Last week I read the book A Medieval Life: Cecilia Penifader of Brigstock, c. 1297-1344, by Judith M. Bennett. I have to write a paper about it for a class, and this is just some of my notes, maybe I'll post the paper as well.#

The book is about the life of a rather unimportant peasant woman who lived on a manor of the king's in the early 14th century. The author assembled the story of her life by looking at many court records that mentioned her and her family.#

Bennett did not set out to write about Cecilia Penifader, but while researching her manor she realized how much information about this one woman was saved, so she used that as a focal point of her book.

One of the interesting things about Brigstock, is that it was an "ancient demesne, defined as the manors held directly by William the Conqueror at the time of Domesday Survey in 1086." (pg. 35) This meant that peasants there had many more privileges than other peasants who lived under a smaller lord.#

[The] tenants of Brigstock and other ancient demesne manors had privileges unknown to other peasants, either free or serf: they did not have to pay tolls or customs anywhere in England; they could not be obliged to attend county courts; and they were able to use royal writs to bring their cases to court (this meant that they could use the power of the king to resolve disputes, especially property disputes, in their favor). Cecilia's status, then, exemplifies the blurring between free and unfree that was so common by her time. Neither a freewoman nor a serf, she tolerated a few servile obligations but also enjoyed other exceptional privileges. [pg. 35]

The other thing that was very different about Brigstock manor was that it was leased by the tenants--this meant that they managed it and took the profits of the community land as a community--typically to pay the lease. Something else that this meant was that the bailiffs and officers of the manor were elected by the tenants themselves, an atypical situation that helped put wealthy peasants in relatively powerful places. (pg. 104)

So, although Cecilia was a peasant woman, she was very well-off compared to other peasants from other areas, and as I shall indicate below, compared to other peasants in Brigstock.

Another defining fact about Cecilia Penifader is that she never married, and because she never married she had many more privileges than any other woman would. This included the right to buy, sell and manage her own land, as well as appear in court as the head of her 'household.' This is one of the reasons that she managed to become so wealthy and why much is known of her. If she had been married, then she would not have bought and sold so much land (although maybe her husband would have,) and she would not have ever (probably) appeared in the three-weekly courts.#

By her death, Cecilia had acquired over 70 acres of land from the Brigstock manor's active land market. A well-off household would probably have about 30 acres, and a poor one may have only 7.5 acres, or less. All of this land was purchased on her own, as she did not inherit any land from her family, although her parents may have been "silent partners" in her early purchases. (pg. 97)

One of the reasons that Cecilia may have been able to get so much land is that she was alive during the Great Famine of 1315 to 1322. During this time a great deal of land was likely to be being sold a cheap prices as poorer families tried to get cash for food to survive. Although this helped them in the short-run, it probably hurt them in the long-run, but was a good situation for someone like Cecilia to be in. It should be noted that she was not untouched by the famine, which can be seen from the death of parents during it. (pg. 99)

Cecilia was a woman, and this made her situation more difficult than if she had been a man. She could not participate in many manorial functions, such as: tithings, community policing units that every man was a member of; court pledging, and a pledge was required for every person involved in every case; and manorial offices, she could not be elected to public positions. (pg. 115)#

It is hard, however, to say whether she would have been better off had she been married. Maybe she would have been lucky and have a husband who was as business savvy as she was who did not feel the need to beat her and treat her poorly.

For Cecilia, only downward mobility would have resulted from bringing a male lover into her household. She would have gained no extra economic security; her family would have objected strenuously; and neighbors would have been scandalized. What could be tolerated for her brothers was not acceptable for her--unless she contracted an upwardly mobile liaison with a merchant or knight. [pg. 123-124]

All in all, because Cecilia was a well-off women, it seemed she didn't much need a man for an reason, which is probably why she never married one. This is not to say that the same would go for any woman and that there was no reason to marry, there was, just not for Cecilia. (pg. 125)

Bennett wants to make sure that no one reads too much into Cecilia. She was in some respects very common in the ways she made her money and not marrying was not incredibly uncommon. Additionally, her business sense should not be overestimated--she was not incredibly rich and did not become a merchant.#

Cecilia and other English peasants were not modern before their time. After all, she was a villein of the ancient demesne, subject to the jurisdiction of her manor; she passed her life firmly rooted in the land and the work of her own hands; her social world was profoundly and somewhat narrowly shaped by kinship, community, household, and parish. Cecilia was a well-off peasant, neither a rugged individualist nor an early entrepreneur. [pg. 135]