It has been a challenge for historians of the early modern period to access the lives and voices of ordinary women. We know relatively more about elite women because their voices come through a variety of sources, ranging from literary works to notarial and court documents. Suzannah Lipscomb seeks to address this significant gap in the historical record through the use of consistorial registers for Protestant cities in Languedoc. Consistorial records are useful because they not only served as governing bodies for Protestant communities, but also as a morals court, passing along cases to the secular authorities when appropriate. She analyzes more than 1,200 cases found in twenty-five volumes of registers from ten cities, particularly Nîmes and Montauban, between 1560 and 1615. Despite periodic gaps in the records, the cases provide many insights into the everyday lives and concerns of the Protestant and Roman Catholic citizens of this region during a time marked by periods of religious war, plague, and famine. Although she is not the first to mine the consistorial records in Languedoc, Lipscomb is the first to consistently analyze them through the lens of gender, examining what they have to teach us about gender roles and the maintenance of patriarchy.
Lipscomb begins with an examination of the historiographies of elements central to her analysis: women in early modern France and the role of the consistories in the development and maintenance of Reformed communities in Languedoc. Each chapter is then rooted in the historiography, placing the experiences and beliefs of the elite and ordinary men and women of this region in France into the broader context of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century France, Germany, the Low Countries, and England. Chapter 1 provides a helpful summary of the broader history of Languedoc during this time period and an introduction to common contemporary theories about women and the practical realities of their lives. In chapters 2 through 7, Lipscomb then plunges into an analysis of the stories found in the consistory's records and what they teach us about religious beliefs, urban social relationships, courtship and marriage practices, licit sex and paillardise (fornication), and, finally, marital disharmony and violence.
On the basis of this evidence, Lipscomb argues that the women in Reformed communities exercised both agency and resourcefulness in accessing the consistory and their social networks to correct wrongs done to them by other women, their families, and, most importantly, their husbands. Even if they failed in their efforts, the women made noise in bold and public ways. Lipscomb contends that these women were not as unusual in early modern France as other historians have argued. Rather, what is unusual is that poor and middling women had access to a public body, the consistory, for redress because it did not charge for hearings. Although it was an institution of patriarchy, the consistory opened opportunities for women to challenge the authority of their husbands, fathers, and brothers in a public forum and demand some measure of justice. Lipscomb further asserts that in going to the consistory, it is clear that women also participated in the reinforcement of patriarchy when they gossiped about and reported the immoral sexual behaviors of other women, their spouses, and neighbors. In the short term, new ideas about women, sexuality, and marriage did not emerge as a result of religious reform in Languedoc. Examples from the consistory demonstrate that social and cultural change was a long and drawn-out process, and that popular conceptions of these areas of social life remained practically unchanged by 1615.
Because of the breadth of the topics analyzed in this book, it will appeal to a variety of audiences, particularly those interested in women, gender, and the Reformation. The insights into the use of gossip, well-chosen and colorful insults, and the everyday disputes of ordinary people in Protestant cities in Languedoc adds to our understanding of early modern urban life and will enrich any course on early modern social history. Overall, the lively recounting of the consistorial cases makes this an enjoyable and thought-provoking work that succeeds in giving voice to a variety of ordinary women.
