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Women's Devotional Bequests of Textiles in the Late Medieval English Parish Church, c. 1350–1550
Author(s) -
Lowe Nicola A.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
gender and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-0424
pISSN - 0953-5233
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0424.2010.01597.x
Subject(s) - clothing , argument (complex analysis) , action (physics) , art , sociology , history , archaeology , medicine , physics , quantum mechanics
This article examines evidence of self‐determination and independent action in the practice, among a significant group of late medieval English women, of donating their own clothing and household linens to parish churches for use in sacred ritual.
The argument is presented that clothworking in a domestic environment was a highly valorised activity closely connected with women, for which the spindle and distaff acted as an index, and that against this background women used textiles as a site for expressing their personal, social and religious concerns.