This book applies the innovative work-task approach to the history of work, which captures the contribution of all workers and types of work to the early modern economy. Drawing on tens of thousands of court depositions, the authors analyse the individual tasks that made up everyday work for women and men, shedding new light on the gender division of labour, and the ways in which time, space, age and marital status shaped sixteenth and seventeenth-century working life. Combining qualitative and quantitative analysis, the book deepens our understanding of the preindustrial economy, and calls for us to rethink not only who did what, but also the implications of these findings for major debates about structural change, the nature and extent of paid work, and what has been lost as well as gained over the past three centuries of economic development. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

‘The Experience of Work in Early Modern England breaks new ground, offering entirely new insights into how the early modern English economy actually functioned and what the roles of women and men were in this economy. I have read it with the greatest interest and pleasure.’

Maria Ågren - Uppsala University

‘The Experience of Work in Early Modern England uses an extensive database of witness statements to open up a new world of what work was actually done in early modern England, and which decisively shows how important women and children’s work was within the market economy.’

Craig Muldrew - Queen’s College, Cambridge

‘This brilliant reconstruction transforms our picture of the early modern economy, offering a holistic account of the world of work that at last moves beyond the distortions of occupational descriptors and wage data to show that no assessment of economic change can ever again be based on men’s work alone.’

Alexandra Shepard - University of Glasgow