Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU History Graduate Studies 2003 Maternity's Wards: Investigations Of Sixteenth Century Patterns Of Maternal Gaurdianship Liz Woolcott Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd_history Part of the History of Gender Commons, and the Women's History Commons Recommended Citation Woolcott, Liz, "Maternity's Wards: Investigations Of Sixteenth Century Patterns Of Maternal Gaurdianship" (2003). History. 1. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd_history/1 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in History by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. MATERNITY'S WARDS: INVESTIGATIONS OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY PATTERNS OF MATERNAL GUARDIANSHIP by Elizabeth B. W oolcott A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS In HISTORY Approved: Dr. Norman Jones D~. Robert ijueller Major Professor Committee Member . Dr.,Nancy~~ V :m?fflo-;nas L. Ke~;· Committee~ber Dean of Graduate Studies UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Log~ Utah 2003 11 Copyright © Elizabeth B. Woolcott 2003 All Rights Reserved 111 ABSTRACT Maternity' s Wards: Investigations Of Sixteenth Century Patterns of Maternal Guardianship by Elizabeth B. Woolcott, Master of Arts Utah State University, 2003 Major Professor: Dr. Nonnan Jones Department: History Grants of wardship, by the time of the Tudor period in England, had evolved into an institution divorced from its feudal foundation but committed to maintaining a goal of economic profit. Mixed with a pronounced responsibility of the monarch to care for the unprotected children of deceased feudatories, this goal compromised the practice of wardship grants and created a bureaucracy whose sole policy was patronage.