Finding Women in the Archives of 1381

Abstract

Abstract This chapter revisits the research I conducted at the Public Records Office (now The National Archives) in London in the mid-1990s, while a doctoral student investigating women’s participation in the ‘Great English Rising’ (or ‘Peasants’ Revolt’) of 1381. Using that experience as a touchstone through which to think about larger issues related to feminist archival practice, the chapter is part personal history, part discussion of my research results, and part reflection on cultural changes in the field of medieval studies over the last quarter century. The way in which archival structures can place barriers in the way of junior and inexperienced researchers are discussed and it is argued that it should be the shared mission of experienced researchers to demystify the field.