Propertied Women’s Economic Agency in Norway c.1400-1550

Series: 

In this first comprehensive study of women as economic actors in medieval Norway, Susann Anett Pedersen analyses the economic agency of unmarried heiresses, wives and widows c.1400-1550. Drawing on sources such as sales contracts and private letter correspondence, the book investigates elite women’s formal and informal roles in decision making processes and their ability to make independent economic choices. In particular, the book stresses the importance of looking beyond the legal regulation of women’s economic activities and rather analyses women’s own actions, in order to better grasp the complexity of their economic agency.
Copyright Year:
2023
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-54786-5
Publication:
25 May 2023
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-54741-4
Publication:
31 May 2023
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Susann Anett Pedersen, Ph.D. (2021) in medieval history, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), is a postdoctoral researcher at NTNU. She has published articles on property and gender, and is now researching credit in medieval Norway.
Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

1 Introduction
 1 Women’s Economic Agency

 2 Elite Women, Marital Status, and the Ability to Make Independent Economic Choices

 3 Approach and Plan of Study

 4 The Actors and Their Context

 5 Sources


2 Negotiating and Securing Inheritance
 1 The Daughter’s Share in Law and Practice

 2 Minors and Their Guardians

 3 Unmarried Heiresses

 4 Married Women and Their Husbands

 5 Widows

 6 Concluding Remarks


3 Arranging and Dissolving the Marital Property
 1 Negotiating Marriage
 1.1 A Woman’s First Marriage

 1.2 Remarriage


 2 The Changing Patterns of Marital Property Arrangements in the Late Medieval Period

 3 Helmingsfélag through Two Generations

 4 Marital Gift Exchange

 5 Retaining the Widow’s Share of the Marital Property in Practice

 6 Concluding Remarks


4 Gifting Landed Property
 1 Women’s Donations to Ecclesiastical Institutions

 2 Distributing Landed Property among Individuals

 3 Consent and Conditions

 4 Concluding Remarks


5 Purchasing, Exchanging and Selling Landed Property
 1 Unmarried Heiresses’ and Widows’ Property Transactions

 2 The Economic Partnership between Husband and Wife as Expressed through Property Accumulation
 2.1 Was There a Set Limit to Married Women’s Purchases?

 2.2 Two Married Couples’ Accumulation of Landed Property – Differences and Similarities


 3 Women’s Motivations to Purchase, Sell and Exchange Landed Property

 4 Concluding Remarks


6 Entering Credit Relations
 1 Married Women and Their Property’s Role in Credit Transactions
 1.1 A Creditor in Her Own Name – Philippa Hansdotter

 1.2 Married Couples’ Credit Transactions


 2 Widows Settling Their Deceased Husbands’ Unfinished Credit Transactions
 2.1 Transfer of Debt at Death – a Question of Responsibility

 2.2 Finalising a Late Husband’s Credit Transactions


 3 Widows’ Own Credit Transactions

 4 Women Representing Their Natal Families’ Economic Interests

 5 An Inside Perspective: Anne Rud Negotiating Her Late Husband’s Credit Network

 6 Concluding Remarks


7 Propertied Women’s Economic Agency
 1 Options, Choice of Action, and the Consequences of Choices Made

 2 Women’s Formal and Informal Roles

 3 Elite Women as Economic Actors in Late Medieval Norway


Bibliography

Index

All interested in medieval Norway, social and economic history, and in women as economic actors.
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Publisher:
Brill
Language:
English
Pages:
viii, 208pp.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004547865

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