1,721,118 research outputs found
Surviving the Siege:Catastrophe, Gender and Memory in La Rochelle
No full textThe siege of La Rochelle was an iconic disaster, and the religious, political and military implications of the siege and the ultimate fall of La Rochelle have fascinated historians. It has often been described as a watershed in the governance of France and the high point of French absolutism, while its implications have shaped both France and exile communities in Britain, the Low Countries and the New World. La Rochelle was an economic powerhouse, dependent on its ocean-going trade, a bustling town of some 28,000 people that included not only the usual classes of workers, artisans, entrepreneurs, merchants and migrants drawn to an active urban centre in the seventeenth century, but also the wealthy armateurs engaged in the maritime economy. By the end of the siege in 1628, it had shrunk to around 5000 people and its social, economic and religious structure had been similarly altered. Gender, religion, commerce and political authority are the threads that intertwine during the course of the siege and figure in its aftermath, and are the starting points for this chapter. The character of the siege and its perception by those who lived through it, by the ‘worthies’ of other towns and the longer term effect of memory demonstrate the potential of a single localised catastrophe on understandings of towns, their links to wider communities and to collective memory
Widows and Wenches: Single Women in Eighteenth-Century Urban Economies
No full textAcross Europe, windowed and single women claimed a place for themselves in the urban economy through their work and business roles. Through marriage, most women gained strength, position and status in the patriarchal society of the eighteenth century. Yet, singletons could utilise an array of resources not only to navigate but also to derive a good living from this world. The purpose of this chapter is to look at the variety and range of ways single women (interpreted broadly) negotiated these commercial worlds, looking at their approach to business and the strategies they employed. It draws on towns in Britain as well as on commercial centres of continental Europe. It will address the issue of how the gendered structure of the growing commercial town influenced singletons’ activities and conversely how the important contributions women made to the urban economy shaped that economy and contemporaries understanding of it. Widows and singlewomen were at different points in the lifecycle and this chapter highlights the importance of lifecycle on urban activities and place. It is deliberately transnational in order to draw out a fuller and more nuanced picture of the role of these women and their relationships within the transnational urban economy. It is based on primary research as well as the number of micro studies which have touched on or addressed widows and singlewomen. It also links to the growing interest in singletons and recognizes the importance of lifecycle when exploring female agency
Toleration, Liberty and Privileges
No full textGuilds are usually seen as the epitome of economic regulation and organization in early modern European towns. As organisations closely tied to the nominal male lifecycle, historians of women have tended to be chary of them and identified guilds as a key mechanism for restricting women’s access to honourable trades and crafts generally associated with skill—male skill. At the same time, a range of pressures in the long eighteenth century presented a number of challenges to guilds and their control over the economy and the century seems to mark a watershed on the effectiveness of guilds. Undoubtedly there were shifts in how the companies operated, who they could maintain control over and the effectiveness of these essentially mercantilist organisations in the face of growing pressures from population growth after the seventeenth–century wars, the rise in laissez faire ideas and increasing local and international commerce. Much of these battles and skirmishes were about gender: ‘outsider’ men encroaching on the privileges of guildsmen, and women encroaching on the worlds of men. This is a many-faceted discussion, but one that is fundamental to the urban world of eighteenth-century Europe where permission to trade could depend on gaining tolerations, earning the liberty of the trade and using the liberties associated with it
Negotiating the Economy of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Town:: Female Entrepreneurs Claim their Place
No full textDuring the eighteenth century, a number of shifts took place in urban commerce. These were not uniform nor did they happen everywhere at the same time, but they included changing structures and operation of guilds, alterations to burgher rights and a growing commercial culture based on increasing trade and consumption. The world of business was increasingly cast in a masculine mould, while tract literature progressively more often described women’s ‘proper place’ as the world of home and children. At the same time, these changes altered the gendered characteristics of many town economies, and transformed the structures within women had to operate. Yet, many women consciously continued to work in the commercial world, projecting their own image of themselves and of their businesses, defining and shaping their commercial enterprises within the urban world. Clearly there were social differences in the impact of these changes, and had little effect on how many women related to the Scottish urban economies—they needed to work and continued to do so, often in time-honoured ways. Many were entrepreneurial in small ways, while others were able to utilise a larger array of resources to develop and sustain their commercial activities.This chapter probes some of these lives looking primarily at the ways such women positioned themselves in their working world. Thus, we can hear women’s voices through their activities in the commercial market, through the ways they conducted business and the ways they used the materials of the business world, such as advertisements. It examines the gendered context and the ways that the idea of the town and constructions of gender reshaped the urban terrain. It analyses how women operated as a significant part of the commercial community, how they occupied many key spaces within it and how their physical presence as businesswomen, workers and consumers contributed to shaping the identity of women as well as the public face of the town. Specifically it will investigate how women utilised the opportunities open to them and how they negotiated the challenges. The focus is unashamedly on the entrepreneurial strategies women used and how they were active agents on forging their commercial identities. <br/
Negotiating the Economy of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Town:: Female Entrepreneurs Claim their Place
No full textDuring the eighteenth century, a number of shifts took place in urban commerce. These were not uniform nor did they happen everywhere at the same time, but they included changing structures and operation of guilds, alterations to burgher rights and a growing commercial culture based on increasing trade and consumption. The world of business was increasingly cast in a masculine mould, while tract literature progressively more often described women’s ‘proper place’ as the world of home and children. At the same time, these changes altered the gendered characteristics of many town economies, and transformed the structures within women had to operate. Yet, many women consciously continued to work in the commercial world, projecting their own image of themselves and of their businesses, defining and shaping their commercial enterprises within the urban world. Clearly there were social differences in the impact of these changes, and had little effect on how many women related to the Scottish urban economies—they needed to work and continued to do so, often in time-honoured ways. Many were entrepreneurial in small ways, while others were able to utilise a larger array of resources to develop and sustain their commercial activities.This chapter probes some of these lives looking primarily at the ways such women positioned themselves in their working world. Thus, we can hear women’s voices through their activities in the commercial market, through the ways they conducted business and the ways they used the materials of the business world, such as advertisements. It examines the gendered context and the ways that the idea of the town and constructions of gender reshaped the urban terrain. It analyses how women operated as a significant part of the commercial community, how they occupied many key spaces within it and how their physical presence as businesswomen, workers and consumers contributed to shaping the identity of women as well as the public face of the town. Specifically it will investigate how women utilised the opportunities open to them and how they negotiated the challenges. The focus is unashamedly on the entrepreneurial strategies women used and how they were active agents on forging their commercial identities. <br/
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