Women and the Black Plague: Death, Dowries, and Doing Men’s Jobs

The Black Death (1347–1351) killed ~40% of Europe and blew a hole in the labor market. Women stepped in, running farms, shops, and guild work; inheriting property; training apprentices; and powering textiles, silk, and brewing. Then, as populations recovered, elites used laws, guild charters, inheritance rules, and moral panics to shove women back to the margins. Crisis granted responsibility; recovery revoked rights.

Sources & further reading

* Judith M. Bennett, Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England.

* Barbara A. Hanawalt, The Ties That Bound; Of Good and Ill Repute.

* Martha C. Howell, Women, Production, and Patriarchy in Late Medieval Cities.

* Christopher Dyer, Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages; An Age of Transition?

* Caroline M. Barron, London in the Later Middle Ages.

* Samuel K. Cohn Jr., The Black Death Transformed.

* David Herlihy, The Black Death and the Transformation of the West.

* Heather Swanson, Medieval Artisans: An Urban Class in Late Medieval England.

* Sandy Bardsley, Venomous Tongues: Women’s Voices, Complaints, and the Legal Power of Speech in Late Medieval England.

* Craftswomen and the Guilds - Lost Art Press

Episode Credits