INHERITANCE, MARRIAGE, WIDOWHOOD AND REMARRIAGE - A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON WOMEN AND LANDHOLDING IN NORTHEAST NORFOLK, 1440-1580

The fact that women received and held land less than men was an import ant aspect of women's subordination. This article uses wills in conjun ction with manorial court rolls and surveys to provide a detailed stud y of the realities of ordinary women's access to land. The proportion of female tenants in different manors, women's participation in the la nd market, the inheritance of property by daughters, married women's j oint tenure, provision for widows in men's wills and the connection be tween land and remarriage are all examined. The patterns observed in N orfolk in the period 1440-1580 are placed in the context of those obse rved elsewhere in England between 1250 and 1750.