Provides a full, detailed picture of the life of an aristocratic family in early modern England. The Temples of Stowe were a leading Midland landed family, owning land in, and with strong connections to, Buckinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. In the seventeenth century they were one of the wealthiest and most prominent local families, building in the eighteenth century a large and beautiful country house, now Stowe School. The family also left voluminous records, housed mainly in the Huntington and the Folger Shakespeare libraries. Based on very extensive research in these records, this book provides a detailed picture of the family life of the early Temples. It examines household, financial and estate management, discusses social networking and the promotion of family interests, and considers the legal disputes the family were engaged in. It focuses in particular on the happy and effective marriage of Sir Thomas and Lady Hester Temple, exploring their relationship with each other, with their children, and with their siblings. Lady Hester, who outlived her husband by twenty years, is a good example of a formidable matriarch, who took a strong lead in managing the family and its resources. Overall, the book provides a full and detailed picture of the family life of an aristocratic family in early modern England. ROSEMARY O'DAY is Professor of History at the Open University and author of, amongst numerous other works, Women's Agency in Early Modern Britain and the American Colonies: Patriarchy, Partnership and Patronage (Pearson. Longman 2007) and Cassandra Brydges (1670-1735) First Duchess of Chandos: Life and Letters (Boydell Press 2007).
Reviews
Makes important contributions to current debates on a wide range of issues relating to family life..[It is] an outstanding example of how to interpret historic documents. * FACHRS NEWSLETTER *
Taking a micro-historical approach, the author offers a prodigious amount of detail derived from correspondence, estate records, and litigation. . . . Hester [Temple] proved herself the domus ducere of the household and ordered the lives of her 13 surviving children. Hester's assertiveness proved essential to the Temples' fortunes because she would experience an extended widowhood and intrafamily squabbles. Hester serves as an example of the variable nature of the matriarchal role in an elite household. * CHOICE *
The Temples of Stowe and Burton Dassett are in many ways a perfect case to explore the workings of an elite early modern family. . . . The extensive referencing to primary sources signals a number of opportunities that will enable further work on the dynamics of the early modern family, gender relationships, household economies, geography and power, and much more. -- Jessica Malay * Journal of British Studies *
Rosemary O'Day has given us a masterly piece of research reconstructing the life of a gentry family in the early seventeenth century. * Sixteenth Century Journal *



Book Information
ISBN 9781783270873
Author Rosemary O'Day
Format Hardback
Page Count 516
Imprint The Boydell Press
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Weight(grams) 1g