When Gossips Meet: Women, Family, and Neighbourhood in Early Modern England

by Bernard S. Capp

This book explores how women of the poorer and middling sorts in early modern England sought to make the best of their lives in a society that excluded or marginalized them in almost every sphere. It argues that networks of close friends ('gossips') provided invaluable moral and practical support, helping them to shape their own lives and to play an active role in the affairs of the local community.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

408 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 2003

Reviews

[Chunchun · Rating 4 out of 5]

采用十六七世纪教会法庭、日记等原始资料，围绕“gossip”刻画了当时英国社会的女性生活图谱，虽然有些是skewed，但整体还是能够从中脑补出父权制社会中，女性用闲言碎语作为自卫和攻击、社交的工具，negotiating自己的权益地位。
有趣的是，很多走到法庭的案子都跟性有关，可能避孕设施普及前，性与生育密不可分，与男权制血统继承更是息息相关，所以最脆弱的攻击点莫过于女性贞洁，当然男性的不忠行为也是流言蜚语的重要话题，但是双重标准下，女性受到的伤害更大。作者引用了一些whore引申出的词语，原来世界各国老百姓骂街的词汇都是那么丰富、生动和不堪入耳。

[Dinah]

Richly cited in footnotes—many citing primary sources in court records—with the only fault being that the year of an event or quote from original sources is not infrequently omitted, making it harder to identify change within the multi-century time period covered by the book.

[caroline 🐉 · Rating 5 out of 5]

love love LOVEEEEEEEEE!!

this book was such a well written introduction to the basic and general ideas encompassing women and gossip networks in early modern england and how they worked around the patriarchal society that they lived under. women leaned on each other for support, help, friendship, acting as witnesses, and even participation politically for the well being of their communities.

of course there are always exceptions to those who have good intentions, and capp talks about how women were the main ones accusing other women of witchcraft, who would then go on to tell their husbands, who were the main prosecutors. but on the flip side, other women also rallied to support and take down claims of another woman being accused of witchcraft.

the networks and friendships that women in early modern europe formed allowed them to navigate through a patriarchal society that wasn’t kind to them, and learned how to support and lift each other up when someone needed a helping hand.

female friendships illuminated these women’s everyday lives and gave them structure and support when they needed it most, but also to just simply be an ear to listen to.

just like now, women need the support of each other, because it is a man’s world and we are just all trying to survive.

[Ubiquitousbastard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This honestly felt like reading a really long thesis. There was a lot of good information, but it didn't flow very well and got tedious at parts. I also thought it focused mostly on the late Stuart era (which wasn't why I decided to read it) rather than fully encompassing early modern England. It's also definitely aimed at historians and history students since much of the language wouldn't be familiar unless you've already taken some college-level history, so I would recommend for someone just curious about the subject.

[Ellie Monks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brilliant work on women and their relationships with both each other and the men in their lives in the 16th and 17th centuries.