Rumour and reputation in the early modern English family

Capern, Amanda L.

Abstract

This article explores the role of rumour, or the hearsay and gossip that circulated in a community, in eroding or maintaining reputations within and across families; it considers the nature of gossip, including the way it carried gender connotations, and the social dynamics involved in the passage of rumour from local community to the central law courts. Early modern people regularly entered into bitter disputes over wills, money and inheritance, title to land, boundaries, animal thefts, and a myriad of other small annoyances of daily life. Rumour operated in the space between the social interaction of neighbourly exchange and the litigiousness which formulated and attempted to mediate - and mitigate - local gossip. The courts were expected to be peacekeepers, restoring social order by arriving at judgements about legal rights and fairness. Deciding whether or not they deserve their contemporary reputation as peacemakers in rumour-ridden local communities is important. Did the courts really succeed as peacekeepers? Indeed, did the strategies of dispute resolution employed by the courts respond to collective cultural norms and local perceptions of equity and fairness in Chancery cases? These are some of the questions this article seeks to answer.

Citation

Capern, A. L. (2015). Rumour and reputation in the early modern English family. In C. Walker, & H. Kerr (Eds.), 'Fama' and her sisters: Gossip and rumour in Early Modern Europe (85-113). Brepols. https://doi.org/10.1484/M.EER-EB.4.00081

• Online Publication Date: Oct 19, 2016
• Publication Date: 2015-01
• Deposit Date: Jun 2, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 2, 2017
• Journal: Fama and her sisters
• Publisher: Brepols
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 85-113
• Book Title: 'Fama' and her sisters: Gossip and rumour in Early Modern Europe
• ISBN: 9782503541846; 9782503557816
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1484/M.EER-EB.4.00081
• Keywords: Rumour; Social dynamics; Early modern people
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/451950
• Publisher URL: http://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/book/10.1484/M.EER-EB.5.105992