| Description |
x, 337 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm. |
| Series |
The Middle Ages series
|
|
Middle Ages series.
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-322) and index. |
| Contents |
"My wedding gown to make a vestment" : housekeeping and churchkeeping -- Hatched, matched, and dispatched : life cycles and the liturgy -- "My pew in the middle aisle" : women at mass -- Maidens' lights and wives' stores : women's parish groups -- "To save them from binding on Hock Tuesday" : the rise of a women's holiday -- A cross out of bread crumbs : women's piety and impiety -- Epilogue: Women and the Reformation -- Appendix A: All-women's groups -- Appendix B: Hocktide celebrations. |
| Summary |
"There was immense social and economic upheaval between the Black Death and the English Reformation, and contemporary writers often blamed this upheaval on immorality, singling out women's behavior for particular censure. Late medieval moral treatises and sermons increasingly connected good behavior for women with Christianity, and their failure to conform to sin. Katherine L. French argues, however, that medieval laywomen both coped with the chaotic changes following the plague and justified their own changing behavior by participating in local religion. Through active engagement in the parish church, the basic unit of public worship, women promoted and validated their own interests and responsibilities." "As The Good Women of the Parish shows, the great majority of women practiced their religion in a parish church. By looking at women's contributions to parish maintenance, the ways they shaped the liturgy and church seating arrangements, and their increasing opportunities for collective action in all-women's groups, the book argues that gendered behavior was central to parish life and that women's parish activities gave them increasing visibility and even on occasion authority. In the face of demands for silence, modesty, and passivity, women of every social status used religious practices as an important source of self-expression, creativity, and agency."--BOOK JACKET. |
| Subject |
Parishes -- England -- History -- To 1500.
|
|
Parishes. |
|
England. |
|
History. |
| Chronological Term |
To 1500 |
| Subject |
Parishes -- England -- History -- 16th century.
|
| Chronological Term |
16th century |
| Subject |
Women -- Religious life -- England -- History -- To 1500.
|
|
Women -- Religious life. |
|
Women -- Religious life -- England -- History -- 16th century.
|
|
Women in church work -- England -- History -- To 1500.
|
|
Women in church work. |
|
Women in church work -- England -- History -- 16th century.
|
|
Women -- England -- Social conditions -- 16th century.
|
|
Women. |
|
Social conditions. |
|
Women -- England -- History -- Middle Ages, 500-1500.
|
|
Black Death -- Social aspects -- England.
|
|
Black death -- Social aspects. |
|
Black Death. |
|
Women. |
|
Womyn. |
| ISBN |
9780812240535 hardback alkaline paper |
|
0812240537 hardback alkaline paper |
|
