Wives and Their Property in Chaucer's London: Testimony of Hustings Wills

Author / Editor
Kelly, Henry Ansgar.

Title
Wives and Their Property in Chaucer's London: Testimony of Hustings Wills

Published
Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History ser. 3, vol. 8 (2011): 81-195.

Description
Surveys some 5,000 wills available at the Guildhall Court of Hustings, documenting that, even though the practice was formerly prohibited, property was regularly acquired by wives in late medieval London through the deaths of their husbands. Observes that such data are paralleled by literary evidence found in WBP, MerT, and TC.

Chaucer Subjects
Wife of Bath and Her Tale
Merchant and His Tale
Troilus and Criseyde