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Transcriber’s note: Superscripts are preceded by the caret character ^,
as in 20^d. Multi-letter and mid-word superscripts are enclosed in
{braces}, as in w^{th} and w^{t}out. Italics are represented by
_underscores_.




WOMEN IN ENGLISH LIFE.

[Illustration: _C. Cook, sculp._


ANN,

_Lady Fanshawe_.


London Richard Bentley & Son 1896]




  WOMEN
  IN ENGLISH LIFE

  from Mediæval to Modern Times.

  BY
  GEORGIANA HILL,
  AUTHOR OF “A HISTORY OF ENGLISH DRESS.”

  _IN TWO VOLUMES._

  VOL. I.

  [Illustration]

  LONDON:
  RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
  Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
  MDCCCXCVI.




INTRODUCTION.


The object aimed at in the following pages is to show the place that
women have held in our national life, from the days when what we call
the Saxon race was dominant in England, down to the present time. For
this purpose those phases of our social history have been dwelt upon
which display most clearly the changes that have taken place in the
position of women, and the influence of great forces like the Church
and Feudalism. Names have been used as illustrations, and not with any
intention of adding to biographical literature. Instances that are
the most striking individually do not always serve best as examples.
For this reason many familiar historical scenes and figures have
been