High-Ranking Widows in Medieval Iceland and Yorkshire

Philadelphia Ricketts, PhD (2005), University of Liverpool, researches women’s history in northern Europe, family history, marriage, identity, naming patterns, and religious patronage. She has published on widows and identity (Haskins Society Journal, 2003), and on grandmothers (Youth and Age, Brill, 2008).

• List of Diagrams and Tables .... xiPreface ... xiiiAcknowledgements .... xvAbbreviations ... xixChapter One: Introduction .... 1Chapter Two: Sources .... 23Legal Sources .... 24Contemporary Sagas ... 37Charters .... 43Conclusion ... 49Chapter Three: Property and Marriage: The Laws .... 51Inheritance ... 51Marriage ... 67Consent in Marriage ... 67Dowry, Dower and Other Marital Property ... 73Land Transactions ... 79Conclusion ... 82Chapter Four Property .... 85Inheritance ... 87Lineal versus Collateral Descent ... 88Female Inheritance ... 91Division of Inheritance .... 100Illegitimacy ... 116Marital Assignments .... 121Conclusion ... 129Chapter Five Remarriage ... 133Marriage Patterns and Age at First Marriage ... 133Marital Demographics ... 139Marital Demographics for Icelandic and Yorkshire Widows ... 144Remarriage ... 149Wealth and Heiresses .... 149Lordship and Family ... 152Social Status ... 156Fertility and Children ... 158Ecclesiastical Influence .... 163Political Change in Iceland .... 169Conclusion ... 174Chapter Six Power ... 177Consent in Marriage .... 180Wardship and Transference of Property and Authority to theNext Generation ... 195Property Transactions and Management ... 216Conclusion ... 239Chapter Seven Identity .... 245First Names .... 246Family Nomenclature ... 253Titles and Seals .... 266Property Management and Patronage .... 278Conclusion ... 294Chapter Eight Conclusion .... 297AppendicesKey to Appendices .... 313Appendix 1 Icelandic Widows ... 318Appendix 1 A Icelandic Widows (continued) ... 323Appendix 2 Yorkshire Widows .... 327Appendix 2 A Yorkshire Widows (continued) ... 331Appendix 3 Types of Property Acquired by Widows and Degree of Wealth ... 334Appendix 4 Descent of Lands and Power .... 341Appendix 5 Information about Remarried Widows’ Circumstances before Remarriage ... 345Appendix 6 Information about Widows’ Circumstances at End of Final Marriage and Including Subsequent Liaisons ... 348Appendix 6 A Information Regarding Widows Who Do Not Survive Last Relationship ... 353Appendix 7 Remarriage, Lordship, Kinship and Rank .... 354Appendix 8 Seals of the Yorkshire Widows .... 365Appendix 9 Naming Patterns—Sons ... 367Appendix 9 A Naming Patterns—Daughters .... 373Appendix 10 References ... 378Appendix 11 Avice Meschin’s Marriages and the Inheritance of her Daughter Alice Paynel ... 402GenealogiesKey to Genealogies ... 411Icelandic 1–12 ... 413Yorkshire 13–20 ... 425Bibliography .... 433Index ..... 447