Morals, Rituals, and Gender: Aspects of Social Relations in the Diocese of Norwich, 1660 - 1703
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MORALS, RITUALS, AND GENDER: ASPECTS OF SOCIAL RELATIONS IN THE DIOCESE OF NORWICH, 1660 - 1703 Dave Peacock Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy To the University of York History Department December 1996 ABSTRACT This thesis explores the question of whether the late seventeenth-century "middling sort" were the passive recipients of 'government" and "civility", or, whether they were active participants, and pivotal agents, of the construction of post-Restoration English society. This conundrum raises three further issues: first, who were the middling sort; second, what constitutes "politics"; and third, how did the "middling sort" adapt the concept of "civility" to their own preoccupations and aspirations? This thesis uses evidence of social relationships drawn from the depositions of the Norwich consistory court, which is relevant for two reasons: first, it reveals the "middling sort" and demonstrates their concern with personal reputation; second, it exposes the requirements of "civility" they demanded of each other. We also investigate the precepts of social behaviour offered by conduct books. Thus, we are able to examine the intellectual context in which the conflicts over reputation occurred. We argue that precept provided a discursive resource which defamers utilised to redirect perceptions of a person's reputation. Victims of defamation responded with appeals to their neighbours to uphold their inclusion within a "moral community". Thus, we argue, defamation causes were a negotiation of social identity as respected, autonomous citizens, with all the privileges and obligations that status entailed. Accordingly, we must redefine our concept of "politics", for the practice of defamation demonstrates how political activity extended throughout the social milieu: to gain a bad reputation was to lose authority and influence upon neighbourhood affairs, and destroyed political ambitions. Moreover, we argue, that as central agents in the regulation of reputation, women exercised enormous influence upon the "public" lives of men. Thus we conclude that the "middling sort" were far from being passive consumers of genteel culture, they were intimately, and sometimes aggressively, implicated in the process of "civilising" English society. TO Z512tCLPJE CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES U LISTOF FIGURES .......................................................ii CONVENTIONS& ABBREVIATIONS .........................................iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................. V INTRODUCTION........................................................1 CHAPTER 1 The State and Local Communities: thePolitics of Social Relations .........................................14 CHAPTER 2 A Suitable Cause for Complaint: PopularUse of the Bawdy Court in Norwich ................................62 CHAPTER 3 The Art of Speech: aRitual of Everyday Practice .......................................... 125 CHAPTER 4 Social Roles, Honour and the Politics of Defamation ........................176 CHAPTER 5 The Geography of Insult: Citizensby Right of Conduct ...........................................224 CONCLUSION.........................................................263 BIBLIOGRAPHY UnprintedSources ................................................271 PrintedSources ..................................................271 SecondaryWorks .................................................274 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Norwich Consistory Court, 1660-1703, Participants by Gender .................70 Table 2. Lewes Archdeaconry Court, January 1686 - August 1690, March 1691 - May 1694, Participants .....................................71 Table 3. Lewes Archdeaconry Court, January 1686 - August 1690, March 1691 - May 1694, Role in Cause by Gender ............................71 Table 4. Norwich Consistory Court, 1660-1703, Occupations ........................73 Table 5. Lewes Archdeaconry Court, January 1686 - August 1690, March 1691 - May 1694, Occupations .....................................74 Table 6. Norwich Consistory Court, 1660-1703, Role in Cause by Gender ...............76 Table 7. Norwich Consistory Court, 1660-1703, Cause Type by Gender .................78 Table 8. Lewes Archdeaconry Court, January 1686 - August 1686, March 1691 - May 1694, Cause Type by Gender .........................79 Table 9. Norwich Consistory Court, 1660-1703, Words Used in DefamationCauses .............................................. 155 Table 10. Norwich Consistory Court 1660-1703, Total Sexual Insults ................... 155 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Witness Interrogatory. NCCD. DEPI53/58B, 1692-1703; MF/X1200; March 1696, Office per James Church con ThomasLife .....................................................68 11 CONVENTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS Original spellings have been retained, although in some cases modern spellings have been included to aid understanding. Meanings of dialect words have been included in footnotes when required. Dates have been changed to the new calendar, and folio numbers have been included when available and appropriate. The following abbreviations have been used in references to court records and secondary sources: ASA American Sociological Association Church Courts M.Ingram, Church Courts, Sex and Marriage in England 1570-1640 (Cambridge, 1987) 'Concepts of Civility' A.C.Bryson, 'Concepts of Civility in England c.1560-1685', (Unpublished Oxford D.Phil., Thesis, 1984) DNB Dictionary of National Biography Domestic Dangers L.Gowing, Domestic Dangers: Women, Words, and Sex in Early Modern London (Oxford, 1996) East Anglian Diaries M.Storey (ed), Two East Anglian Diaries 1641-1729 (Suffolk, 1994) ERO Essex Record Office, Colchester ESCRO East Sussex County Record Office, Lewes ESQSR East Sussex Quarter Session Rolls ESQSIB East Sussex Quarter Session Indictment Book Experience of Authority P.Griffiths, A.Fox & S.Hindle (eds), The Experience of Authority in Early Modern England (London, 1996) Government R.Allestree, The Government of the Tongue (Oxford, 1674) Humphrey Prideaux E.M.Thompson (ed), Letters of Humphrey Prideaux sometime Dean of Norwich to John Ellis sometime under-secretary of state, 1674-1722 The Camden Society, (London 1875) IEBQS Informations & Examinations, Borough Quarter Sessions, Norwich Jnl Journal 'Middle Class' H.Mews, 'Middle Class Conduct Books in the Seventeenth Century' (Unpublished MA Thesis, University of London, 1934) Middling Sort J.Barry & C.Brooks (eds), The Middling Sort of People: Culture, Society and Politics in England 1550-1800 (London, 1994) NCCD Norwich Consistory Court Depositions NCR Norwich City Records 111 NNGS Norfolk and Norwich Genealogical Society NNRO Norfolk and Norwich Record Office, Norwich NRS Norfolk Records Society OED Oxford English Dictionary Order & Disorder A.Fletcher & J.Stevenson, Order & Disorder in Earl y Modern England (Cambridge, 1987) Ordered Society S.Amussen, An Ordered Society: Gender and Class in Early Modern England (Oxford, 1988) 'Prescriptions' F.A.Childs, 'Prescriptions for Manners in English Courtesy Literature, 1690-1760, and their Social Implications', (Unpublished Oxford D.Phil., Thesis, 1984) Quakers R.Bauman, Let your words be few: Symbolism of speaking and silence among seventeenth-century Quakers (Cambridge, 1983) Sex & Subordination A.Fletcher, Gender Sex & Subordination in England 1500-1800, (New Haven, 1995) SRS Suffolk Records Society SMB Sessions Minute Book SXRS Sussex Records Society TLS Times Literary Supplement Thomas Cone R.H.Hill (ed), A Miscellany comprising The Correspondence of Thomas Cone Town Clerk of Norwich, 1664-1687 NRS, VoI.XXVII, (1956) Trans. Transactions UEA University of East Anglia Vocabulary R.Forby, The Vocabulary of East Anglia (2 VoIs. 1830, 1970) Whole Duty R.Allestree, The Whole Duty of Man (London, 1678) WSCRO West Sussex County Record Office, Chichester iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the Economic and Social Research Council for providing the funding for this thesis, and the staff of the graduate office, University of York, for their assistance in resolving the minor problems that inevitably arose during its production. I would also like to thank the staff at the East Sussex Record Office, Lewes, and their colleagues at the West Sussex Record Office, Chichester, for their friendly advice and support during the early stages of research. The staff of the Norfolk and Norwich Record Office, Norwich, deserve special thanks. They remained cheerful and responded to requests for guidance with prompt efficiency and friendly interest which belied the fact that their archive had suffered serious damage due to a major fire. The British Library was its own inimitable self, the staff knowledgeable and extremely kind, and it was a pleasure to work in the unique atmosphere of the Reading Room. Much credit is due to Jim Sharpe who supervised my efforts, a supervisor's role is probably never easy but I think I managed to push his patience to the limit. Despite the odd fraught moment, Jim was always supportive and encouraging and without his aid this thesis would never have appeared. As ever with a project such as this, many others contribute advice and much needed encouragement, but space precludes mentioning all. I therefore offer a general thank you to all the post-graduates and faculty of the History Department, and the staff of the Library, York University, I hope I do not offend anybody by not mentioning them by name. A few individuals do deserve special mention however: I thank Cath Stowers for providing a haven of peace