Women in Early Modern England 1550–1720

Mrs Helena Aylward: A British Catholic mother, spouse and businesswoman in the Commercial Age (1705–1714)

“…Widows were particularly numerous among investors and money lenders as they found themselves with cash to invest. 19 Many held shares in South Sea annuities, possibly because this stable stock was considered 'more suitable for trustee investment'. 20 However, Sharpe has highlighted how female creditors were also owners of East India Company stock, providing capital, voting on committees and running businesses in the East India ports.…”

Elizabeth Cary and Intersections of Catholicism and Gender in Early Modern England

“…Yet as Mendelson and Crawford have observed, women's piety was passed particularly effectively through female networks, from parent to child, from mistress to servant. 52 Although husbands possessed theoretical authority over matters of faith in the home, the day-to-day work of instructing children in the faith typically fell to mothers. As women worked and socialized together, often informally and with children present, they would discuss, challenge, reinforce, and pass on their religious beliefs to the next generations.…”

“…58 Elizabeth saw the intersections between gender and religion differently, and as a noblewoman, Elizabeth Cary's words and actions were seen and heard more broadly than those of other Catholic women. 59 They carried the authority and influence of her social rank, impacting what was thought possible for women, as individuals and as parts of families. It was not men who gave her authority to defy her husband, practice her chosen faith, live independently as part of a larger community of London Catholics, and write.…”

Jonson's Gossips and the Stuart Family Drama

“…36 This solemn responsibility was closely enough linked to the tattling realm of 'women's business ', however, to maintain a simultaneous satiric identification with the figure of the tattling gossip, and with the general problem of female social disorder. 37 For this reason, when the hag/gossips are harnessed to the chariots drawing the queens from the House of Fame to the masquing stage, the courtly audience is given a visual reminder that even the most ancient traditions surrounding female sexuality could be -and were -conscripted into the service of legitimate succession.…”

“…43 A contemporary pamphlet offers a typical depiction of women gathered to drink and complain about their husbands' shortcomings, behavioral, sexual, and economic:…”