The gentleman's mistress: Illegitimate relationships and children, 1450-1640

by Tim Thornton, Katharine Carlton

Overview

This study explores pre— and extra—marital relationships among the gentry and nobility of the north of England from 1450 to 1640: the keeping of mistresses, the taking of lovers, the birth of illegitimate children and the fate of those children. It challenges assumptions about the extent to which such activities declined in the period, and hence about the impact of Protestantism and other changes to the culture of the elite. A major contribution to the literature on marriage and sexual relationships, family, kinship and gender, it is aimed at an academic readership in the fields of social and political history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526114075
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	01/28/2025
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.39(d)

About the Author

Tim Thornton is Professor of History and Deputy Vice—Chancellor at the University of Huddersfield.
Katharine Carlton is Research Assistant at the University of Huddersfield.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1 Background and legal framework
2 The extent of bastardy among the elite
3 The role and status of the mistress
4 Gentlewomen and their lovers
5 The ‘wronged’ partner
6 The bastard children
Conclusion
Index

Editorial Reviews

'A gentleman’s mistress makes a welcome contribution to studies of elite sexual behavior through its focus on the often—neglected north, its inclusion of the entire landed elite rather than just the peerage or court circles, its attention to the women involved in illegitimate relationships, and its coverage of a long—timespan, including the Yorkist and early Tudor periods'
Judith J Hurwich, The Sixteenth Century Journal

From the Publisher