Medieval Europe was a litigious society and people of all background engaged in the legal courts for various reasons. Women were present as plaintiffs, defendants, and witnesses in both secular and religious courts. The records that these courts produced have served as invaluable sources for medieval historians providing us with a window into many different aspects of people’s lives. Court records not only tell us about people’s licit and illicit activities, they also give us insight into how society functioned in practice.
In today’s class, we explore the records of one court located in medieval city of London as a means of examining women’s presence in law courts. These records come from the Consistory court in London during the late 15th century. This court was religious and held jurisdiction over matters that fell under canon law. We’re consider women’s engagement in this court through an examination of some court records, compiled and translated by Dr. Shannon McSheffrey as well as listen to a podcast interview with Dr. McSheffrey about using such records as a medieval gender historian.
To Listen (all students)
Today’s podcast episode focuses on the work of Dr. Shannon McSheffrey as a digital historian who has compiled, translated, and edited a series of records from the Consistory court in 15th century London. These records provide us with a wealth of material to examine the sexual and marital lives of men and women in the late medieval period.
For in person students, please make sure to listen to this podcast episode BEFORE attending class.
Podcast available here:
To Read
Below are some examples of cases from the Consistory records. But please also feel free to poke around the broader website! It has a wealth of information about the Consistory court and medieval London.
Thomas Lak c Ann Munden — https://consistory.org/2022/03/04/lak-c-munden/(abduction/coerced marriage)
Alice Parker c Richard Tenwinter – https://consistory.org/2022/02/13/parker-c-tenwinter/ (different understandings of whether sex was premarital or not)
William Hawkyns c Margaret Heed – https://consistory.org/2022/02/10/hawkyns-c-heed/ (young woman of merchant elite pressured into marriage father wants)
Ann Styward c Richard Styward – https://consistory.org/2022/02/07/styward-c-styward/(divorce/judicial separation for cruelty)
William Newport c Isabel Newport – https://consistory.org/2022/01/18/newport-c-newport/(divorce/judicial separation for wife’s complete ungovernability [officially for adultery or cruelty])
To Do
In person students
I will lead discussion for today’s class as my own research has also focused on women’s engagement in the courts (in late medieval Valencia). We’ll discuss Dr. McSheffrey’s comments from the podcast episode and then examine some examples of Consistory cases together.
Online students
Questions will be posted in your chatboard channels as a means of starting discussion. They will connect the assigned readings and the podcast episode.
Students who are signed up to lead the online discussion are responsible for monitoring your classmates’ comments and responding to them to keep the discussion going. If there are questions that arise with which I can help, don’t forget to tag me @dwl