Offering an in-depth synthesis of recent scholarship in the field, this book presents a reconstruction of the Renaissance in Italy as both a social and a gendered experience. Successive chapters explore this theme in the context of work, law, politics, and notion of the state; and as expressed in Renaissance concepts of honour, representational art, medicine and magic, sexual practices, religious organization and spirituality. Introductory and concluding chapters on the historiography of Italian social and gender history draw these specific studies together.

This is the first general survey of the history of women in early modern Ireland. Based on an impressive range of source material, it presents the results of original research into women's lives and experiences in Ireland from 1500 to 1800. This was a time of considerable change in Ireland as English colonisation, religious reform and urbanisation transformed society on the island. Gaelic social order based on dynastic lordships and Brehon Law gave way to an anglicised and centralised form of government and an English legal system. Colonisation brought English and Scottish settlers to Ireland...

A major collection of essays by leading scholars of the social, political, economic and cultural situation of women and men in early modern Europe. The text provides examples of the major approaches - gender studies, family studies and studies of religion and popular culture.

Who, exactly, was responsible for the preservation of knowledge about the past? How did people preserve their recollections and pass them on to the next generation? Did they write them down or did they hand then on orally? The book is concerned with the memories of medieval people. In the Middle Ages, as now, men and women collected stories about the past and handed them down to posterity. Many memories centre in the aristocratic family or lineage while others are focussed on institutions such as monasteries or nunneries. The family and monastic contexts clearly illustrate that remembrance of...

This text looks at prostitution in London during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Drawing data from the archives of London's parishes, jury records, and reports from Southwark Gaol, the book aims to shed light on London society, its policing systemes, and its attitudes toward the female poor.

Focusing mainly on Britain, but offering comparisons with the experiences of women in other countries too, this study examines the impact of women campaigners and suffragettes on welfare and social policy formulation and implementation.

Explores the role the Unitarians played in female emancipation. Many leading female figures of the late 18th and 19th centuries were Unitarian, or influenced by Unitarian ideas. This study examines how successful they were in challenging the ideas and social conventions affecting women.

Focuses on the relationships which men formed with their wives in early modern England. The text looks at youth and courtship before marriage, male fears of their wives' gossip and sexual betrayal, and male friendships before and after marriage.

A revealing account of life below the stairs, based on close examination of court records and other documentary evidence, this bookexplores the gendered nature of domestic service, and makes a valuable contribution to the "separate spheres" debate.