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Usury legislation, cash, and credit: the development of the female investor in the late Tudor and Stuart periods 1
Author(s) -
SPICKSLEY JUDITH
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.014
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1468-0289
pISSN - 0013-0117
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2007.00402.x
Subject(s) - independence (probability theory) , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , legislation , cash , usury , payment , economics , law , demographic economics , political science , finance , history , biochemistry , statistics , chemistry , mathematics , islam , gene , archaeology
This article uses testamentary evidence from Lincoln diocesan court between the 1570s and the 1690s to examine links between inheritance, a rise in money‐lending amongst single women, and an increase in the proportion of women that never married. Two trends emerge: first, more fathers after the 1570s chose to bequeath cash to their daughters; second, they were more likely to restrict access to this portion by age rather than marriage. Assisted by a softening of attitudes towards interest‐bearing lending, these changes offered some single women a measure of financial independence that may have impacted on their marriage decisions.