Going to Market (History of Retailing and Consumption) by David Pennington
Author:David Pennington [Pennington, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-03-02T23:00:00+00:00
Chapter 6
Women, Commerce, and Female Reputation
Mary Mase, the wife of a Cambridge brewer who sold her husbandâs ale and beer, was doing business in the kitchen of Queenâs College when she was accosted by Martin Rust, a cook of the college. According to allegations in a defamation suit Mary Mase brought in 1611 against Rust, he declared to the kitchen staff that Mase was âan ⦠ould skuruive coseninge Jade.â Rust then turned directly to Mase and wished on her âa plauge of god,â for âthou art an ould skurvie cosening Quean and thou workest with the diuell.â1 At first glance, the way in which Rust framed his accusations seems to confirm the claims of scholars who argue that early modern notions of female and male propriety were divergent, and indeed incommensurable. While contemporaries expected male householders, as rulers and the public representatives of their households, to assume a commanding bearing, they often characterized assertive female traders such as Mary Mase as lascivious, combative scoldsâthe very opposite of the idealized docile, chaste, modest housewife. And yet what seems to have fired Rustâs anger was his belief that Mase was a âcozenerââa trader who cheated her customers. His claim that Maseâs deceptive business practices left her parish âthe worse ⦠by 1000li [â¤1000] and god knoweth what the towne is the worseâ would have worried any trader, male or female. Because townswomen were active as consumers, retailers, and creditors, contemporaries rarely gauged their reputations solely in terms of sexual behavior and conformity to patriarchal prescriptions. Cultivating and defending a reputation for honesty and plain-dealing was as important for trading women as it was for male householders. Mase herself found vindication. Although the Vice-Chancellorâs court refused to levy the â¤100 demanded by Mase as recompense for the damage Rust did to her good name (such inflated sums, and their reduction or dismissal by the court, were common in defamation cases), they did require Rust to don the white cloak of the penitent and make a public apology to Mase before the congregation of her parish church. Restoring her reputation as both a clean living and an honest trader was clearly important to traders such as Mary Mase.
Maseâs defamation case calls into question studies which argue for the centrality of chastity and obedience to early modern conceptions of female respectability and âhonor.â2 This is not to suggest that historians of gender relations lack good reasons to focus on contemporary conceptions of the gendered order and sexual morality. Fidelity to the male householder was of course the central patriarchal value upheld by preachers and courts; and moralists highlighted the difference between female âhonorâârooted in the passive virtue of chastityâand the active and public virtues that characterized male âhonor.â3 As both Keith Thomas and Lawrence Stone argued some time ago, female infidelity inspired far more concern amongst men than male infidelity because adulteresses endangered their patriarchsâ ability to maintain legitimate lines of succession and inheritance.4 More recently, Laura Gowing has drawn upon the rich depositional
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
What's Done in Darkness by Kayla Perrin(25500)
Shot Through the Heart: DI Grace Fisher 2 by Isabelle Grey(18219)
Shot Through the Heart by Mercy Celeste(18160)
The Fifty Shades Trilogy & Grey by E L James(17774)
The 3rd Cycle of the Betrayed Series Collection: Extremely Controversial Historical Thrillers (Betrayed Series Boxed set) by McCray Carolyn(13189)
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson(12912)
Scorched Earth by Nick Kyme(11832)
Stepbrother Stories 2 - 21 Taboo Story Collection (Brother Sister Stepbrother Stepsister Taboo Pseudo Incest Family Virgin Creampie Pregnant Forced Pregnancy Breeding) by Roxi Harding(11040)
Drei Generationen auf dem Jakobsweg by Stein Pia(10217)
Suna by Ziefle Pia(10186)
Scythe by Neal Shusterman(9262)
International Relations from the Global South; Worlds of Difference; First Edition by Arlene B. Tickner & Karen Smith(8608)
Successful Proposal Strategies for Small Businesses: Using Knowledge Management ot Win Govenment, Private Sector, and International Contracts 3rd Edition by Robert Frey(8419)
This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay(7695)
Dirty Filthy Fix: A Fixed Trilogy Novella by Laurelin Paige(6453)
He Loves Me...KNOT by RC Boldt(5804)
How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired by Dany LaFerrière(5378)
Interdimensional Brothel by F4U(5304)
Thankful For Her by Alexa Riley(5161)