International Women's Day - Margaret Caly's Defiance
The first International Women's Day event was held, on this day (March 8th), one hundred years ago; and we, of The Ragged Society of Antiquarian Ramblers wish to mark this here.
All too often, women from pre-modern times are presented as passive - that is, if their presence and contribution is acknowledged at all. We offer the following excerpt from early seventeenth Norwich Mayor's Court records as an antidote to this...
By an unlikely coincidence we have recently discovered an archival recording of historian and Ragged Society member, R.P.G. Gwimidge, reading this actual Norwich Mayor's Court record...
~ Munro Tweeder-Harris, Esq. R.S.A.R ~
I've eard that theres a maiyors diarhy from wen they ate there childrin
ReplyDeleteyouz well freek innit!
ReplyDeleteIt is the office of man to make and deal with men, of the women to make and meddle with no man.
ReplyDeleteWomen take note of this my advice taken from my Flower of Friendship (1568) Do you like it, do you?
It is clear to me that Margaret Caley is an evil doer, a women distracted by her wandering womb. To the ducking stool says I.
ReplyDeletePuritan and Proud
An excellent post Muro, for it demonstrates admirably the reality over and above the ideal of life long ago. That even in a time when there were many like our friend Edmund Tilney who would have had women know their place, there were in reality many women like Margaret who had a voice.
ReplyDeleteShazzah!
I hope you don't mind me calling you Muro Munro, it's just i think we know each other well enough now to drop some of our Ns if not yet our Hs!
ReplyDelete+Many Coats+