2 - The Early Modern Household in Context

Summary

Having examined the broader physical, economic, social and cultural context of Thame, we turn now to the household itself. On the assertion that the household is a key component of human societies, this section aims to identify the essential functions which determine domestic life: as a mechanism for biological and cultural reproduction, as a focus of subsistence and productive activity and as a social group sharing a dwelling space. Such characteristics have implications for the way in which the group is formed, is organised and develops, and for its internal dynamics, including the ideology and practice of relationships between members of different gender, age and economic status. This chapter will also examine the extent to which the formation, composition and social dynamic of the seventeenth-century English household corresponded to such archetypes. Finally it turns to the nature of the dwelling itself, based on the archaeological evidence of extant seventeenth-century buildings in Thame.

As argued in the introduction to this study, human life largely consists of experience of the intimate material and social environment, and therefore the domestic arena in which much of life is experienced should logically form a significant area of study. The domestic sphere is one which forms an important source for historical research and is regarded as a fundamental component in early modern society, and yet not infrequently it is taken simply as a given part of that wider world, its internal dynamics unexplored, its characteristics restricted to a brief description and definitions privileging certain aspects, as a residential group, as a dwelling space or as an economic unit. It may be that it is the commonplace nature of the household that leads to this oversight, or that the very complexity of the household and the diversity of activities which take place within it contribute to the fragmented nature of inquiry. There are authors who have attempted to address this complexity, generally from the anthropological and archaeological perspective rather than the historical. It may thus be profitable, whilst recognising the variation in its form and operation through time and place, to attempt to discern core characteristics in order to determine its modus operandi and to understand the role that the domestic group plays in human life.