Love, Lust, and License in Early Modern England

Focusing on cases of extramarital sex, Johanna Rickman investigates fornication, adultery and bastard bearing among the English nobility from about 1560 to 1630. She analyzes cases of illicit sex from a gendered perspective, illuminating the place of women in aristocratic culture, both as individual historical subjects and as a social group. Her sources include collections of family papers, state papers, literary texts, and legal documents.