6) Family and Household c.1550-1750

The previous 'master narrative' states that households tended to be big and they had an extended family. It was believed a lot of relatives lived together in big households and the turning point where the nuclear families came to be came between the 17th and 19th centuries. The nuclear/conjugal family is the typical family with a mother, father and children. Reconstituted nuclear families is where a mother will live with children from fathers 1, 2, 3 in serial monogomy, or vice versa with the father. The extended family could be extended vertically (grandparents, parents, children) or laterally (aunt, cousins). A neo-local residence was the local residence of a new couple. After marriage, the couple would immediately leave their parents' homes and move in together.

Frederick Le Play believed the 'master narrative'. He said the traditional/stem family involved 3 generations living in the paternal home. The heir joined the family with his bride, and his non-inheriting siblings could leave or stay in semi-servile positions. There would sometimes be more than 15 people in each household. They were in rural and hilly places, but commercial agriculture and industrialisation changed this.

Friedrich Engles was a socialist who said the history of the family was part of a broad process of evolution and a struggle in the development from feudalism to capitalism. Small conjugal families were typical of the capitalist world order in Western Europe. He said future families would become true nations among men and women, free of property considerations, care for children (which would be provided by the state), and free of sexual shame.

Lawrence Stone saw a developmental history of family sentiments as well as of family structures. He believed families used to be very cold and perhaps unloving, but they had now evolved into loving relationships.

The 'master narrative' came under increasing critique in the 1960s due to new sources being discovered.

• Household size - The mean household size was 4-5 people with a significant proportion of smaller households. In English households in 100 communities between 1574-1821, there was a mean of 4.8 people per household (Laslett).
• Household composition - There was a clear pattern of nuclear family residence as they were the most prevalant household type in early modern Europe. Anderson found that, when towns like Preston industrialised, they became larger due to migration and for resources.
• Patterns of late marriage and high rates of celibacy - This was especially in the 17th century, when at times, up to a quarter of the female population remained unmarried (usually for economic reasons. There was a high rate of marriage and low illegitmacy rates.
• The institution of service and life cycle service - Children left home to work as servants or apprentices often spending their adolescence and early 20s in servile or semi-servile positions as dependants in other households. Women's jobs were usually in the household, but they also dominated the dairy industry, for example. In the 17th century, 2/3 of youths were living as servants (the other 1/3 included ill people, soldiers, academics etc. The extended family were useful in securing these positons, or the children worked for the extended family.
• Geographical mobility - There were distinct patterns of long distance mobility in the 16th century. In the early 17th century, this mobility became short distance and seasonal. People didn't need to move as far to find opportunities.

Thomas Turner (The Diary of Thomas Turner, 1764) was a shopkeeper and widower whose only child had died. His family that he refers to are those who are in his servitude, his shop assistant and maid servant. The dependants of the household lived as family members. The head of the house was responsible for all those living there. He had to ensure they attended church and had no sexual misconducts etc.

Ralph Josselin (The Diary of Ralph Josseling, 1644) was a clergyman and outspoken supporter of Oliver Cromwell. He referred to the same type of family as Thomas Turner, but he did also have a large nuclear family.

Samuel Pepys (The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 1660) was very learned and was serving his boss, the Earl of Sandwich. The Earl told Pepys he was "enlarging his family" by adding more servants.

There were fluctuations and mobility in the household too. One person didn't stay in the same position or household their entire life. e.g. at least 11 people came and went in Thomas Turner's household over 11 years including a child, nephews, shop assistant, servants, wife, and brother, but he referred to them all as family members. Everyone within households also had contracts except for children. Certain relatives could also be excluded from the household, like those who had born illegitimate children, as can be seen in the Swallowfield Articles.

About half the population lived in households with 6 or more other people. The larger households were usually those of the upper yeomanry, the aristocracy and merchants. Bigger households belonged to wealthier families, and they were also more likely to include kin. The poorer the family, the more likely the family was nuclear.

There were changes during the lifecycle and in local and occupational patterns too with people moving between households at different times of their life, e.g. servitude, marriage and kids etc.

There was economic and local diversity to take into account in the mean age of marriage. There seems to be little teenage marriage, few who didn't get married, and few who got married quite late on. But, these did all still happen. Where female employment was high, there were high rates of late marriages and celibacy.

P ollock found evidence of parent-child relations in letters and diaries. Macfarlane found husband-wife and parent-child relations in personal records. But, Cressy found evidence of the importance of 'multilateral consent' in marriage through Church courts, Krausman-Ben-Amos found apprenticeship and broad family support, and Tadmor found the history of friendship and broad notions of kinship. Familial sentiments and feelings appear to be similar to what they are today with people getting jealous of their spouse and being protective of their babies.

Marriage was organised under canon law and the age for consent of marriage was set to 12 for girls and 14 for boys. The oral contract and the role of consummation in binding the marriage was also created. It was all based on the principle of consent. Marriage was easy to contract but nearly impossible to break. Divorce was basically non-existent as divorce and re-marriage was only possible through an act of parliament which was slow, expensive, shameful and very rare. In 1857, the Matrimonial Causes Act allowed divorce through law courts rather than through a private act of parliament.

The essence of female credit was that they must be chaste before marriage and must then hold their fidelity thereafter. A wife wasn't a legal entity on her own as everything of her's was also her husband's. This included any debt she may incur and any money she may earn. The only exception was if she broke the law and had to face trial. She worked in the house and took charge of childbearing and rearing. She was to be self-reliant but also dependent and obedient to her father and husband, otherwise she could take charge of the house and be assertive with the servants.

A woman started in servitude but would then get married and have children, at which point she would take up housework and needlework. Later in life, she would return to servitude, like looking after the sick. Good housekeeping was very important economically as recycling linens and children's clothes etc saved money. A single man had to hire someone to do these things for him.

Women did sometimes hold some power in the public sphere though. For example, a jury of matrons took control of cases of witchcraft and infaniticide. Agrarian change, rising commerce and wars all affected women, but there wasn't directional change. e.g. women gained some power during the Civil War when they became prophetesses, but they lost this power during the Restoration.