Book Review- The Wealth of Wives: Women, Law and Economy in Late Medieval London

Isha Bhallamudi

This column seeks to review The Wealth of Wives: Women, Law and Economy in Late Medieval London, by Barbara Hanawalt, a highly acclaimed historian distinguished for her work in medieval studies. In fact, this is only one of a series of books she has written on different aspects of medieval London.

In this book, Hanawalt takes a fresh approach to the archival material that forms the premise of her book by looking at women from the points of view of daughters, wives, widows, consumers, servants and entrepreneurs, and analysing their effect on the London economy from each of these angles. Her main argument is that women in London in the medieval period were essential to preserving the flow of capital in the economy by functioning as conduits of wealth through marriage. Hanawalt maintains a particular focus on the unique patrilineal conditions in London, the judiciary and social systems, and the societal and cultural views prevalent in those times.

The book is set in the 13^th and 14^th centuries, when London was established as an international centre for import and export, and the export of wool, development of luxury crafts and redistribution of goods from the continent made London one of the leading commercial cities of Europe. While the capital for these ventures came from a variety of sources, the recirculation of wealth through London women was important in providing both material and social capital for the growth of London’s economy. London law divided a testator’s property three ways- allowing a third to the wife for her life use, a third for immediate inheritance of the heirs, and a third for burial and the benefit of the testator’s soul. This law, unique to London, was known as the Borough Law of Partible Inheritance.

Women inherited equally with men and widows had custody of the wealth of minor children. There were very detailed laws even when it came to guardianship and inheritance for orphans and children in general, a topic on which Hanawalt spends some time. In general, the societal structures were protective towards children, both boys and girls, and diligent in safeguarding their interests regarding inheritance. There were certainly marked differences in the way girls and boys grew up, especially with respect to education, jobs, social environment and accepted behaviour. However, these were not legal differences but were produced by cultural norms, a point which the author highlights. Legally, women were allowed to hold jobs, work as apprentices and gain an education.

Hanawalt explains that this was a society in which marriage was assumed to be the natural state for women, and consequently London women married and remarried. Of course, this was partly because there were only two ways for women to become citizens, or, as Hanawalt puts it, to ‘become free of the city’, and the socially accepted method was marriage. The other way was by completing an apprenticeship, but despite the fact that this was permitted and facilitated, very few women took up apprenticeships, at least within the sample space researched by the author. Their wealth followed them in their marriages and was administered by subsequent husbands. This book, based as it is on extensive use of archival material, shows that London’s economic growth was in part due to the substantial wealth that women transmitted through marriage. This was because of the unique structures that it had developed, of self-limiting patriarchy and the existence of a borough law, unlike the rest of the nation and continent.

Moreover, London men did not seek to establish long patrilineages discouraging women to remarry, but instead preferred to recirculate wealth through women. London’s social structure, therefore, was horizontal, spreading wealth among guilds rather than lineages. The liquidity of wealth was important to a growing commercial society and women brought not only wealth but social prestige and trade skills as well into their marriages. Unlike other countries, like India, where widow remarriage was a taboo, in medieval London, widows were actively encouraged to remarry and were even sought after by enthusiastic suitors for their wealth and experience.

But marriage was not the only economic activity of women. London law permitted women to trade in their own right as femmes soles and a number of women, many of them immigrants from the countryside, served as wage labourers. Yet, London’s archives confirm women’s chief economic impact was felt in the capital and skill they brought with them to marriages, rather than their profits as independent traders or wage labourers.

In this book, Hanawalt has been successful in taking old data yet providing a fresh perspective to look at it with. She has integrated hundreds of archival records in a marvellous manner and brought them together very neatly. The book is interesting and holds the attention of the reader. There are personal anecdotes to illustrate every point made in the book, which makes the book accessible and interesting. Also, the main theses give the reader a completely new perspective on the lives of women in medieval London, far removed from the usual feminist viewpoints we find dealing with oppression and misogyny. Hanawalt has provided systematic comparisons with other cities in Europe for each of the main points she has made, which helps the reader make a more informed reading of the theses presented in the book.

However, she has not provided any references aside from the archival records. Nor are any books on themes even remotely close to the ones made in the text, cited for comparison or contrast. In addition, this book gives us an almost completely positive view of the judiciary and social systems prevalent in 13^th and 14^th century London and fails to give us a weighted understanding. Moreover, the sample size of the records is so small that definitive conclusions cannot be made, underscoring the significance of the book. Personally, I also felt that there is not enough emphasis on class divisions and their impact in the book.

Also, while Hanawalt has painstakingly pored over hundreds of statistical archival records and exacted some very compelling judgements from them, she has failed to provide any external references, sources or opinions to back up her claims or provide illustrations for comparison and better judgement of her own arguments. In this, specifically, she has ignored the important debate on whether this age can be called a ‘Golden Age’ for women or not, on which many historians differ in opinion.

Yet, her fresh approach to an old set of conceptions makes the book work. I particularly liked the concise way in which she has tackled the content of the book, and the way she has formulated the chapters in order to provide a better reading flow. If you’re someone with a focused interest towards gender studies, or even if you’re just curious about how women lived in 14^th century London, picking up this book is a good idea. You can find it online at several sources, the easiest being www.libgen.org.