Manchester University Press
1 ‘My narrow-prying neighbours blab’
Abstract
In late sixteenth-century England, domestic life became the subject of scrutiny: just what was the household, how might it be made to further God's intentions for the world, what ideals should govern conduct within it? The project of the ecclesiastical courts was to ensure that domestic activities were equally subject to moral justice as their more physically open counterparts, and to insist that the same precepts of Christian morality and charity governed behaviour in every space under the watchful eye of God's providence. This chapter takes its evidence from household manuals and from ecclesiastical court depositions, evidence that makes it possible to connect literary didacticism to the written record of oral tales about domestic space and behaviour. In pursuing the points at which early modern men and women think spatially, and the way they moralise spatial relations, it considers the house from the outside, from the boundary and from the inside.
Abstract
In late sixteenth-century England, domestic life became the subject of scrutiny: just what was the household, how might it be made to further God's intentions for the world, what ideals should govern conduct within it? The project of the ecclesiastical courts was to ensure that domestic activities were equally subject to moral justice as their more physically open counterparts, and to insist that the same precepts of Christian morality and charity governed behaviour in every space under the watchful eye of God's providence. This chapter takes its evidence from household manuals and from ecclesiastical court depositions, evidence that makes it possible to connect literary didacticism to the written record of oral tales about domestic space and behaviour. In pursuing the points at which early modern men and women think spatially, and the way they moralise spatial relations, it considers the house from the outside, from the boundary and from the inside.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of illustrations ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Note on the text xiii
- Introduction 1
- 1 ‘My narrow-prying neighbours blab’ 26
- 2 ‘Choose thee a bed and hangings for a chamber; Take with thee everything that hath thy mark’ 64
- 3 Arden of Faversham 104
- 4 Two Lamentable Tragedies 128
- 5 A Woman Killed With Kindness 150
- 6 A Yorkshire Tragedy 175
- Conclusion 193
- Appendices 206
- Bibliography 217
- Index 232
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of illustrations ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Note on the text xiii
- Introduction 1
- 1 ‘My narrow-prying neighbours blab’ 26
- 2 ‘Choose thee a bed and hangings for a chamber; Take with thee everything that hath thy mark’ 64
- 3 Arden of Faversham 104
- 4 Two Lamentable Tragedies 128
- 5 A Woman Killed With Kindness 150
- 6 A Yorkshire Tragedy 175
- Conclusion 193
- Appendices 206
- Bibliography 217
- Index 232
