Manhood, the Male Body, Courtship and the Household in Early Modern England

Abstract

Little work has been done on early modern masculinity. This article reviews the state of our knowledge on its definition, development and construction. It opens with a consideration of the medical conception of the male body, male appetite and imagination. Key aspects of upbringing and growing up are considered in turn: schooling, early sexual experience and courtship, which tested young men's confidence. Adult maturity was marked by marriage and the acquisition of the status of a householder. A man's performance in this role, his exercise of reason rather than force in marital affairs, was the ultimate test of his manhood. Examples of failure in this respect are noted. It is argued that effective manhood at this time involved learning and performing a social role, which was founded upon self‐mastery and internal discipline. The social order rested, in the last resort, on this gender order.