In early American society, one’s identity was determined in large part by gender. The ways in which men and women engaged with their communities were generally not equal: married women fell under the legal control of their husbands, who handled all negotiations with the outside world, as well as many domestic interactions. The death of a husband enabled women to transcend this strict gender divide. Yet, as a widow, a woman occupied a third, liminal gender in early America, performing an unusual mix of male and female roles in both public and private life. With shrewd analysis of widows’ wills as well as prescriptive literature, court appearances, newspaper advertisements, and letters, The Widows’ Might explores how widows were portrayed in early American culture, and how widows themselves responded to their unique role. Using a comparative approach, Vivian Bruce Conger deftly analyzes how widows in colonial Massachusetts, South Carolina, and Maryland navigated their domestic, legal, economic, and community roles in early American society.

Exploring the place of women in the socioeconomic system formulated in the Mishnah, a book of legal rules compiled by Jewish sages in second-century Palestine, this study reveals a fundamental ambiguity in women's role. In certain aspects men's property, in others their partners, women sometimes possessed no rights while at other times were judged fit to own property, conduct business, and manage their own affairs in the private domain of mishnaic culture. But, they were systematically excluded from the life of mind and spirit that flourished in the public domain of synagogue and study house. Wegner spells out in detail these variations in status, analyzes them, and relates her findings to recent developments in feminist analysis of the status of women in patriarchy.

Includes index. 1 v.

This text surveys all aspects of the Church's structure, role and relationship with the laity in the period 1485 to 1529. The picture that emerges is far from the corruption and instability of conventional wisdom and the varied sources also provide a vivid insight into Tudor life.

This masterpiece of Christian literature by a 16th-century priest explains how to live a holy life in the secular world. Drawn from the letters of St. Francis de Sales, it presents clear and direct advice about praying, resisting temptation, and maintaining devotion to God. A key figure in France's Counter Reformation, St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622) served as Bishop of Geneva and was canonized in 1665. The popularity of his prolific writings on spirituality led to his nomination as the patron saint of authors and journalists. Today's readers feel a special affinity for St. Francis, whose suggestions for living a truly Christian life don't involve withdrawal from the world. In this enduring spiritual guide, his remarkably modern advice appears in the form of letters. The saint's frank and practical counsel ranges from embracing meditations that strengthen the resolve to maintain a virtuous existence to performing daily exercises that renew the soul.

Examines the role of women in medieval law and society

The courtship and remarriage of a rich widow was a popular motif in early modern comic theatre. Jennifer Panek brings together a wide variety of texts, from ballads and jest-books to sermons and court records, to examine the staple widow of comedy in her cultural context and to examine early modern attitudes to remarriage. She persuasively challenges the critical tendency to see the stereotype of the lusty widow as a tactic to dissuade women from second marriages, arguing instead that it was deployed to enable her suitors to regain their masculinity, under threat from the dominant, wealthier widow. The theatre, as demonstrated by Middleton, Dekker, Beaumont and Fletcher and others, was the prime purveyor of a fantasy in which a young man's sexual mastery of a widow allowed him to seize the economic opportunity she offered.