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Married women and their landholdings: the evidence from feet of fines, 1310–1509

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2013

MARGARET YATES
MARGARET YATES*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Reading.
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Abstract

Despite the recent expansion in studies of medieval women, uncertainty surrounds their married lives due to the social and legal constraints that existed at that time. Here it is argued that feet of fines provide a lens, albeit partial, on the activities of married women who were effectively managing the disposal and inheritance of their landed estates. At the same time the importance to the purchaser of ensuring the lawful acquisition of the property is also observed. As a result, greater insights into married women and their property in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are obtained.

Les femmes mariées et leurs propriétés foncières: ce que disent les talons des actes d'agréments fonciers, 1310–1509

Malgré nombre de travaux récents sur les femmes au Moyen Age, des incertitudes demeurent quant à leur vie de femmes mariées en raison des contraintes sociales et juridiques qui pesaient à l'époque sur elles. Dans cet essai, on fait valoir que les actes d'agréments fonciers (dont les talons sont conservés) permettent d'appréhender de près, quoique partiellement, les activités des femmes mariées qui s'occupaient efficacement de la gestion et de la transmission de leurs propriétés foncières. En même temps, on observe également l'importance qu'il y avait pour l'acheteur de s'assurer que l'acquisition d'une propriété était bien valide et légale. Il en résulte un meilleur aperçu des femmes mariées et de leurs biens fonciers aux XIVe et XVe siècles.

Ehefrauen und ihr landbesitz: die befunde der bei den königlichen gerichten registrierten besitzübertragungen, 1310–1509

Obwohl die Zahl der Untersuchungen über Frauen im Mittelalter in letzter Zeit kräftig angestiegen ist, wissen wir auf Grund der sozialen und rechtlichen Einschränkungen, denen Frauen damals ausgesetzt waren, über ihr Eheleben noch immer kaum bescheid. Dieser Beitrag geht davon aus, dass die bei den königlichen Gerichten registrierten Besitzübertragungen ein – wenn auch leider nur beschränktes – Brennglas darstellen, das es uns erlaubt, die Aktivitäten von Ehefrauen zu betrachten, die die Veräußerung und Vererbung ihres Landbesitzes erfolgreich zu bewerkstelligen wussten. Dabei wird zugleich deutlich, wie wichtig es für den Käufer war, den rechtmäßigen Erwerb des betreffenden Grundstücks sicherzustellen. Dadurch ergeben sich neue und bessere Einsichten in die Situation von Ehefrauen und ihren Landbesitz im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert.

Type
Research Article
Information
Continuity and Change , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , August 2013 , pp. 163 - 185
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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References

ENDNOTES

1 Mate, M., Women in medieval English society (Cambridge, 1999), 1Google Scholar. The scale and diversity of publications is revealed in the Feminae: medieval women and gender index at http://inpress.lib.uiowa.edu/feminae/WhatIsFeminae.aspx (accessed March 2013).

2 For an excellent discussion of medieval women, see Mate, M., Daughters, wives and widows after the Black Death (Woodbridge, 1998)Google Scholar, and for their position in law, 76–93. For a thorough examination of women and property, see Kaye, J. M., Medieval English conveyances (Cambridge, 2009), 185–208CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Baker, J. H., An introduction to English legal history, 3rd edn. (London, 1990), 550–2Google Scholar.

4 The National Archives, UK (hereafter TNA), CP25/1. The fines are arranged in county series with further series of fines (those for ‘Divers counties’ and ‘Unknown’ places) that deal with land in several counties.

5 Kaye, Medieval English conveyances, 194–8; Baker, Introduction, 551–5.

6 Those of a more optimistic view include P. J. P. Goldberg, Women, work and life cycle in a medieval economy (Oxford, 1992) and Barron, C., ‘The “golden age” of women in medieval London’, Reading Medieval Studies 15 (1989), 35–58Google Scholar; whereas J. M. Bennett, ‘Medieval women, modern women: across the great divide’, in D. Aers ed., Culture and history 1350–1600 (Hemel Hempstead, 1992), 147–75 and Bardsley, S., ‘Women's work reconsidered: gender and wage differentiation in late medieval England’, Past and Present 165, 1 (1999), 3–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar tend towards a more pessimistic interpretation.

7 L. D. Benson ed., The Riverside Chaucer, 3rd edn. (Oxford, 1987); L. D. Benson, ed., The Canterbury tales, lines (ll.) 1038–40.

8 S. Rigby, Chaucer in context (Manchester, 1996), 118, 124, 127, 138–9.

9 Mate, Daughters, wives and widows, 76–93. E. Hawkes, ‘[S]he will … protect and defend her rights boldly by law and reason …’: ‘Women's knowledge of common law and equity courts in late-medieval England’, in N. J. Menuge ed., Medieval women and the law (Woodbridge, 2000), 145–61.

10 E. Power, Medieval women (Cambridge, 1975), 9.

11 For what follows on married women and their landed estates, I have drawn upon Kaye, Medieval English conveyances, 185–208. Baker, Introduction, 551–5.

12 Baker, Introduction, 296–315.

13 F. Pollock and F. W. Maitland, The history of English law, vol. II (Cambridge, 1968), 102; Kaye, Medieval English conveyances, 186, 194–8.

14 Pollock and Maitland, History of English law, vol. II, 102.

15 It needs to be noted that final concords do not bear on dower. If a woman held property as her dower, then her interest was limited to her own life: she neither had the power to alienate nor could her right be barred by her participation in a fine. Kaye, Medieval English conveyances, 203–5.

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17 That is, the property was divided equally between the inheriting sisters. Baker, Introduction, 306–7.

18 Baker, Introduction, 309–12; J. M. W. Bean, ‘Landlords’, in E. Miller ed., Agrarian history of England and Wales, vol. III, 1348–1500 (Cambridge, 1991), 549–50, 555; Jefferies, P., ‘The medieval use as family law and custom: the Berkshire gentry in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries’, Southern History 1 (1979), 45–69Google Scholar, here 51.

19 Also noticed by C. Elrington, ‘Women land-owners in medieval Gloucestershire as seen in feet of fines’, in J. Bettey ed., Archives and local history in Bristol and Gloucestershire (The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 2007), 7–16.

20 Kaye, Medieval English conveyances, 186.

21 Pollock and Maitland, History of English law, vol. II, 95, italics added.

22 Inter vivos transfers were those that took place between living persons such as a sale or gift, as opposed to a legacy.

23 A writ was a written command issued by the court in the name of the king directing, usually the sheriff, to summon the parties to appear in court. By 1310 the predominant form for fines was the writ of covenant which alleged a broken promise or agreement. Baker, Introduction, 361–5.

24 C. A. F. Meekings ed., Abstracts of Surrey feet of fines 1509–1558 (Surrey Record Society, xlv, xlvi, 1946), xii–xiii. Pollock and Maitland, History of English law, vol. II, 98.

25 These documents took a characteristic form whereby each copy was separated from the other two by an indented line containing the word cyrographum which was cut through, hence the term chirograph. Meekings, Surrey fines, ix–x. The three sections could be re-assembled if required as in the image in C. W. Foster ed., Final concords of the county of Lincoln (Lincoln Record Society, 17, 1920), frontispiece.

26 Pollock and Maitland, History of English law, vol. I, 219; vol. II, 96–106.

27 Kaye, Medieval English conveyances, 3–4, 186; C. R. Elrington ed., Abstracts of feet of fines relating to Wiltshire for the reign of Edward III (Wiltshire Record Society, xxix, 1974), ix.

28 The Statute 34 Edward III, c.16 non claim; Pollock and Maitland, History of English law, vol. II, 101–2; Meekings, Surrey fines, xxv–xxvii. Also see Section 3 of this paper for details of the decline in numbers of fines.

29 First Statute of Fines, 4 Henry VII, c.24; Meekings, Surrey fines, xxvi; Baker, Introduction, 320.

30 For a discussion of and explanation of the different rules governing the transfer of freehold property, see Baker, Introduction, 296–317.

31 The problems are set out in a familiar mid-fifteenth century poem printed in K. B. McFarlane, England in the fifteenth century (London, 1981), 193–4 quoting British Library, Royal MS. 17B xlvii, 59r which he dated as 1452–1456. McFarlane provided additional references to other versions of the poem. There is a similar poem in Trinity College Cambridge manuscript poem and recited in J. Alsop, D., ‘A late medieval guide to land purchase’, Agricultural History 57 (1983), 161–4Google Scholar.

32 Dower is the portion (commonly a third) of the deceased husband's estate that the law allows to his widow for her life. R. Archer, ‘Rich old ladies: the problem of late medieval dowagers’, in A. J. Pollard ed., Property and politics (Gloucester, 1984), 19; by contrast, see Mate, Daughters, wives and widows, 133.

33 Cited in Mate, Women in medieval English society, 80–2.

34 A document dated 15 July 1195 records that this was the first chirograph made in the form of three chirographs, with one part going to each of the two litigants and one part to remain in the treasury to serve as a record. Pollock and Maitland, History of English law, vol. II, 97.

35 It was the plea rolls (CP40) for the Hilary (smallest) term that were counted and plotted on the graph. Note the different scale.

36 A. Musson and W. M. Ormrod, The evolution of English justice (Basingstoke, 1999).

37 A. L. Brown, The governance of late medieval England 1272–1461 (London, 1989), 13; N. Neilson, ‘The Court of Common Pleas’, in J. F. Willard, W. A. Morris and W. H. Dunham eds., The English government at work 1327–1336 (Cambridge, MA, 1950), 259–85; M. Hastings, The Court of Common Pleas in fifteenth century England (New York, 1947); Musson and Ormrod, Evolution of English justice.

38 There was a close and significant statistical association between all pairings of the counties using Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient.

39 Campbell, B. M. S., ‘The agrarian problem in the early fourteenth century’, Past and Present 188 (2005), 3–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Davies, M. and Kissock, J., ‘The feet of fines, the land market and the English agricultural crisis of 1315 to 1322’, Journal of Historical Geography 30 (2004), 215–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

40 M. Ormrod, ‘The English government and the Black Death of 1348–49’, in M. Ormrod ed., England in the fourteenth century (Woodbridge, 1986), 175–88 and his ‘Politics of pestilence’, in M. Ormrod and P. Lindley eds., The Black Death in England (Stamford, 1996), 147–81.

41 For a general introduction to the political context of the time, see M. H. Keen, England in the later middle ages (London, 1988).

42 For a recent re-evaluation of the size of the population at this time, see Hatcher, J., Piper, A. J. and Stone, D., ‘Monastic mortality: Durham Priory, 1395–1529’, Economic History Review 59, 4 (2006), 667–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

43 C. Carpenter, Locality and polity: a study of Warwickshire landed society, 1401–1499 (Cambridge, 1992), 119–52.

44 M. Yates, ‘The descriptions of land found in inquisitions post mortem and feet of fines: a case study of Berkshire’, in M. Hicks ed., The fifteenth-century inquisitions post mortem. A companion (Woodbridge, 2012), 145–54.

45 34 Edward III, c.16 non claim.

46 Whittle, J. and Yates, M., ‘Pays Réel or Pays Légal? Contrasting patterns of land tenure and social structure in eastern Norfolk and western Berkshire, 1450–1600’, Agricultural History Review 48 (2000), 1–26Google Scholar; M. Yates, ‘Berkshire's landowners in 1316’, in J. Dils and M. Yates eds., An historical atlas of Berkshire, 2nd edn. (Reading, 2012), 40–1.

47 The total number of fines in the Berkshire files 1310–1509 is 1,321. The lands in other counties contained in the Divers and Unknown files (235 fines) have been excluded from this analysis due to the large proportion of non-resident landowners and varying emphases on lands beyond Berkshire, but are contained in the forthcoming edition of Abstracts of feet of fines for the county of Berkshire 1306–1509 (Berkshire Record Society).

48 Baker, Introduction, 320.

49 Kaye also found that the employment of the fine by the husband to get around dower was not common. Kaye, Medieval English conveyances, 202–5.

50 The total number of single women acting as parties to fines between 1310 and 1509 was: 41 as plaintiff and 22 as defendants; widows 14 as plaintiff and 22 as defendants; compared with married women 407 as plaintiff and 910 as defendants.

51 Meekings, Surrey fines, xxxix–xl.

52 Elrington, ‘Women land-owners’.

53 Payling, S. J., ‘Social mobility, demographic change, and landed society in late medieval England’, Economic History Review 45, 1 (1992), 51–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

54 Payling, ‘Social mobility’, 54; J. C. Russell, British medieval population (Albuquerque, 1948), 240–1.

55 TNA, CP25/1/11/60/7 date 1341; CP25/1/11/62/10 date 1346.

56 TNA, CP25/1/13/84/14.

57 There were only four instances of single women and two widows and thus the majority were married women.

58 Payling, ‘Social mobility’, 57–8. Bean, in a study of feet of fines for five counties, found that middling and lower gentry did not maintain inheritance in the male line whereas members of the upper gentry and nobility did. Bean, ‘Landlords’, 558.

59 A further three were associated with Henry de Aldrynton in 1354 and two with William Perkyns in 1424.

60 TNA, CP25/1/13/88/15, 13/89/2, 13/89/22.

61 There were only four initial and final right in the 39 fines that usually related to the management of the inheritance to the property.

62 An examination of the fines in the Divers county files did not reveal either an increase in the number of fines (there was a marked dearth in the 1470s) or a preponderance of noble or gentle parties to the fines.

63 Bean, ‘Landlords’, 547–54. Baker, Introduction, 283–9.

64 The categories chosen to subdivide the fines are based on those identified by Meekings in his descriptions of the forms of fine: sur cognisans de droit come ceo; sur cognisans de droit tantum; sur cognisans de droit with release; sur done graunt et render; sur graunt et render or sur concessit et reddidit. Meekings, Surrey fines, xxxiii–xlviii.

65 Meekings, Surrey fines, xxxiv–xxxv fines sur cognisans de droit tantum.

66 TNA, CP25/1/13/84/15; CP25/1/85/4, 6, 20, 21.

67 Double fines include the initial admission of right based on a precedent gift, release and warranty; followed by a grant back and render clause. Meekings, Surrey fines, xxxvi–xxxviii identified five subdivisions of this form of fine and these inform the choice of themes discussed below.

68 TNA, CP25/1/11/61/5.

69 TNA, CP25/1/11/58/13 in 1339; CP25/1/11/59/6 in 1340; CP25/1/11/59/14 in 1340; CP25/1/11/61/7 in 1343. For more details of his land acquisitions, see P. Jefferies, ‘A consideration of some aspects of landholding in medieval Berkshire’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Reading, 1972), 138–62, 297, 549.

70 TNA, CP25/1/11/56/1 in 1334. W. Page and P. H. Ditchfield eds., The Victoria history of the county of Berkshire IV (London, 1924), 259.

71 TNA, CP25/1/13/87/31.

72 The three fines restricting the entail to men have been dealt with above.

73 TNA, CP25/1/13/88/24.

74 Page and Ditchfield, Berkshire III, 493–4. A fine for this transaction was not found in either the county or Divers county files.

75 In addition to the fines and other documents cited below, for further details, see the biography of William Fynderne in J. Roskell, L. Clark and C. Rawcliffe eds., The House of Commons 1386–1421, vol. III (Stroud, 1992), 152–4. Jefferies, ‘A consideration of some aspects of landholding’, 73–7. I thank Linda Clark for pointing out the significance of William Fynderne and for additional biographical details.

76 For background to the Childrey lands, see Jefferies, P. J., ‘Social mobility in the fourteenth century: the example of the Chelreys of Berkshire’, Oxoniensia 41 (1976), 324–36Google Scholar. Roskell, House of Commons, vol. II, 566–7.

77 E. Green ed., Pedes finium, commonly called feet of fines, for the county of Somerset (Somerset Record Society, 17, 22, 1898, 1902), vol. 17, 208; vol. 22, 37.

78 J. L. Kirby ed., Abstracts of feet of fines relating to Wiltshire, 1377–1509 (Wiltshire Record Society, 41, 1986), 72.

79 Jefferies, ‘A consideration of some aspects of landholding’, 76.

80 McFarlane, England in the fifteenth century; Carpenter, Locality and polity.

81 TNA, CP25/1/13/82/11, 84/16. Roskell, House of Commons, vol. III, 153 for further details.

82 The brass is the largest in Berkshire. H. T. Morley, Monumental brasses of Berkshire (Reading, 1924), 69. Their son Thomas was executed after the battle of Hexham although the Fynderne lands had been forfeit earlier in 1461 following his attainder as a supporter of the Lancastrians. Roskell, House of Commons, vol. III, 154.

83 That is, one acre of land in Childrey and the advowson of the churches of Childrey, Letcombe Bassett and the chantry of St Mary Childrey. TNA, CP25/1/13/85/1. In this and the following examples of Elizabeth's acquisition of lands by final concord the documents stipulate that the grant is to her right heirs.

84 TNA, CP25/1/13/85/22. The property comprising one messuage, 60 acres of land and 20 acres of meadow.

85 Six messuages, 200 acres of land, 60 acres of meadow, 60 acres of pasture, 100 acres of wood and 26s 8d rent in Aldermaston, Woolhampton, Reading, Shinfield and Sulhampstead, TNA, CP25/1/13/86/2.

86 TNA, C140/10/20. Details of the fines are entered in the inquisitions.

87 Jefferies, ‘The medieval use’, 52.

88 Yates, M., ‘The market in freehold land 1300–1500: the evidence of feet of fines’, Economic History Review 66, 2 (2013), 579–600CrossRefGoogle Scholar.