INTRODUCTION

Abstract

The theoretical restrictions and obligations that marriage imposed on wives and husbands throughout most of English history appear relatively clear and unequivocal. Prior to the modern era, husbands enjoyed a monopoly over the management of marital property and an obligation to maintain their wives at a level befitting the couple's social standing and material resources. Wives, meanwhile, could not independently possess and control property, and, without the permission of their husbands, they could not buy or sell goods, enter into contracts, make wills, or be parties to law suits. What is less straightforward, however, is the way individual wives and husbands accepted or resisted these restrictions and obligations in daily life.