The economic opportunities of rural women in late medieval Flanders

Abstract

The demographic catastrophe of the Black Death in the second half of the fourteenth century caused a severe shortage of labour. However, the debate about women's economic opportunities in the late medieval rural world is limited by a number of problems. Because of the emphasis on wage labour, other additional sources of income, such as cultivating land, working in rural industries or activities on the credit market, have received too little attention. Indeed, during the late Middle Ages and sixteenth century, the part of the county of Flanders bordering the North Sea – coastal Flanders – underwent fundamental social and economic changes. In late medieval rural Europe, land remained the foremost source of income. Lives were profoundly shaped by the availability and exploitation of land. In England, men’s and women’s rights to land were not equal.