Silkwomen in late medieval London based on their wills

Abstract

Silkwomen were skilled craftswomen who were engaged in silkwork mainly in late medieval London. The aim of this article is to examine the social relations of fifteenth and sixteenth century London silkwomen based on their wills. Wills were examined with a focus on people and organizations that appear as recipients of bequests. Then these wills were compared with wills from the same time period of other women and cutlers. Using the wills, we can create a picture of the silkwomens' social relations with various individuals and groups, including other silkwomen, various organizations, local communities, and colleagues of their husbands. Although similar relations can also be observed in wills of contemporary London women, relations with their colleagues and male friends can be seen as one of the characteristics of silkwomen's wills. The comparison of silkwomen's wills with cutlers' wills shows that silkwomen, who were not members of a craft guild, relied on different organizations for religious activities and mutual aid-functions that a craft guild would have played. One of the characteristics of the silkwomen, who operated without a craft guild, was the wide range of their social relations.