. |