Female Servants in Early Modern England

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910886966203321
• Autore: Mansell Charmian
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Oxford : , : British Academy, , 2024; ©2024
• ISBN: 1-80596-102-0; 0-19-890865-2; 0-19-890866-0
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (438 pages)
• Collana: British Academy Monographs
• Disciplina: 331.7616404609420903
• Soggetti: Women household employees - England - History; Households - England - History; England Social life and customs
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Nota di contenuto: Cover -- Half-title -- A British Academy Monograph -- Title page -- Copyright information -- Table of contents -- List of Figures -- List of Plates -- List of Tables -- Note on the Text -- Abbreviations -- Conventions -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Service in early modern England -- Church courts -- Methodology -- Landscapes, economies, and people -- How to use this book -- Part I -- 1 Church Courts and Their People -- Charting litigation -- Types of litigation -- Record survival -- Coming to court -- Gendered litigation -- Witnessing across the life cycle -- Means to testify -- Female servants in the church courts -- Identification -- Participation -- The servant witness -- The litigating servant -- Shadowy servants -- Conclusion -- 2 Tracing Lives -- Servants and status -- Signs and marks -- Expressing wealth -- Masters and mobility -- Hiring households -- Servant prospects -- Conclusion -- 3 Time for Service -- The age structure of service -- Early years -- Life-cycle servants -- Married women -- Never married -- Widowhood -- Conclusion -- Part II -- 4 On the Move -- Migration patterns -- Beyond the parish -- Patterns of service -- Length of employment -- The labour market -- On hiring fairs -- Finding work -- Family connections -- Conclusion -- 5 ; Navigating Service -- Patterns of labour -- With or without covenant -- Terms of agreement -- Wage negotiations -- Breaking agreements -- Conclusion -- 6 Working Lives -- Counting and categorising labour -- Time for work -- Seasonality of work -- The working week -- Time of day -- Accounting for labour -- Household economies -- Division of labour -- Calculating labour -- Training and skills -- Conclusion -- Part III -- 7 The Home and Beyond -- Categorising space -- Imagining space -- The home -- Beyond the home -- (En)forcing hierarchies -- Policing intimacy -- Discipline and labour.; Conclusion -- 8 Neighbours and Networks -- Familiarity and acquaintance -- Acquaintances -- Familiars -- Friendship -- Friendships and alliances -- Witnessing after service -- Reputation -- Conclusion -- 9 Remembering Service -- Retrieving memories -- Memories of labour -- Local histories -- National horizons -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- Subject Index -- Place Index -- Person Index.
• Sommario/riassunto: Excavating experiences of over a thousand women in service from church court testimony, Mansell argues that early modern service was unstable, but finely graded, fluid, and contingent. Intervening in histories of labour, gender, freedom, and law, Female Servants in Early Modern England rethinks our understanding of the institution of service.