Wife and widow in medieval England /

Most of the essays in this collection deal with aspects of legal history, in particular the strategies widows and wives employed in claiming rights and property through litigation in both common law and ecclesiastical courts. Also included are valuable contributions on the political and socioeconomic experiences of medieval widows in England and Scotland. The authors of the essays have shared methodologies and approaches in ways that help the reader to consider these separate contributions as a unified whole. Some of the conclusions reached are more useful than others. Most compelling are Janet Loengard's and Sue Walker's works discussing dower litigation, Barbara Hanawalt's survey of how urban and rural widows used remarriage as only one of their options, and Richard Helmholz's discussion of the changing status of married women's wills. Most problematic is Cynthia Neville's article on the effects of rebellion on Scottish widows and wives, which suffers from a less measured and more polemical stance than the other essays. Nevertheless, each contribution provides important food for thought and grist for the continuing debate on the role of women in history. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. L. E. Mitchell; Alfred University