322 Mary Murray
and transitions in such forms for gender relations. Moreover, If demands for a family wage were a real, rather than a rhetorical representation of recreated kin corporations under conditions of capitalism, and thus a defensive construction of a dispossessed class, such demands do not preclude the possibility that the ideology of the male breadwinner served to structure individualism along the lines of gender. The ideology of the male breadwinner could articulate both the ideology of male domination and that of individualism.
By this I do not mean that the transition from feudalism to capitalism restructured gender relations in such a way as to lay the basis for the development of 'patriarchy' as an autonomous system - relative or otherwise. Arguments which posit the autonomy of 'patriarchy' are empiricist, rooted in the categories of bourgeois common sense. Feminist theories which argue for separate structures of class and gender relations often separate production and reproduction. In so doing they reflect the separation of public and private spheres characteristic of bourgeois society. But this separation is more apparent than real. The private/reproductive sphere remains inextricably bound up with the public vice-productive sphere, and is ultimately shaped by it. Similarly, the fissuring and fractionalisation of class along the lines of gender, both in and through the ideology of the male breadwinner, and the adoption of chauvinistic and sexist attitudes, does at the level of surface appearances, lend itself to theories which posit separate systems of class and gender. However, this fissuring and fracturing needs to be understood in terms of the long historical and masculinised structuring of property relations, and the implications of this with the transition from feudalism to capitalism.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Michael Clanchy, Bridget Fowler, David Frisby, Barbara Littlewood, Derek Sayer and Patrick Wormald for reading and commenting upon drafts for my Ph.D. thesis State Formation and Gender Divisions in English History, University of Glasgow, 1988, from which this article is drawn. Derek Sayer supervised the original thesis. Patrick Wormald's knowledge of Anglo-Saxon England prevented me from making several errors, and in so doing helped me to refine the basic argument of the article. I have also benefited from the comments of an anonymous reviewer as well as editorial comments from Philip Corrigan and Gavin Williams.
Notes
1 E.g. S. Firestone The Dialectic of Sex, London: The Women's Press, 1979; H. Hartmann The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism, London: Pluto Press, 1981; R. McDonough and R. Harrison 'Patriarchy and Relations of Production' in A. Kuhn, and A. M. Wolpe (eds) Feminism and Materialism, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980; K. Millet Sexual Politics, London:
Properly and 'Patriarchy' 323
Sphere, 1971; J. Mitchell Psychoanalysis and Feminism, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975.
2 See for example C. Middleton 'Peasants, Patriarchy and the Feudal mode of production in England: A Marxist appraisal 1 and 2, Sociological Review 29, 1981; G. Lerner The Creation of Patriarchy, Oxford University Press, 1986; J. Humphries 'Class Struggle and the Persistence of the Working Class family', Cambridge Journal of Economics, 13, 1977; M. Barrett and M. Mclntosh The Family Wage: some problems for socialists and feminists', Capital and Class, 11, 1980; and J. Brenner and M. Ramas 'Rethinking Women's Oppression' New Left Review, 144, 1984.
3 V. Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women: Some theoretical considerations and a case study in England and Wales' Review of Radical Political Economy 9, 1977, p.8.
4 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p.8.
5 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p. 7.
6 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p. 8.
7 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p. 11.
8 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', pp.9-10.
9 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p.9.
10 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p. 10.
11 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p.9.
12 Sacks Sisters and Wives, London: Greenwood Press, 1979, p. 122.
13 Sacks Sisters and Wives, p.73.
14 Sacks Sisters and Wives, p. 122.
15 Sacks Sisters and Wives, pp. 119-120.
16 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p. 16.
17 T. M. Charles Edwards 'Kinship, Status And The Origins Of The Hide', Past and Present, 56, 1972; and comments by J. Campbell reviewing The Age of Arthur' in Stadia Hibemica 1975, reprinted in his collected Essays in Anglo-Saxon History, London: Hambledon Press, 1986.
18 See Edwards 'Kinship, Status and the Origins of the Hide', p. 10.
19 Sacks Sisters and Wives, p.244.
20 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p. 14.
21 C. Fell Women in Anglo-Saxon England, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984, pp. 130-131.
22 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', pp.8 and 14. Muller though stresses the rarity of polygamy, thereby emphasising egalitarian aspects of the Germanic social formation. Further, brideprice did occur in Anglo-Saxon England, e.g. F.L. Attenborough (ed.) The Laws of the Earliest English Kings, Cambridge University Press, pp.9, 15.
23 Discussed in E. Leacock 'Women In Egalitarian Societies', in R. Bridenthal and C. Koonz (eds) Becoming Visible, Women in European History, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977, p.29.
24 See E. A. Thomson The Early Germans, Oxford University Press 1966, ch. 1 and 2; P. Anderson PassagesfromAntiquity toFeudalism, London: New Left Books, 1974, pp. 107-111; and Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p. 14.
25 O. Lattimore 'Feudalism in History', Past and Present, 12, 1957, p.52; Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', pp. 12-13.
26 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', pp.'s 12, 13, 15, 16.
27 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p. 15.
28 Edwards 'Kinship, Status and the Origins of the Hide', pp. 7-14.
324 Mary Murray
29 D. Whitelock The Beginnings of English Society, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1952, p.98, see also pp.99-102 for a discussion of the various classes who held land from a lord.
30 Edwards 'Kinship, Status and the Origins of the Hide', p. 18.
31 Edwards 'Kinship, Status and the Origins of the Hide', p.35.
32 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', pp. 15- 16. Though, as already indicated taxation of the household through the hide is probably very ancient indeed. It crops up in a number of different Indo- European contexts, suggesting that in James Campbell's graphic phrase, it was 'part of the grammar of Indo-European lordship'. (P. Wormald, personal communication, 1987)
33 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p. 16; and F. M. Stenton Anglo-Saxon England, Oxford: Clarendon Press, second ed., 1947, pp.303-305.
34 M. Meyer 'Land Charters and the Legal Position of Anglo-Saxon Women', in B. Kanner (ed.) The Women of England from Anglo-Saxon Times to the Present: interpretive bibliographical essays, London: Mansell, 1980, p.61; and Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', pp. 15- 16.
35 P. Wormald Bede and the Conversion of England: the charter evidence, Jarrow Lecture, 1984, pp.20-23, and personal communication, 1989.
36 F. Pollock and W. Maitland History of English Law Before The Time Of Edward 1, Cambridge University Press, 1898, vol. I, p.60.
37 Pollock and Maitland English Law Before the Time of Edward I, vol. I, pp.62-63.
38 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', pp. 13, 16.
39 F. Engels The Origins of The Family, Private Property and The State [1884], in K. Marx and F. Engels Selected Works, London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1968, Muller The Formation of the State', pp. 17-18.
40 C. Fell Women in Anglo-Saxon England, pp.89-90., 1983.
41 Fell Women in Anglo-Saxon England, p.94.
42 J. McNamara and S. Wemple 'Sanctity and Power: the dual pursuit of medieval women', in Bridenthal and Koonz (eds.) Becoming Visible, p. 104.
43 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p. 18.
44 Meyer 'Land Charters', p.70.
45 Meyer 'Land Charters', pp.59-61.
46 Meyer 'Land Charters', p.64.
47 Edwards The Distinction between Land and Moveable Wealth in Anglo- Saxon England', in P. H. Sawyer (ed.) English Medieval Settlement, London: Edward Arnold 1979, pp. 100-101; D. H. Farmer (ed.) The Age of Bede, Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics C. Fell Women in Anglo-Saxon England, pp.89-90.
48 D. Whitelock (ed.) English Historical Documents, London: Eyre Methuen 1979, law 38, p.403.
49 P. Wormald, personal communication, 1989; see J. C. Holt The Origins of the Constitutional Tradition in England' in Magna Carta and Medieval Government, London: Hambledon Press 1985, pp.9-11 for discussion on the Kentish submission and custom.
50 Pollock and Maitland English Law Before the Time of Edward I, vol. II, p.261.
51 Muller The Formation of the State and the Oppression of Women', p. 17.
52 Sacks Sisters and Wives, p. 123.
Property and 'Patriarchy' 325
53 See e.g. J. C. Holt 'Feudal Society And The Family In Early Medieval England: The Heiress And The Alien', Transactions of The Royal Historical Society, 35, 1985.
54 Hartmann The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and feminism, p. 15.
55 Pollock and Maitland English Law Before the Time of Edward I, vol. II, pp.263-264.
56 J. C. Holt 'Politics and Property in Early Medieval England'. Past and Present, 57, 1972, p.42.
57 J. Thirsk The Common Fields', Past and Present, 29, 1964, pp. 12-13.
58 J. Thirsk 'The European Debate on Customs of Inheritance 1500-1700', in J. Goody, J. Thirsk and E. P. Thompson (eds) Family and Inheritance, Cambridge University Press, 1976, p. 183.
59 Thirsk 'Customs of Inheritance 1500-1700', p. 191.
60 Pollock and Maitland English Law Before the Time of Edward I, vol. II, p.264.
61 Hill Reformation to Industrial Revolution, pp. 146-147. e.g. Firestone The Dialectic of Sex.
62 Pollock and Maitland English Law Before the Time of Edward I, vol. II, p.265. See Anderson Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism for a discussion of the parcelization of sovereignty under feudalism.
63 Pollock and Maitland English Law Before the Time of Edward I, vol. I, p.264.
64 W. Holdsworth A History Of English Law, vol. Ill, (third edition) London: Methuen, 1923, p.55.
65 C. Creighton 'Family, Property and Relations of Production in Western Europe', Economy and Society, 9, 2, 1980, p. 145.
66 C. Hill Reformation to Industrial Revolution, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969, p. 147. "
67 Thirsk 'Customs of Inheritance 1500-1700', p. 182.
68 Quoted in Thirsk 'Customs of Inheritance 1500-1700', p. 184.
69 F.M.L. Thompson English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963, p.65.
70 Hill Reformation to Industrial Revolution, pp. 146-147.
71 Thompson English Landed Society p.69.
72 J. P. Cooper 'Inheritance and settlement by great landowners', in Goody, Thirsk and Thompson (eds) Family and Inheritance, p. 195.
73 Thirsk 'Customs of Inheritance', p. 186.
74 Thirsk 'Customs of Inheritance', p. 184.
75 Thirsk 'Customs of Inheritance', p. 188.
76 R. Trumbach The Rise of The Egalitarian Family, London: Academic Press, 1978, p.72.
77 Thirsk The Common Fields', p. 12.
78 Thirsk The Common Fields', p. 12.
79 Thirsk The Common Fields', p. 118.
80 R. Faith 'Peasant Families and Inheritance Customs in Medieval England' Agricultural History Review, 1966-7, pp. 14-15.
81 Faith 'Peasant Families and Inheritance Customs', pp.85-6.
82 Faith 'Peasant Families and Inheritance Customs', pp.86.
83 J. Goody 'Inheritance, Property and Marriage in Africa and Eurasia' Sociology, 3, 1969, pp.55-76; Pollock and Maitland English Law Before the Time of Edward I, vol. II, pp.260-261.
84 J. Goody Production and Reproduction, Cambridge University Press, 1976, p.7.
326 Mary Murray
85 C. B. MacPherson 'Capitalism and the Changing Concept of Property', in E. Kamenka and R.S. Neale (eds) Feudalism, Capitalism and Beyond, Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1975, pp. 108-110.
86 R. S. Neale The Bourgeoise, Historically, has played a Most Revolutionary Part', in Kamenka and Neale, Feudalism, Capitalism and Beyond, p.96.
87 Fell Women in Anglo-Saxon England, p.59.
88P. Wormald 'Warrior Women', London Review of Books, 19th June, 1986.
89 T. E. (possibly Edwards) The Lawes Resolutions of Women's Rights, London: John More, 1632, pp. 129-130, and quoted in R. Thompson Women in Stuart England and America, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, p. 162.
90 Holdsworth A History of English Law, vol. Ill, p.525.
91 J. H. Baker An Introduction to English Legal History, (second edition), London: Butterworths, 1979, p.396.
92 J. H. Baker English Legal History, p.395.
93 J. H. Baker English Legal History, p.398.
94 R. Thompson Women in Stuart England and America, pp. 162-163.
95 H. Hartmann, The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism, p. 15. 98 C. Delphy The Main Enemy', in Close to Home (translated D. Leonard)
London: Hutchinson, 1984.
97 See P. Anderson Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism for a discussion of the peculiarities of English feudalism.
98 e.g. J. Habakkuk 'Marriage Settlements in the Eighteenth century', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, (4th series), 32, 1950, pp.26-30.
99 J. Goody, The Development of the Family and Marriage in Europe, Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp.256-258.
100 K. Marx, Grundrisse[ 1857-8] Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973, pp.477, 483-485.
101 Marx Grundrisse p.484.
102 MacPherson 'Capitalism and the Changing Structure of Property', p. 105.
103 MacPherson 'Capitalism and the Changing Structure of Property', p. 110.
104 M. Bloch Feudal Society, (translated L.A. Manyou) London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1965, vol I, pp.115-116.
105 MacPherson 'Capitalism and the Changing Structure of Property', p. 109.
106 MacPherson 'Capitalism and the Changing Structure of Property', p. 105-7.
107 P. Zagorin The Court and the Country, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969, discussed in P. Corrigan and D. Sayer The Great Arch, Oxford: Blackwell, 1985, p.73.
1 °8 Quoted in G. E. Aylme r The Meaning and Definition of Property in 17th Century England', Past and Present, 86, 1980, p.92.
109 Quoted in Aylmer The Meaning and Definition of Property', p.94.
110 K.Thomas 'Women and the Civil War Sects', Post and Present, 13, 1958, p.55; J. Thirsk, 'Younger Sons in the seventeenth century', History, 54, 1969 pp.376-377, and 'Customs of Inheritance', pp. 186-187.
111 R. Harrison and F. Mort 'Patriarchal aspects of 19th century state formation', in P. Corrigan (ed.) Capitalism, State Formation and Marxist Theory, London: Quartet Books, 1980, pp.85-86.
112 D. Leonard Barker 'Regulation of marriage', in G. Littlejohn et al, (eds) Power and the State, London: Croom Helm, 1978, p.256, and quoted in
L
Property and 'Patriarchy' 327
Corrigan and Sayer The Great Arch, p. 133. See also R. Barker Political Ideas in Modern Britain, London: Methuen, 1978, pp. 112-113.
1'3 Humphries 'Class Struggle and the Persistence of the Working Class Family'.
114 Barrett and Mclntosh The Family Wage'.
115 J. Brenner and M. Ramas 'Rethinking Women's oppression', New Left Review, 144, 1984, p.71, and passim.