Solitude, Female Labour and the Lifecycle in Early Modern Britain
This paper explores how solitude in early modern Britain was understood in gendered ways, focusing especially on women’s experiences of solitude. There has been much historical work on community and on networks, relationships, and friendships at all levels of early modern society. But in privileging these communal aspects of daily life, there has been a tendency to neglect those quieter and more transient moments that are often silenced and hidden from the historical record. What women did when they were out of company remains an overlooked topic.