Although recent years have witnessed the histories of crime and of women become two major areas of historical research, this collection of essays is the first attempt to synthesize such studies for the early modern period. The volume focuses on the nature and extent of women's criminal activity and how the legal system and society perceived women and crime between the late sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. Drawing together current research the essays illuminate various aspects of the lives of ordinary women: how they interacted with each other and in the community generally; the ways in which they participated in the formal legal process; the treatment they received at the hands of the judiciary and justices of the peace; ways in which "deviant" women perceived themselves and how they were viewed by contemporaries. Each essay in turn poses a challenge to accepted notions of the relationship between women and the courts. This book is intended for undergraduate courses: Early modern British history, women's history, specials on witchcraft, punishment and crime. Women's studies.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Garthine Walker reveals that women were not treated leniently by the courts and that beliefs about gender and order impacted on real legal outcomes in early modern England. She demonstrates that the household role had as much to do with the nature of criminality as the individual in this period. Challenging hitherto accepted views regarding gender stereotyping, this book illuminates the complexities of everyday English life in the early modern period.

An extended study of gender and crime in early modern England. It considers the ways in which criminal behaviour and perceptions of criminality were informed by ideas about gender and order, and explores their practical consequences for the men and women who were brought before the criminal courts. Dr Walker's innovative approach demonstrates that, contrary to received opinion, the law was often structured so as to make the treatment of women and men before the courts incommensurable. For the first time, early modern criminality is explored in terms of masculinity as well as femininity. Illuminating the interactions between gender and other categories such as class and civil war have implications not merely for the historiography of crime but for the social history of early modern England as a whole. This study therefore goes beyond conventional studies, and challenges hitherto accepted views of social interaction in the period.

This volume of the Writing History series examines how theory has contributed, both explicitly and implicitly, to the writing of early modern history. It focuses upon neither abstract theory nor historiography per se, but upon the practical application and influence of theory in early modern scholarship. Throughout the book, practicing historians address theories and concepts in the light of their distinctive contribution to the period c. 1500 to c. 1800. Part 1 evaluates the contribution of certain influential schools of thought by offering an accessible explanation of particular theories, demonstrating their merits and demerits through examples of historical writing about a range of topics (from witchcraft to work, social relations to science, the family to dreams, the English Civil War to the French Revolution). Switching the focus on to key organizing themes such as the economy, politics and religion, Part 2 demonstrates how various theories and assumptions have informed the development of historical work on these topics. By enhancing our comprehension of each topic, this approach also offers a greater understanding of the contours of early modern history as a discipline.

Recent years have witnessed a considerable body of published research on both crime and women in the early modern period. There have been few attempts, however, to synthesize such studies and to examine in detail the relationship between the law and women's lives. This collection of seven original essays explores that relationship by examining the nature and extent of women's criminal activity and surveying the connections between women, their legal position, and their involvement in legal processes.

The words, actions, and treatment of women who came before the courts as plaintiffs, defendants, and witnesses are examined here in a variety of contexts, ranging from the assertion of a variety of rights to scolding, thieving, and witchcraft. The contributors demonstrate that women were far from passive victims in a male-dominated legal system. As both breakers of the law and important agents of its enforcement, women were far more assertive than their formal legal positions would suggest.

The contributors are Garthine Walker, Jenny Kermode, Laura Gowing, Martin Ingram, Jim Sharpe, Malcolm Gaskill, Geoffrey L. Hudson, and Tim Stretton.