Judith Bennett's A Medieval Life

In her novel, A Medieval Life, Judith Bennett attempts to showcase the daily life of a peasant woman, Cecilia Penifader, as she lives on the English manor Brigstock in the mid-fourteenth century. During this time period Europe was full of thousands of rural communities including Brigstock. Brigstock was located in a very manorialized part of England which was the English midlands near London. Bennett works to redirect focus from the readers’ fairytale view of the middle ages to a more accurate view of how life really was. “Most medieval people were not knights, kings, churchmen, or merchants. Most (more than nine out of ten) were peasants who eked out hard livings from the land. This book tells the story of one such peasant” (Bennett, p.1). …show more content…
The village was the oldest of these three as it existed before manorialism and parishes came to the area. The manor was larger in size than the village of Brigstock itself. According to the Domesday Book, which Bennett used as a source of knowledge in writing this book, Brigstock manor made up almost all of the village of Brigstock and parts of three other settlements (Bennett, p.11-12). While being a village and manor, Brigstock was also part of a parish. The parish in Brigstock was also larger than the village with a church dedicated to St. Andrew at the center of Brigstock. People worshipped in this church on Sundays an on holy days practicing a faith mixed with pre-Christian customs (Bennett, p.12). This church of St. Andrew was the biggest building in Brigstock and because of this it was used for more than just worship. On page 12, Bennett tells us that people sold goods in the church courtyard and help meetings in it’s nave. To Cecilia, it probably seemed as if the village, manor, and parish blended …show more content…
Because of this, she was considered the head of her own household. This allows her many of the same rights men had being heads of their households. In comparison to her married sisters, Cecilia had more freedom. In the 14th century, wives were completely dependent on their husbands. Cecilia being the head of her household, she was able to hold the title of an independent tenant of the manor which allowed her to accumulate several acres of land during her land and also buy and sell said land. Despite being an independent head of household, Cecilia did not receive the same treatment in the community as men did. When males in Brigstock turned twelve they joined groups called tithings which made sure the laws were being obeyed. If someone broke a law, the other members of the group were responsible for making the guilty party appear in court (Bennett, p.144). Cecilia wasn’t allowed to be in the tithings because she was a woman. Most peasants were illiterate, but those who were literate were men. Because she was a girl she didn’t have the opportunities her brothers had. Cecilia could not pledge in court which prevented her from creating important networks in her community, and from potential