Elizabeth A Foyster - Manhood in Early Modern England: Honour, Sex and Marriage

Manhood in Early Modern England

This series, published for students, scholars and interested general readers, will tackle themes in gender history from the early medieval period through to the present day. Gender issues are now an integral part of all history courses and yet many traditional texts do not reflect this change. Much exciting work is now being done to redress the gender imbalances of the past, and we hope that these books will make their own substantial contribution to that process. This is an open-ended series, which means that many new titles can be included. We hope that these will both synthesise and shape future developments in gender studies.

The General Editors of the series are Patricia Skinner (University of Southampton) for the medieval period; Pamela Sharpe (University of Bristol) for the early modern period; and Penny Summerfield (University of Lancaster) for the modern period. Margaret Walsh (University of Nottingham) was the Founding Editor of the series.

Published books:

Masculinity in Medieval Europe
D.M. Hadley (ed.)

Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy
Judith C. Brown and Robert C. Davis (eds)

Gender, Church and State in Early Modern Germany: Essays by Merry E. Wiesner
Merry E. Wiesner

Manhood in Early Modern England: Honour, Sex and Marriage
Elizabeth A. Foyster

Gender, Power and the Unitarians in England, 1760-1860
Ruth Watts

Women and Work in Russia, 1880-1930: A Study in Continuity through Change
Jane McDermid and Anna Hillyar

The Family Story: Blood, Contract and Intimacy, 1830-1960
Leonore Davidoff, Megan Doolittle, Janet Fink and Katherine Holden

Honour, Sex and Marriage

Elizabeth A. Foyster

First published 1999 by Addison Wesley Longman Limited

Published 2014 by Routledge
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Copyright 1999, Taylor & Francis.

The right of Elizabeth A. Foyster to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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ISBN 13: 978-0-582-30735-3 (pbk)

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue entry for this title is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Foyster, Elizabeth A., 1968
Manhood in early modern England: honour, sex, and marriage / Elizabeth A. Foyster.
p. cm. (Women and men in history)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-582-30734-1. ISBN 0-582-30735-X (pbk.)
1. MenEnglandHistory. 2. MasculinityEnglandHistory. 3. EnglandSocial life and customs17th century. 4. MenEnglandConduct of lifeHistory17th century. 5. MenEnglandConduct of lifeHistory16th century. 6. EnglandSocial life and customs16th century. 7. Marriage customs and ritesEngland History. 8. Sex customsEnglandHistory. 9. HonorEnglandHistory. 10. Sex roleEnglandHistory. I. Title. II. Series.
HQ1090.7.G7F69 1999
305.31'0942dc21

98-42933
CIP

Set by 35 in 10/12pt Baskerville

This book started life as a Ph.D. thesis. My supervisor, Anthony Fletcher, provided much support, was always eager to discuss my ideas, and paid detailed attention to my work. Since the completion of my thesis, he has continued to read my work and give me invaluable guidance and criticism. He has always been an inspiring teacher, and I owe him many thanks. As I have been working on transforming the thesis into book form, I have been helped by the comments of my examiners Christopher Brooks and Bernard Capp, the series editor Pamela Sharpe, and the commissioning editor Hilary Shaw. I have been supported financially by the British Academy for postgraduate and postdoctoral research, and by a one-year Durham University Studentship. While working on this book, I have held a one-year temporary lectureship at the School of History and Welsh History, Bangor, where I was encouraged by many colleagues, in particular Duncan Tanner. I would also like to thank the Master and Fellows at Clare College, Cambridge, for their welcome and support.

I have been extremely fortunate to have worked in some of the most beautiful research environments while I have been writing this book. I started in Durham in the seventeenth-century Bishop Cosin's library on Palace Green, and in 5 The College which overlooks Durham Cathedral. I have also worked in Lambeth Palace Library in London, where the research room adjoins a courtyard in the Palace, and in the summer you can hear the soothing sounds of the trickling fountain. But what has really made these places special has been the librarians and archivists who have worked there. In Durham, I am very grateful to Margaret McCollum, Linda Drury, Joe Fewster and Beth Rainey for sharing with me their expertise of early modern records. At Lambeth, I would like to thank Melanie Barber who has answered numerous questions, and the team of archivists who have collected endless reels of microfilm for me. Away from libraries and record offices, many colleagues have provided me with references, shared their research, read drafts, and asked me pertinent questions. In particular I would like to thank Jeremy Black, Philip Carter, Tony Claydon, Richard Cust, Brian Gibbons, Margaret Harvey, Matthew Johnson, Jenny Kermode, Pete Rushton, Alexandra Shepard, Ceri Sullivan, John Tosh, David Turner, Garthine Walker and Helen Weinstein. Tim Stretton has helped and encouraged me from the start, and has read so many drafts that by now he must know this book by memory. Helen Berry has also been the source of endless critical and intellectual support, as well as much laughter in some of the otherwise serious and sombre surroundings of academic institutions.