Bad conversation? Gender and social control in a Kentish borough, c. 1450–c. 1570

Abstract

The image of the nagging woman being ducked as a scold is firmly ensconced among popular images of women in the past, but the historical phenomenon of prosecutions for scolding, though it has been briefly touched on in many studies, has been the subject of only two substantial contributions, those of David Underdown and Martin Ingram." Underdown has maintained that from the 1560s there was increasing concern with scolds, which he links with the rise in witchcraft prosecutions and growing anxiety about domineering and unfaithful wives. Accepting the notion of a ' crisis of order ' in the decades around 1600, he postulates as an aspect of this a ' crisis in gender relations ' which he attributes to a decline in neighbourliness and social harmony resulting from the spread of capitalism. He bases his argument partly on literary sources, including plays, sermons and popular pamphlets (though conceding that literary evidence is not conclusive and that the misogynistic tradition in literature is a long one) and partly on a somewhat impressionistic survey of court records from around 1560 to around 1640. This period, he claims, witnessed an intense preoccupation with women perceived as threatening the patriarchal order, manifested by greater numbers of prosecutions of scolds and other disorderly women than in the preceding and subsequent periods, and by more severe punishments, notably the cucking-stool. Women accused as scolds, he maintains, were usually poor, widows, newcomers, social outcasts or ' those lacking the protection of a family ',

Politics and Gender in Crisis in David Underdown's “The Taming of the Scold”

“…This conclusion of course problematizes Underdown's identification of the period around 1600 as the one of crisis. In some other respects, however, Jones and Zell reinforce Underdown's suggestions. One very valuable point made by Jones and Zell is that women presented as scolds were generally married women from long established families with some economic power, rather than the poor, single, and probably migrant marginal figures that Underdown and others imagined .…”

“…In some other respects, however, Jones and Zell reinforce Underdown's suggestions. One very valuable point made by Jones and Zell is that women presented as scolds were generally married women from long established families with some economic power, rather than the poor, single, and probably migrant marginal figures that Underdown and others imagined . While this corrects Underdown on a particular point, it helps his argument because it aligns scolds more closely with the women targeted in skimmingtons and strengthens the hypothesis that economic power might lead women to be more assertive.…”

“…While this corrects Underdown on a particular point, it helps his argument because it aligns scolds more closely with the women targeted in skimmingtons and strengthens the hypothesis that economic power might lead women to be more assertive. Moreover, Jones and Zell find that most women presented as scolds were presented only once, for a single incident, which casts doubt on Ingram's characterization of scolds as mentally troubled, habitually “dismal negotiators of social relationships.” That rejection of Ingram's account of scolds in turn leads Jones and Zell endorse Underdown's insistence that the prosecution of scolds is a function of patriarchy and a legitimate subject of feminist historical interpretation – women who were assertive (but not insane) were punished for their assertiveness in ways that men simply were not. …”

“…The quantitative investigation of Karen Jones and Michael Zell offers critiques of both Underdown and Ingram. Their quantitative analysis of presentments in the view of frankpledge court of the Kentish borough of Fordwich indicates a distinct peak in concern about scolding, but one which occurred around 1500.…”

“… Karen Jones and Michael Zell, “Bad conversation? Gender and social control in a Kentish borough, c. 1450–c.…”