Women, ‘usury’ and credit in early modern England: the case of the maiden investor

Spicksley, Judith M.

Abstract

© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. In the transition from medieval notions of usury to modern notions of interest, single women appear to have enjoyed a special role.While probate documents confirm that an increasing number were engaged in interest-bearing lending over the course of the seventeenth century, there is virtually no critique of such activity, despite the fact that antipathy towards lending for profit remained. That their lending activities were favourably received is here explained by reference to social and economic constructions of single women that rendered such activities acceptable; by the equitable actions of single female lenders in practice; and by the economic value such lending offered to their broader communities. The article concludes by revealing single women at the allegorical heart of new attitudes to credit that were developing from the later seventeenth century.

Citation

Spicksley, J. M. (2015). Women, ‘usury’ and credit in early modern England: the case of the maiden investor. Gender and history, 27(2), 263-292. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.12125

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jul 15, 2015
• Publication Date: 2015-08
• Deposit Date: Mar 5, 2020
• Journal: Gender and History
• Print ISSN: 0953-5233
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-0424
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 263-292
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.12125
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1875482
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0424.12125