Description
Book SynopsisProvides a full, detailed picture of the life of an aristocratic family in early modern England. The Temples of Stowe were a leading Midland landed family, owning land in, and with strong connections to, Buckinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. In the seventeenth century they were one of the wealthiest and most prominent local families, building in the eighteenth century a large and beautiful country house, now Stowe School. The family also left voluminous records, housed mainly in the Huntington and the Folger Shakespeare libraries. Based on very extensive research in these records, this book provides a detailed picture of the family life of the early Temples. It examines household, financial and estate management, discusses social networking and the promotion of family interests, and considers the legal disputes the family were engaged in. It focuses in particular on the happy and effective marriage of Sir Thomas and Lady Hester Temple, exploring their relationship with each other, with their children, and with their siblings. Lady Hester, who outlived her husband by twenty years, is a good example of a formidable matriarch, who took a strong lead in managing the family and its resources. Overall, the book provides a full and detailed picture of the family life of an aristocratic family in early modern England. ROSEMARY O'DAY is Professor of History at the Open University and author of, amongst numerous other works, Women's Agency in Early Modern Britain and the American Colonies: Patriarchy, Partnership and Patronage (Pearson. Longman 2007) and Cassandra Brydges (1670-1735) First Duchess of Chandos: Life and Letters (Boydell Press 2007).
Trade ReviewMakes important contributions to current debates on a wide range of issues relating to family life..[It is] an outstanding example of how to interpret historic documents. * FACHRS NEWSLETTER *
Taking a micro-historical approach, the author offers a prodigious amount of detail derived from correspondence, estate records, and litigation. . . . Hester [Temple] proved herself the domus ducere of the household and ordered the lives of her 13 surviving children. Hester's assertiveness proved essential to the Temples' fortunes because she would experience an extended widowhood and intrafamily squabbles. Hester serves as an example of the variable nature of the matriarchal role in an elite household. * CHOICE *
The Temples of Stowe and Burton Dassett are in many ways a perfect case to explore the workings of an elite early modern family. . . . The extensive referencing to primary sources signals a number of opportunities that will enable further work on the dynamics of the early modern family, gender relationships, household economies, geography and power, and much more. -- Jessica Malay * Journal of British Studies *
Rosemary O'Day has given us a masterly piece of research reconstructing the life of a gentry family in the early seventeenth century. * Sixteenth Century Journal *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: A Multiple-Plot Late-Renaissance Drama: A Midland Gentry Family, the Temples of Stowe, Buckinghamshire Meet the Temples The Geographical and Social Connections of the Temples of Stowe How the Temples Interacted with Changing Rules of Inheritance Thomas and Hester Temple's Partnership After the Fall, 1629-1637 The Temples and their Servants Hester's Widowhood, 1637-1656 Early Modern Wives The case of John and Mary Farmer The Strange Case of Peter the Lunatic Relations with Daughters from Birth to Marriage Daughters, Daughters-in-law and Grand Daughters Care of Wards The Temples and the Abusive Marriage of Sir William and Lady Anne Andrewes Bringing up Sons Patriarchal Authority in Practice Relations with Younger Sons Conclusions Appendices
