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

Written & Narrated by: Meredith Walker

Produced by: Bitchy History Media