Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

• Quick Search
• Advanced Search
• Article of the Month
• Translation of the Month
• Image of the Month
• Special Features

Record Number: 9758 Author(s)/Creator(s): Bothwell , James. Contributor(s): Title: The Management of Position: Alice Perrers, Edward III, and the Creation of a Landed Estates, 1362-1377 Source: Journal of Medieval History 24, 1 (March 1998): Pages 31 - 51. Description: Article Type: Journal Article Subject (See Also): Concubines Economics Financial Power Land Tenure Perrers, Alice, Mistress of Edward III, King of England Award Note: Geographic Area: British Isles Century: 14 Primary Evidence: Illustrations: Three figures. Figure One Map of England showing the manorial acquisitions of Alice Perrers. The numbers are keyed to the table at the end of the article. Figure Two Alice Perrers' seal (British Library CLXV4). Figure Three Joanna and Robert Skerne, the daughter and son-in-law of Alice Perrers. Skerne memorial brass, parish church, Kingson Upon Thames. Table: Table of the manorial acquisitions of Alice Perrers. It is divided into royal grants and "independent" acquisitions. Abstract: The role of royal mistress in the Middle Ages was mainly a passive one. Her position, her wealth, and even her fate were dependent upon the will of the king. There was. however, at least one notable exception. Alice Perrers, the mistress of Edward III, transcended her designated place early on in her career to become one of the wealthiest landowning women in later fourteenth-century England. More importantly, unlike many male royal favourites of the period, she did so primarily not through direct royal intervention but of her own initiative--making free use of the funds available to the king, but letting her own business sense determine the form their conversion into landed wealth would take. Indeed, while Perrers obviously used her position "vis à vis" Edward III to promote her own interests, the lands she acquired without direct royal patronage can nonetheless be shown to form the vast majority of her properties upon her forfeiture in 1377. This article examines the main features of one of the fastest , and most impressive, accumulations of a landed estate by a woman in the later Middle Ages. [Reprinted from the Journal of Medieval History (at http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/jmedhist), Vol. 24, No. 1, Bothwell, James, "The Management of Position," p. 31, 1998 with permission from Elsevier Science.] Related Resources: Author's Affiliation: University of York Conference Info: - , - Year of Publication: 1998. Language: English ISSN/ISBN: 03044181

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index ©2014. Hosted by The University of Iowa Libraries.