| Based on popular and traditional Renaissance literature, my research proposes that English women of all classes were deserted and then divorced by their husbands with at least the implicit support of state and church. This position contradicts the findings of social historians such as Lawrence Stone, Ralph Houlbrooke, John Gillis, and others whose texts are biased as a result of inadequate research in popular literature and a dependence on the patriarchy's "official" texts including eccesiastical court records, canons, constitutions, articles, and civil law.;However, Renaissance popular literature, including sermons, domestic conduct books, and polemics, provides rich records of women's experience of marriage, desertion, and divorce. Traditional literature by More, Sidney, Shakespeare, and Milton corroborates popular texts' evidence of frequent divorce. By drawing on civil and ecclesiastical law, and popular and traditional literature, my dissertation establishes a broad and balanced picture of matrimony and its dissolution in England, 1550 to 1650. In addition, my work substantiates the significance of popular literature and illustrates the critical value of allowing both popular and traditional texts to inform each other, which results in a more complete understanding of the whole corpus of Renaissance literature.;Finally, I encourage students, teachers, and scholars to use all available sources when interpreting literature and the cultural milieu from which it grew, and I urge them to remember that for every noble Rosalind, for every comedic Mopsa, there were thousands of powerless and victimized women from all social classes. |
