Marital Violence An English Family History, 1660}}}1857 [Hardcover]

Exposing the 'hidden' history of marital violence between the Restoration and the mid-nineteenth century.This book exposes the 'hidden' history of marital violence and explores its place in English family life between the Restoration and the mid-nineteenth century. In a time when husbands were believed to have the right to beat their wives, Elizabeth Foyster examines the ways in which men, women and children responded to marital violence. Opinion about its legitimacy continued to be divided but by the nineteenth century ideas about what was intolerable had changed significantly. This study will be invaluable reading for anyone interested in gender and social studies.This book exposes the 'hidden' history of marital violence and explores its place in English family life between the Restoration and the mid-nineteenth century. In a time when husbands were believed to have the right to beat their wives, Elizabeth Foyster examines the ways in which men, women and children responded to marital violence. Opinion about its legitimacy continued to be divided but by the nineteenth century ideas about what was intolerable had changed significantly. This study will be invaluable reading for anyone interested in gender and social studies.In a time before divorce was generally accepted and husbands assumed the right to beat their wives, Elizabeth Foyster examines the variety of ways in which men, women and children responded to marital violence. This issue raised central questions concerning the extent of men's authority over other family members, the limitations of women's property rights, and the problems of access to divorce and child custody. Although opinion about the legitimacy of marital violence continued to be divided, Foyster demonstrates that beliefs determinig intolerable or cruel behavior had changed significantly by the nineteenth century.1. Rethinking the histories of violence; 2. Resisting violence; 3. Children and marital violence; 4. Beyond conjugal ties and spals-