Women in medieval deeds

Widows were a powerful group of women in medieval society, as they often carried on their deceased husband’s businesses or managed their estates.

­­This seal was on a receipt given to the Treasury by Ermengarda, the widow of a knight called Henry de Sancto Mauro. The receipt says that she has received a payment from the treasury that she was owed for the rent of a manor at Cubbington in Warwickshire.

On her seal, Ermengarda is shown wearing a widow’s headdress, advertising her new status, and the power to make independent transactions that came along with it.

Widows could act alone or, as in this case, with others. This land grant is from three people: Agnes, described as the widow of John Beke, and John Bathe and his wife Juliana. The deed doesn’t explain the relationship between the couple and the widow, or why all three of them had a joint interest in the land being granted.

Sometimes formulaic documents like this one give us a tantalising glimpse into relationships between people that are otherwise lost to us.

The three people all attach their own seals. John Bathe’s seal is a star, and Juliana’s includes foliage and perhaps an animal, although it is damaged. Agnes’ seal, on the left, shows a fox carrying off a hen. Perhaps the wily fox shows Agnes’ cunning in business.

This deed grants a piece of land in ‘Stebenhuth’, which is now Stepney, to James Beauflour, a citizen of London. Richolda gives the grant on behalf of herself and her heirs. This kind of deed is known as a ‘quitclaim’, because Richolda ‘quits’ or renounces all her rights to the land.

Richolda’s seal has a legend in Latin that reads ‘crede ferenti’, which means ‘believe the bearer’. This is a common seal motto, which draws attention to the truthfulness of the document.

Literacy in Latin was more common for nuns than it was for non-religious women, but having a Latin motto on her seal suggests that Richolda was familiar with the language and may have been able to read and understand some words.

This seal is attached to a deed in which Constance, the prioress of Wix Priory, gives a piece of land to Sir Philip Basset and his wife Helewis. The large green seal used shows that Constance herself approved it. If you look closely you can still see fingerprints in the wax, probably made by Constance when she attached the seal in the thirteenth century.

One side shows the Virgin and Child, which is the seal of the nunnery, and the other side (shown here) is Constance’s personal seal. Constance is shown standing, with a book in her right hand. The legend (the writing on the seal) reads ‘Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you’.

The nunnery’s church is dedicated to Mary and this seal is meant to show Constance’s close relationship with Mary, and her power as the person in charge of the nunnery.

Katherine was the widow of William de la Pole, a powerful man who was the first mayor of Hull.

William died in 1366, and this document is a quitclaim sent to Edward III, which renounces Katherine’s claim over some of William’s lands in Holderness in Yorkshire.

Katherine’s seal shows St Katherine, holding up the de la Pole heraldic shield. The saint is flanked by images of the wheel on which, according to tradition, she was tortured. The seal shows Katherine’s link to the de la Pole family, but also insists on her personal name and identity.