-
“The Law as a Weapon in Marital Disputes: Evidence from the Late Medieval Court of Chancery, 1424- 1529.”
- Author(s):
- Sara Margaret Butler (see profile)
- Date:
- 2004
- Group(s):
- British History, Feminist Humanities, Late Medieval History, Legal history, Medieval Studies
- Subject(s):
- Families, Middle Ages, History, Law, Marriage--Sociological aspects
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- History of Marriage, Family, Late medieval history, Legal history, Medieval history, Sociology of marriage
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/9qkx-6146
- Abstract:
- When Isabelle, widow of Richard Vergeons, commissioned the writing of a bill of complaint to Chancery at the end of the fifteenth century, she was clearly at the end of her tether. Six months before the writing of the petition, the wife of Thomas Hyll, a wire monger of London, approached the petitioner’s husband, begging for ‘‘secour and saufgarde of her lyf.’’ She was driven to this request only after ‘‘dyvers variantes and discordes betwene her and the seid Thomas her husbond and for grette fere and inpartye that the seid Thomas put to her of her lyf.’’ When Richard happened upon her she was being chased by Thomas, who was wielding a dagger. Seeing ‘‘the ungoodly and hasty disposition of the seid Thomas and the greate fere of his seid wife,’’ Richard decided to take matters into his own hands. He received Thomas’s wife into his home and then confronted Thomas about his actions, hoping to reason with him and convince him to treat his wife appropriately. This soon proved to be a fatal error.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 3 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
- Share this:
Open access, open source, open to all
jbs-article.pdf