Locating widows in mid-nineteenth century Pictou County,Nova Scotia

This article takes up the challenge of how to begin to include women in the historical geography of the Maritimes. It makes an intervention through a case study of the place of widows in one mid-19th century county in Nova Scotia. For women, widowhood was a life-phase of conflicting emotions, replete with the contradiction that came from the loss of a patriarch. While it offered potential freedom, widowhood could also signal uncertainty, and often, dependence. The cultural identity and economic and legal treatment of widows represented a strongly patriarchal age in which the doctrines of a ‘cult of domesticity’ and an ideology of ‘separate spheres’ influenced the life-course of widows. Spatial change often accompanied widowhood, with widows moving into a room in their old house, or to a new location.     

The development of the conjugal bond in late medieval Bohemia

In late medieval Bohemia the focus of the family became more and more the relationship between husband and wife at the expense of the husband's male kin group. Where the tie of loyalty to one's male lineage and its future welfare prevailed, disposals of property after death restricted a widow's rights only to her dowry. The law of the land and custom generally supported this practice. However, more and more from the fourteenth to the early sixteenth century men gave their widows greater social security and authority over their estates and children, in the process excluding their own male kin.These conclusions arise from a numerical analysis of dowry contracts and last wills and testaments in three modest sized towns in Bohemia. The analysis shows that most men ensured their widow's secure title to the family inheritance either alone or jointly with their children. It also shows that the rate of property arrangements favouring the wife increased in the course of the centuries examined.     

The development of the conjugal bond in late medieval Bohemia

In late medieval Bohemia the focus of the family became more and more the relationship between husband and wife at the expense of the husband's male kin group. Where the tie of loyalty to one's male lineage and its future welfare prevailed, disposals of property after death restricted a widow's rights only to her dowry. The law of the land and custom generally supported this practice. However, more and more from the fourteenth to the early sixteenth century men gave their widows greater social security and authority over their estates and children, in the process excluding their own male kin. These conclusions arise from a numerical analysis of dowry contracts and last wills and testaments in three modest sized towns in Bohemia. The analysis shows that most men ensured their widow's secure title to the family inheritance either alone or jointly with their children. It also shows that the rate of property arrangements favouring the wife increased in the course of the centuries examined.     

Between two cities: Jewish women and exogamous marriage in medieval Catalonia

In the marriage strategies of medieval Catalan Jews, the economic security of women came second to the economic goals of families. Exogamous marriages – marriages between the Jewish communities of two different cities – exacerbated the vulnerability of Jewish wives, widows and divorcées, due in large part to restrictions on women’s travel. Women who moved in order to marry experienced greater difficulty in managing financial resources and lost access to kinship networks. When women married men from other cities, at best they found themselves unable to take advantage of the connections created by their marriages. At worst, they risked financial loss if their husbands absconded to other cities with their dowries. Five case studies drawn from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Catalan notarial registers reveal some of the ways in which exogamous marriages disadvantaged Jewish women. The extreme case of exogamy delineates the boundaries of possibility for Jewish women in the medieval Western Mediterranean.     

中世纪晚期和近代早期欧洲的寡妇改嫁

在中世纪晚期和近代早期的欧洲 ,寡妇较多 ,她们改嫁的比率较高 ,再嫁者守寡时间较短。历史事实表明 ,寡妇对于是否改嫁的选择 ,不仅仅是个人行为 ,而且受客观条件的制约。当时欧洲较为开放的文化和舆论氛围 ,寡妇自身的财产和处置财产的权利 ,为她们改嫁提供了可能。而传统时代的经济体制和现实生活的艰辛也要求她们重组家庭。     

Early modern ideas about artistic geography related to the Baltic Region

The paper analyses the gradual changes in assistance offered to widows and widowers between 1900 and 1964. It highlights the conflicts between the principle of the family as provider of welfare and the principle of self-help embodied in poor relief, in varying municipal pensions during the inter-war period and in the right to economic assistance legitimised through the Mothers' and Widows' Pension Act in 1964. The development is seen as part of the construction of a welfare society, built on the perception of men as wage-earners and providers, women as wives and mothers. These perceptions of masculinity and femininity resulted in gender-differentiated needs in the case of widowhood, and in gender-differentiated means of covering such needs. Civil status had no importance for men's role as wage-earners, while it was decisive for the economic situation of women. Focusing on the problem of economic support, the paper discusses solutions at the individual private level, at the municipal level and at the national level. The different weighting of widows as mothers or as providers is taken into consideration, and so are consequences of demographic changes in the widowed population.     

War widows and revenge in Restoration England

This article examines petitions submitted by royalist widows to the House of Lords during the first few months of the Restoration. The husbands of these women had been tried and executed for treason during the 1640s and 1650s for their perceived loyalty to the royalist cause, prompting their spouses to demand retribution against their judges and jurors. As the Convention Parliament deliberated over the Act of Indemnity during the summer of 1660, these aggrieved widows were presented with an opportunity to ensure that the men they held responsible for their husband’s deaths were brought to account. By assessing the petitioning strategies adopted by these women and the government’s responses to their demands, the article throws light on a group of war widows who have received little scholarly attention. It is argued that whilst these women were largely unsuccessful, their efforts represent a significant aspect of female activism during the seventeenth century.     

The history of urban families in medieval England

Few medieval historians have turned their attention to the history of families in urban England. But the groundwork for such studies has been laid in previous scholarship on the merchant class, on women and work in towns, and on borough law and customs. Future studies, more specifically focused on families in towns, will draw upon a wide variety of sources including wills, property records, marriage litigation, coroner's rolls, poll taxes, borough customs, and, most importantly, borough plea rolls. These studies should allow us to explore how the special characteristics of the medieval urban environment – continual in-migration, economic opportunity, commercial and industrial diversity, extremes of wealth, high population density, and borough legal structures – affected family formation, life-cycle, demography, and domestic life in medieval towns.     

Elderly widowhood in China

As population ageing accelerates in China, the number of elderly widowed individuals are expected to increase. Using 2010 census data we estimate widowhood indices for rural and urban areas, and for men and women in China. The indices show that the probability of elderly widowhood to be higher for females (0.68) than males (0.32)—with no rural and urban difference. An average marriage in China lasts about 47 years. After the death of a spouse, the average duration of widowhood is about 11 years for males and about 15 years for females. Spousal age difference has a significant impact on widowhood indices. Rural populations have the shortest marriage duration and the youngest widowhood age, and longer widowhood duration.     

Men’s Recollections of a Women’s Rite: Medieval English Men’s Recollections Regarding the Rite of the Purification of Women after Childbirth

This study examines the recollections of medieval English men, found in proof–of–age inquests, regarding their participation in the rite of the purification of women after childbirth. Because the rite of purification was reserved to women, scant attention has been paid to how this rite and the customs surrounding it played in the lives of medieval men. These men’s recollections situate postpartum purification within the festivities celebrating the birth of a man’s heir. For them, it is a public event celebrating paternity and lineage, and a forum for the negotiation of social relationships.     

Greek sightseers in the fayum in the third century B.C.

An attempt is made to determine the context and scope of Thuc. 11,45,2 on the assumption that the addressees are widows specifically. Current interpretations of the meaning of the passage and the connection between the two parts of the exhortation are criticized and modified. The message of Pericles is seen in the light of other funeral orations and placed within the perspective of widowhood in Athenian society.     

The wealthier inhabitants of Croydon in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries

This article examines the wealthier inhabitants of Croydon in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, focusing on differences in wealth, ownership of property and social relationships. Using wills and subsidy lists, four broad categories of people were identified: gentlemen, yeomen, tradesmen and craftsmen and widows. There was no simple gradation of wealth between these groups; although gentlemen were generally among the richest subsidy payers, yeomen and tradesmen could also figure. In terms of social relationships and the ownership of property, there were differences. Gentlemen tended to marry within their own social group, appoint other gentlemen as overseers in their wills and were more likely to own land outside Croydon. The social relationships of yeomen and tradesmen/craftsmen were more focused on the town itself, as were their land purchases. Two groups of individuals can therefore be seen, not one homogenous entity as some scholars have argued.     

Adult Male Mortality in India

This paper presents levels and trends of adult male mortality in India and its major states during the post-independence period applying the widowhood method on census data. It also estimates adult male mortality for all the districts from major states of India. We adjusted widowhood estimates for possible bias due to remarriages and examined the sensitivity of adjusted estimates to different scenarios of remarriage rates. Comparison of widowhood estimates with direct estimates from official sources supports the credibility of widowhood estimates. Information obtained from widows aged 40–44 and 45–49 provided the most convincing patterns of adult mortality. Trends in adult mortality suggest that maximum gain in ₄₅q₁₅ for India and its states occurred during 1949–1960. Adult male mortality varied substantially across the states of India. Although adult life expectancy has been rising in India, the rate of mortality reduction has been decreasing over the last few decades.     

POOR MEN: ON THE MASCULINIZATION OF POVERTY IN SWEDEN, 1957–1981

This paper discusses the underlying causes behind the masculinization of poverty during the period of 1957–1981 in Sweden. Testable hypotheses are derived from a theoretical framework. The findings suggest that the male role as breadwinner disappeared during the analysed period. Lowly educated men and especially male immigrant labour lost their labour market position when industrial society gave way to a new post-industrial society, with an expanding service sector bringing numerous new employment opportunities for women. When sick or unemployed, social assistance was the only social security these men had available. On the other hand, the welfare-state expansion targeted women, particularly single mothers and widows, and thus reduced the number of native women claiming social assistance. The findings also point to the process character of the masculinization of poverty, arguing that women gained significantly more than men from the expansion of the welfare state.     

From Tongbo Village to Widow Village—The Legacy of the Chinese Civil War

Located on Dongshan Island,off the coast of Fujian province,is a typical rural village called Tongbo.On May 10,1950,147 men were abducted by the KMT army on its way to Taiwan.Since a majority of the men were already married,overnight,their wives became "widows," and most would remain so for the rest of their lives.Consequently,Tongbo village became more widely known as Widow Village.The first objective of this paper is to document the tragic experiences of men and women in Tongbo village,focusing on these forced separations in 1950,the possibility of reunion after 1987,and the struggle to cope with the difficulties in between.The second objective of this paper is to argue that while heartbreaking,the experiences of this village are not extraordinary in the context of the Chinese Civil War.What made the men and women in Tongbo extraordinary is not their collective suffering,but how these villagers suffered less,not more,than in many other places,because of the actions of three key figures.     

Legal status of widows in Denmark 1500-1900

The legal status of widows in Denmark between 1500 and 1900 has been analyzed from three main perspectives. First, we examine the widow as an actor in the private room and, secondly, as actor and object in the public room. The first perspective concerns the general rules as to inheritance of the husband's separate property, the division of the community property and the possibility of retaining the community property in undivided possession on one side, and on the other the possibilities for special agreements between the spouses as to the economy of the widowhood, and agreements between the widow and her kinship or other persons or institutions about her old age maintenance and support. The second perspective concerns the legal status of widows in business life as trading actors or as receivers of public or private pensions or life insurances, and thirdly as objects for social security help. The different economic solutions are evaluated from the point of view that they were favouring the widows at the expense of the children or other heirs.     

中古壁画与陶塑再现的挎包女性形象

中国服装史一直以来较为忽视服饰中的挎包装饰,本文利用新出土的中古壁画和唐代各种挎包女性陶塑,对中古艺术中的挎包女性形象进行了初步分析。作者认为,"挎包女人"图像赋予了女性非凡的人性精神。同时,作者还对外国该类形象的出现和流传进行了梳理,依据现存图像资料,指出中国古代女性挎包要比西方早出现几个世纪。挎包、拎包具有时尚和实用美观的意义,折射出古代女性鲜明的超前意识和服装审美。     

Marriage and the family in a Maltese parish: St. Mary's (Qrendi) in the eighteenth century

This article addresses the Maltese traditional family, taking St. Mary's (Qrendi) as a test case. It results that couples married in their early twenties, while a high proportion of men and women never married at all. Marriage was not popular so that one-fifth of all marriages were remarriages. Very few widows remarried and it was only for some economic reason that they sought another man. There is no evidence though that a high rate of celibacy resulted in flagrant promiscuity even if there is evidence that the Qrendin were not so particular about their sex life. No birth control was practiced within marriage and children followed one another regularly. This brings into relief the parents' unconcern for their offspring's future as well as the inferior status of women because husbands made their wives several offspring. Relations between the spouses were poor so that dissatisfied couples went their own ways.     

The Charms of Women and Priests: Sex,Magic, Gender and Public Order in Late Medieval Italy

How did judicial authorities in late medieval Italy understand the relationship between gender, sexuality, social status, magic and public order, especially when magic was used to facilitate the crime of adultery? What might this reveal about the intersection of gender, magic and public order in a place and time so fraught with political and social tensions? This study qualitatively compares four love‐magic trials from fourteenth‐century Lucca and suggests that the anxieties underpinning these trials were both particular to late medieval Italian communes and projected onto two populations, women and priests, whose unchecked sexuality posed the greatest threat to civic order. Historians examining gender in medieval European magic trials have often treated judicial officials’ anxieties as portents of the ‘witch craze’ of early modern Europe. Historians of medieval Lucca have tended to treat the political and gender histories of the city as largely separate. This article suggests that the courts’ increasing regulation of gender and sexuality in late medieval Lucca reflected larger ecclesiastical and communal concerns about the dissolution of civic order. In a world of civic power that increasingly belonged to secular men, the unchecked sexuality of women and clergy represented a dual threat to the stability of the family and, by extension, the city. This article argues that secular and ecclesiastical judicial officials feared not magic itself, but the ability of magic to invert power relations between men and women and between clergy and laity, destroying public order.     

‘A separate people’? Some directions for comparative research on medieval women

Research to date has often positioned women of minority cultures as a separate group. They were, in many cases, twice removed — both from the men in their communities and from the majority communities within which they lived. This essay discusses the benefits of including these women, both as separate groups and as part of cross cultural comparison and points to the possible contribution of such studies. In the three parts of this article I propose different strategies for studying minority and majority women using examples from the sources on Jews in medieval Europe. In the first section, the article explores how to learn from similarities and differences between majority and minority practices, focusing on wet-nursing practices and medical care. The second part of the article proposes examining how ordinary people themselves perceived the ‘religiousness’ of certain everyday practices and set their own boundaries to what they were and were not willing to do. In this case, I suggest that more attention be paid to the way medieval women (and men) turned daily actions into religious proclamations and how in some cases they involved members of other religions in what seem to be internal affairs. This, in turn, leads to a final, larger comparative question taken up in the final part of the article: how do the larger trajectories of transformations in women's roles and rights compare across different religious cultural traditions.