Subjects: Women
The Cause Papers illustrate many ways in which the position of women in the sixteenth century differed from today.
Control by family and friends
It was sometimes claimed that a woman was encouraged to leave her husband if the family had a grudge against him and she might then be kept as a prisoner, in effect.
EDC 5/1/5 – Anne Orell contra Piers Orrell.
Virginity
A claim for a marriage to be annulled might succeed if it could be proved that the wife was still a virgin. This would be established by a physical examination, usually carried out by a number of ‘honest and willing matrons’.
EDC 5/1/1 – Ellen Knottisford contra Ralph Bury.
Women as litigants
Married women were permitted to sue in the consistory court in their own name, similarly they could be sued. This differed from common law which did not usually recognise married women as litigants in their own right. Unmarried women also embarked upon litigation.
EDC 5/1/1 – Ellen Knottisford contra Ralph Bury.
EDC 5/1/2 – Elizabeth Levar contra Adam Levar.
EDC 5/1/3 – Margery Thornycrofte contra John Cokkes alias Stokes.
EDC 5/1/4 – Joan Dutton alias Sompnor contra Richard Sompnor.
EDC 5/1/5 – Anne Orell contra Piers Orrell.
EDC 5/1/7 – Agnes Rosbothom contra Robert Haryson.
EDC 5/4/1 – Pernell Danyell contra Joan Walton.
EDC 5/9/2 – Elizabeth Stapultun contra Thomas Stapultun.
EDC 5/13/7 – Joan Carter contra Randle Carter.
EDC 5/14/1 – Elizabeth Smyth, otherwise Rixton, contra Giles Smyth and Margaret Barington.
EDC 5/17/4 – Isabelle Holden, wife of Ralph Holden, esquire, of Duckworth contra Roger Rishton.
EDC 5/1560/2 – Joan Fitton, wife of Robert Fitton, contra Ralph Leche.
EDC 5/1566/2 – Elizabeth Wilson contra William Gooddigar.
EDC 5/1566/9 – Ellen Smith contra Katherine Moseley, wife of John Moseley.
EDC 5/1566/10 – Ellen Smith contra John Moseley, Katherine Moseley, Isabelle Croft and Margery Powell.
EDC 5/1575/1 – Jane Shepherd contra Francis Sefton and Margaret Sefton.
EDC 5/1575/2 – Ellen Bamvile contra Rose Smith.
EDC 5/1575/5 – Margaret Harper contra Margery Radcliffe.
EDC 5/1580/1 – Elizabeth Cowley alias Johnson, wife of Richard Cowley alias Johnson, contra Richard Cowley alias Johnson.
EDC 5/1580/4 – Elizabeth Meycock contra Thomas Davie.
EDC 5/1580/8 – Alice Haselwall, wife of Christopher Haselwall, contra Ellen Barrowe.
EDC 5/1580/9 – Jane Agard contra John Legh, esquire, of Ridge and Elizabeth Legh, widow, of Ridge.
EDC 5/1580/10 – Anne Jackson contra Anne Jones, wife of Thomas Jones.
EDC 5/1580/11 – Jane Chetam, wife of Henry Chetam, contra Richard Hall, clerk.
EDC 5/1587/8 – Katherine Clubb contra John Ledsam.
Women as witnesses
Attempts might be made to discredit the evidence of women witnesses because they were said to be unreliable on account of their sex.
EDC 5/1575/2 – Ellen Bamvile contra Rose Smith.