Manhood, the Male Body, Courtship and the Household in Early Modern England

Bibliographic Data

ID9877978
AuthorsAnthony Fletcher (University of Essex, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume84
Issue275
Pages419-436
Publication date1999-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2648 • E-ISSN: 1468-229X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-229x.00116
PMID21265229
OpenAlexW1989034406
LanguageEN
Citations received4

Little work has been done on early modern masculinity. This article reviews the state of our knowledge on its definition, development and construction. It opens with a consideration of the medical conception of the male body, male appetite and imagination. Key aspects of upbringing and growing up are considered in turn: schooling, early sexual experience and courtship, which tested young men's confidence. Adult maturity was marked by marriage and the acquisition of the status of a householder. A man's performance in this role, his exercise of reason rather than force in marital affairs, was the ultimate test of his manhood. Examples of failure in this respect are noted. It is argued that effective manhood at this time involved learning and performing a social role, which was founded upon self‐mastery and internal discipline. The social order rested, in the last resort, on this gender order

Cohabitation · Courtship · Developmental psychology · Masculinity · Maturity (psychological · Order (exchange · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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