Endorsements

Medieval women and urban justice explores legal actions involving women in three medieval towns - Nottingham, Chester, and Winchester - during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It details women's involvement in litigation concerning debt and trespass, as well as the actions for which they were punished under local policing and regulations. Through the examination of original court records, the book reveals the identities of hundreds of ordinary urban women and the wide range of lawsuits and actions that they participated in. It pays close attention to the experiences of married women and the complex and malleable nature of coverture, which did not always make them legally invisible. The book concentrates on the main ways that women's personal actions drew them into contact with the law: litigation relating to complaints of debt and trespass, the regulation of trade, and the policing of misbehaviour by urban authorities. This allows for consideration and comparison of the differing ways that women's legal status was defined according to various situations and pleas. Throughout, the records of the three towns are compared to highlight the varying experiences of women living in different places and under different legal customs. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of medieval women, urban society, and the law, due to the detail with which it explains the workings of the law in different towns. It also makes a significant contribution to debates on the nature of coverture in the Middle Ages and women's ability to access justice.