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Female merchants? Women, debt and trade in later medieval England, 1266-1532

Goddard, Richard

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Abstract

This article examines English women who were engaged in wholesale long-distance or international trade in the later Middle Ages. These women made up only a small proportion of English merchants, averaging about 3 to 4 percent of the mercantile population, often working in partnership with their husbands. The article systematically quantifies, for the first time, women's penetration into this male-dominated trade and adds new perspectives to our understanding of women and trade in the Middle Ages by using both debt and customs records. It poses important questions about women's economic roles, the nature or distinctiveness of their businesses, and the ways that their actions fitted within mercantile activity more broadly. It examines the extent to which wives acted as equal economic partners with their husbands and also assesses the extent to which women's economic potential or agency in wholesale trade was shaped, or indeed constrained, by economic and patriarchal forces. It concludes by arguing that patriarchy certainly limited female access to wholesale markets, particularly after 1300, along with other linked features that also shaped women's economic trading endeavors. These features included status, access to capital, and the advantages to working within dynamic, extensive, and busy markets such as those found in later medieval London.

Citation

Goddard, R. (2019). Female merchants? Women, debt and trade in later medieval England, 1266-1532. Journal of British Studies, 58(3), 494-518. https://doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2019.4

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 3, 2018
Online Publication Date Jul 26, 2019
Publication Date Jul 26, 2019
Deposit Date Dec 14, 2018
Publicly Available Date Dec 14, 2018
Journal Journal of British Studies
Print ISSN 0021-9371
Electronic ISSN 1545-6986
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 58
Issue 3
Pages 494-518
DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2019.4
Keywords Cultural Studies; History
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1413729
Publisher URL https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-british-studies/article/female-merchants-women-debt-and-trade-in-later-medieval-england-12661532/E8F38B5B164098694C3C518B4AAF114F
Additional Information License: Copyright © The North American Conference on British Studies 2019
Contract Date Dec 14, 2018

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