Gender and Petty Crime in Late Medieval England: The Local Courts in Kent, 1460-1560

Winner of the Women's History Network Book Prize, 2007

A large proportion of late medieval people were accused of some kind of misdemeanour in borough, manorial or ecclesiastical courts at some stage in their lives. The records of these courts bring us as close to ordinary townspeople and villagers as it is possible to get, and show what behaviour was considered reprehensible in men and women.

This book is the first full-length study of gender and crime in late medieval England. Based on a meticulous analysis of the records of local jurisdictions in Kent, and bringing in a wealth of evidence from numerous individual cases, it shows how charges against women typically differed from those against men, and how contemporary assumptions and fears about masculinity and femininity were both reflected and reinforced by the local courts. KAREN JONES is an Associate Research Fellow of the University of Greenwich.