Litigating Women

<p>This edited collection written by both established and new researchers reveals the experiences of litigating women across premodern Europe and captures the current state of research in this ever-growing field.</p><p>Individually the chapters offer an insight into the motivations and strategies of women who engaged in legal action in a wide range of courts from local rural and urban courts to ecclesiastical courts and the highest jurisdictions of crown and parliament. Collectively the focus on individual women litigants – rather than how women were defined by legal systems – highlights continuities in their experiences of justice while also demonstrating the unique and intersecting factors that influenced each woman’s negotiation of the courts. Spanning a broad chronology and a wide range of contexts these studies also offer a valuable insight into the practices and priorities of the many courts under discussion that goes beyond our focus on women litigants. </p><p>Drawing on archival research from England Scotland Ireland France the Low Countries Central and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia <i>Litigating Women </i>is the perfect resource for students and scholars interested in legal studies and gender in medieval and early modern Europe.</p>