Although the lawyer, scholar and chancellor Thomas More famously gave his daughters a fine education, most Tudor parents were less enlightened. The educationalist Richard Mulcaster, addressing the issue in the 1580s, was quick to assure his readers that he would speak of boys’ education first, since “naturally the male is more worthy”. Nonetheless, he did acknowledge that girls had some capacity to learn.By the start of the 16th century, girls were commonly attending local schools along with their male peers. There was one such school in London between 1504 and 1515, which was run by an aged priest named William Barbour. Barbour took in 30 students of both sexes, teaching them both religious doctrine and “further learning”. No girls were permitted to attend university, but a handful attended grammar schools.Most adolescent girls in the Tudor period were expected to leave home and work or marry well and raise a family. For upper-class girls, this would be learning the ways of becoming an attractive marriage prospect to land a suitable husband. Between the ages of seven to fourteen, the children of the poor often left home in order to find employment.This was usually in the form of domestic servants, living-in labourers or apprenticeships, in which individuals would serve a master within a specific trade.
Others took on the less respectable trade of prostitution.The scale of such operations– which were often run by women–was variable. Most Tudor women expected to marry, and girls were expected to retain their virginity until their wedding night. Marriages of the nobility and gentry were approached like business arrangements, with the two families haggling over the terms, such as dowry and jointure to further their lineage,inheritance and preservation of status.Tudor women were expected to support their husbands in their businesses or work, run their households, and bear children. As they were restricted to marriage and motherhood, women relied heavily on their husband for financial support and economic security was deeply sought.Children were expected to honour and obey their parents and were treated like miniature adults.

A very interesting and well researched book, recommended if you are interested in women's or social history
Well written, easy to follow.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Very interesting book about the lives of women during the Tudor years. It is very well research. The author covers all spheres of society, from the poor to the rich; and all periods in the life of a woman, from birth until her death.

Very interesting read if you like history and a topic that is rarely ever touched on in history books: women. I love anything involving the Tudor era so this was right up my alley. Lots of interesting information. Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the opportunity to read.

Amy McElroy, Women's Lives in the Tudor Era, Pen & Sword, March 2024.

Thank you, NetGalley and Pen & Sword, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

Amy McElroy’s book makes an excellent contribution to knowledge about women’s lives in the Tudor era. She does not make the mistake of omitting the information about the more well-known female figures. Instead, there is an engaging back and forth between women’s lives as they were lived at court, those who served them, and those whose work and lives contributed to the society in which the exceptional figures of history raised their heads to occasionally join the more well-known history of their male counterparts. Yes, a great deal more is known about the royal women and those at court, but Amy McElroy makes their lives even more available in this work. However, where she really excels is in the wealth of research she has undertaken to make other women’s lives in this period more accessible.

The illustrations carry through this theme, from headdresses and other fashions, comparisons of clothing and royal images; various graphics of women spinning and another assisting in childbirth; a Tudor hospital and birthing furniture and scenes; to printed works. Notes accompany each chapter. There is an index and a bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The former includes a primer on governing a family, from the duties between husbands and wives to those associated with masters and servants. As expected, these works are those of the people in power, those who could read and write. The secondary sources include general histories of the period; tomes on women and property and women’s legal rights; women’s everyday lives; poverty and vagrancy; and women’s employment.

McElroy writes in a lively fashion, so that Tudor women’s lives become a vast story of the society in which court life and royalty have hitherto been the main protagonists. The conclusion is a joy to read, laying out as it does the evidence that Tudor women were remarkable in their influence over their own lives and those of their families, if not further afield. The importance of domestic initiatives, tasks and relationships are given their due through this thorough investigation of Tudor women’s lives.

A very nice book about the Tudar period, looking into the lives of people seldom mentioned in most historical documents and books.

Having read lots of historical fiction over the years, I didn't expect to find much new in this nonfiction book WOMEN'S LIVES IN THE TUDOR ERA. However, I found a lot I hadn't known, and a lot that still lingers in our culture in the U.S. today (thankfully not in our laws as was the case in the Tudor era).

Amy McElroy has done a thorough job of encapsulating women's lives in Tudor England in a way that makes sense, and is interesting to read. Divided into chapters based on women's chronological ages (from birth through childhood, marriage, widowhood, and death), and including an index at the end, this book would be a wonderful addition to any history writer's or history reader's bookshelf.

An interesting look into women's lives during the Tudor Era from the reigns of Henry VII to Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch. Traversing from birth to adulthood, looking through class, race and age, Amy McElroy paints a fascinating look into the past in Women's history and how it may differ from some points we learn now. I found Women's Lives in the Tudor Era an interesting and well-researched read that is perfect for any history buff interested in the Tudor Era.

Thank you, NetGalley and Pen & Sword for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

In the book Women’s Lives In The Tutor Era by the brilliant Amy McElroy we learned the fair sex was held to a much higher standard than their male counterparts. From what they learned to who they married to what they got from an inheritance and even to how they mourned the loss was all dictated by the men in their lives. It seems the only point of the female is the care for the men and children. Most women’s lives were daily drudgery with menial task that seemed never ending. Anyone who loves history knows women couldn’t inherit if they had a younger or older brother and in some cases a distant male relative could sweep in when they did inherit and claimed the inheritance for their self. It seems the females of the tutor. Bore all this bother wearing the corsets they’re very long dresses and a smile on their face once again proving that females are and always will be the stronger sex. This was yet another brilliant read by the great author Amy McElroy who has really claimed her spot and nonfiction history books set and the tutor. I love her books and cannot get enough of them and hope she sees fit to continue riding because I am obsessed. This is a book I highly recommend definitely enjoyed an absolutely get five stars too. I want to thank pin and sword press, Author Amy McElroy and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I really ended up liking this.It was so easy to read and packed with useful information if you are at all interested in the Tudor era or the women of the period.It seemed very well researched,paced, organized and informative.I especially enjoyed the Will section,the Bride and the Lives of the Wives chapters.I was also pleasantly surprised to find a a summation chapter at the end which brought the whole book together for me.

I dearly wanted to love this book as I enjoy finding out about everyday life of normal people in a particular time. McElroy's book is deeply, richly researched but the clunky delivery needs some more polishing. Right now it's trapped between an academic and popular history, and doesn't seem to know where it wants to land.

Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era by Amy McElroy is a nonfiction novel that focus on the daily lives of all ranks of women in the infamous Tudor age. A quick and thorough read for fans of Tudor history.,

In many ways, it did not matter the rank of the woman, the way things function in their lives were very much the same. McElroy covers all stages of life, from birth and childhood to death. Children were taught from a young age what their roles in life were, and were educated accordingly. A luckier girl might be afforded a more advanced education on the whim of her father, but in most cases girls were taught merely the basics,. There are chapters on marriage, birthing a chid, and daily tasks. I found the part of the role of Women in wills particularly interesting, as this brought to light a not so much focused on area.

The chapter on child birth, as well as the chapter on entertainment were a little light, and I would have liked to see more, but this book was well researched and gives a clear picture of what life was like daily. I am a little sad this book wasn’t longer, as I would’ve enjoyed even more information from this author.

Thank you to Pen and Sword and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy!

When we think about the Tudor dynasty, we often think about the famous men and women who defined the era. An era full of change in all aspects of life, from religious and political, to the arts and literature. Throughout these changes, we tend to focus on how they affected the lives of Tudor men, but there is a growing field of interest in the lives of the average Tudor women and how their lives were affected. In her latest book, “Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era,” Amy McElroy explores women's life stages in 16th-century England and how their roles changed.

I want to thank Pen and Sword Books and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book. I enjoyed McElroy’s debut book, “Educating the Tudors,” and when I heard that she had another book about Tudor women, I knew I wanted to read it.

McElroy explains that like the centuries before and since the 16th century, it was riddled with negative views of women in all aspects of life. Women were seen as beneath men, which corresponded with the teachings of Aristotle. Wives, mothers, and daughters were supposed to be obedient and seen rather than heard. However, when we look at the different stages of life, we cannot separate the roles of women from everyday life.

To understand what it meant to be a Tudor woman, McElroy breaks down life into different stages, starting in childhood, going through adolescence, becoming a wife and mother, working life for women, how women relaxed, embracing widowhood, and finally, wills and death. Each stage of life is represented in a chapter in this book. McElroy takes the time to explore what it meant to be a woman at each stage of life and how their social standings changed. We see women receiving an education, going through courtships, getting married and becoming wives, starting their own families and the dangers of childbirth, how women earned a living, what they would do as recreational activities, and how they would survive if their husbands died. In each chapter, McElroy highlights women of different social statuses to show how they survived during the Tudor time.

This was an engrossing and utterly fascinating book. Some elements were completely new information for me, which was quite thrilling. The amount of details that McElroy included in such a short amount of pages was incredible. Another brilliant book by McElroy. If you want a fascinating glimpse into the lives of Tudor women, I highly recommend you read, “Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era” by Amy McElroy.

My thing about nonfiction is that is still needs to be interesting and have a hook to capture readers. Nonfiction should be accessible to people who don't typically read nonfiction, as well as scholars. This one was not. It was very dry, and I had to skim through a lot to get to the point.

Very well researched and written, Ms McElroy has laid out what life was like for average girls and women in the Tudor era.

I was impressed with this, while also being struck by the horrific conditions that females had to endure and survive.

I found this a fascinating look back and would recommend to those interested in the Tudor era.



Thank you Pen & Sword History and NetGalley for the DRC

I love the Tudor era and thought this was a great way of introducing the unspoken women in the Tudor era. It was written well and had that historical nonfiction feel to it. I thought it was well-researched and left me wanting to read more from Amy McElroy.

I am a huge fan of Amy McElroy’s first book on Tudor education and so I was very excited to receive an ARC of her second book - ‘Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era’ - and I was not disappointed. The author takes us on a fascinating and in depth journey through the lives of ordinary women during the Tudor period. Beginning with their childhood Amy McElroy explores the options and potential future that awaited baby girls. She offers us such details as the fact that even the way their hair could be worn was prescribed by society and quotes primary sources such as Roger Ascham’s ‘English Work’s’ to show us the sort of advice parents would have been expected to follow in respect to their female children. The author then moves through women’s lives looking at the day to day challenges an adolescent Tudor woman faced - such as how to make quince marmalade fit for presenting to the upper classes - and on to the more serious challenges they faced when taking a husband. I loved the detail which was given regarding the lives of women once they were married. Too often it seems that women are forgotten historically once they are safely married off, but here the author offers us a tantalizing insight into the lives they could and did lead. For example Lady Anne Lestrange’s exemplary bookkeeping and the relationship she had with her daughter in law Ellen as they sought to live harmoniously together painted for me a vivid picture which (I’m sure!) many can relate to today.
I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Wills, and the insight they offer us into the lives of Tudor women such as Margaret Browne, who left an incredibly detailed Will, and touchingly took pains to ensure that her daughter inherited and was protected as well as her sons. Proof perhaps that she was all too aware of the challenges her daughter faced as a Tudor woman.
Aristocratic women are mentioned throughout this book but this primarily is a commentary and analysis of the lives of more ‘ordinary’ Tudor women. Amy McElroy’s constant use of primary sources is detailed, accurate and convincing, her arguments are well grounded in the primary material and offer the reader an incredibly detailed insight.
This book is an entertaining, fascinating and brilliant read. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This is a fascinating and detailed look into the everday lives of women in that time period. Every woman is covered from common folk to the aristocracy. Even a few of the royals are mentioned here and there. As a fan of this time period who has read all about the monarchs of the time I am a bit disappointed that there weren't more references to the royal women that everyone would recognize, but I understand that that is not the focus of the book. This was meant as more of a look at every woman and not just the ones that history usually focuses on. This is a must read if you are interested in the time period and especially in women's history.

Women's Lives in the Tudor Era by Amy McElroy is a fascinating account of a largely silent sector of Tudor society which although varied by status, still followed themes of a womans place being in the home and subserviant to men, even in royalty

McElroy's account goes beyond the traditional roles and takes a deep dive into access to education, growing up and getting married. Could you imagine being denied education because of your gender? being put to work at the age of 6 or 7? This was the grim reality of girls in the Tudor era and this was not the only issue.

The role of tudor wives (where essentially women were used as chattell and bargaining tools across the classes) raises the point of the age of marriage and it is noted, that in 1571, Juan Luis Vives advised that an age of 18 would be the earliest for marriage, when up to that point, girls as young as 12 and 14 were being forced into matrimony, The book also explores the role of motherhood and how the household was run and the dichotomy of the gender roles within while celebrating the role of the mother in the essential mechanism of running a home. Even Widowhood was feared, for it ws almost impossile for a woman to survive due to rarely having the ability to earn an income unless it had been learned prior to or during marriage (which in itself was rare)

There is also a very intriguing section on the wills of widows and what happened to all their worldly belongings, if even they had any left at the time of their passing. A very interesting book and an entertaining quick read. Absolutely recommended

Thank you to Netgalley, Pen & Sword, Pen & Sword History and the fantastic author Amy McElroy for this fantastic ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own