Women and property in early modern England

"The wives and daughters of yeomen, husbandmen, labourers, craftsmen and tradesmen constituted over 90 per cent of the female population in pre-industrial centuries. Yet it is the aristocratic heiresses and wealthy dowagers who are well known today and seen as prototypes. This ground-breaking book reveals the day-to-day economic reality of the vast majority of women between the late sixteenth and the early eighteenth centuries." "Drawing on previously unused documents, Amy Louise Erickson reconstructs the lives of ordinary English women. She contrasts the written law of the land with the actual practice of people in the countryside. The complex and fascinating results completely revise the traditional picture of women's economic status in the early modern period." "Dr Erickson's research shows how women owned, managed and inherited many forms of property on a scale previously unrecognized. Her analysis has far-reaching implications for our understanding of how early modern society actually worked. Women and Property is essential reading for anyone interested in women, law and the past."--Jacket.