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WRITING FORNICATION: MEDIEVAL LEYRWITE AND ITS HISTORIANS1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2003

Judith M. Bennett
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Abstract

Leyrwite was a fine for fornication levied on the bondwomenof many medieval English manors. This essay traces the distinctive chronologicalhistory of leyrwite (it flourished especiallyc. 1250–1350), itsregional distribution (leyrwite was levied only in England and only in someregions of England), its socio-economic implications (leyrwite was directedespecially at the poor and more at bastardy than fornication) and, most of all,the significance of its focus on women (leyrwite served as one means of regulatingpoor women and their families).

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 13 , December 2003 , pp. 131 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society2003

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References

1 I am grateful to Sandy Bardsley, Barbara Harris, Cynthia Herrup, Maryanne Kowaleski, Christopher Whittick and the members of the North Carolina Research Group on Medieval and Early Modern Women for their comments on drafts. I thank Blain Roberts, Brandon Hunziker and Kristin Dachler for their help as research assistants. Some people who answered my questions about leyrwite are acknowledged in specific notes below, but others are not, and I am none the less grateful for their generosity of time and thought. The errors and infelicities that remain are my own.