Female Servants in Early Modern England

What was it like to be a woman in service in early modern England? Drawing on evidence of over 1000 female servants recorded in church court testimony between c.1530 and 1650, Female Servants in Early Modern England uncovers these women's everyday lives. Intervening in histories of labour, gender, freedom, law, migration, youth, and community, this book rethinks traditional scholarship of service. De-coupling 'household' and 'service', it reveals the importance of female servants' labour to the wider economy and their key role in social networks and communities. Moving beyond regulatory codes of service prescribed by law and conduct literature, this book lays bare the varied experiences of women who served. Service was fluid and contingent: some women's working lives operated with flexibility unsanctioned by law yet socially accepted, while poverty bound others fast to service. In early modern England, service (and the freedoms it allowed) was in flux.

Charmian Mansell, Research Fellow, University of Cambridge

Charmian Mansell is a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. She has held positions at University College London, Queen Mary University of London, the University of Exeter, the University of Oxford, and the Institute of Historical Research. She is a social and economic historian of early modern England and has published on histories of gender, work, community, migration, and freedom.

1. IntroductionI2. Church Courts and their People3. Tracing Lives4. Time for ServiceII5. On the Move6. Navigating Service7. Working LivesIII8. The Home and Beyond9. Neighbours and Networks10. Remembering Service