The Material Worlds of Singlewomen Revealed Through Their Wills from the Diocese of Norwich 1604–1686

Single women were a significant minority in England in the early modern period, though they were overlooked by historians until relatively recently. Wills found in local archives enable us to hear their voices as they approached death, and provide us with a rich source of information about their lived experiences and material circumstances. Using a sample of some eighty wills proved in the Norwich diocese in the seventeenth century, this article shows that they were a diverse but important part of their communities, living outside the constraints of marriage and exercising agency and control.