Day Two, How Do You Do?

So, some last minute progress yesterday when I finally sat down to work through my CFI notes.  Still no work on the conference paper yet, but I'm definately clearing away a lot of the distractions and finding myself faced with increasing stretches of empty space and time begging to be filled with writing.  Of course, just because I have the time doesn't mean I have the discipline, but that's why I'm here, starting with a little freewriting.  Scott got home last night and we spent a leisurly couple of hours today cleaning and nesting, but now he's downstairs trying to sort his life out and I have a couple of hours before I have to go in for a meeting at school. 

I suspect the place to start is to compile notes and examples, basically talking points.  That might even be all I need.  So here's what I have so far.  My abstract focused on femme sole (a term that perhaps I can find a proper definition for?) and the work women did in trades, merchandizing, running households and travelling.  (reading through my old undergrad diss, I cam across a note from Garrett that women would be particularly involved in the household finances - again, support for this would be lovely).  I want to talk about the creative lives and lived experiences of ordinary women as reflected in MK and the York Plays, particularly of medieval urban women.  The link here is MKs possible witnessing of the plays (and certainly exposure to York civic culture), and I'm suggesting that a focus on the female expereince can highlight the themes and tropes of these texts, and perhaps help us understand how women readers may have received these texts.

OK, so, questions so far - definition of femme sole, evidence of women's involvement in household finances, and liklihood that Margery saw the plays.  Re the middle one, note Margery's request for the keys and the financial implications after her illness.

SO, stuff from MK:

• page 19: "a man dwellying in Dewchlond... cam int Yngland wyth hys wyfe and hys goodys" - This is likely her son, and it's interesting that she doesn't identify him as such; also of note is that the wife and goods come together?
• page 23: "And anoon the creature was stabelyd in hir wyttys and in hir reson as well as evyr sche was beforn, and preyd hir husbond as so soon as he cam to hir that sche mygth have the keys of the botery to takyn hir mete and drynke as sche had don beforn.  Hir maydens and hir kepars cownseld hym he schulde delyvyr hir no keys, for thei seyd sche wold but geve awey swech good as ther was...."  - here health and illness is measured financially; evidence of female centrality to household.
• Page 24: description of her fashionable clothes and her attempts at brewing and horse milling, "for pure covetyse and for to maynten hir pride."  While these episodes exist to demonstrate that she would not "be content wyth the goodys that God had sent hire" she also suggests she "was on of the grettest brewers in the town N a three yer or four tyl sche lost mech good, for sche had nevyr ure therto."  This suggests she was successful for a short time.  Page 25, describes the horsemill as "a newe huswyfre."  The desc implies that her repeated failures were interpreted morally in the town.
• Page 28 - first mention that she wanted free of her congugal duty, "it was very peynful and horybyl unto hir"
• Page 30: she describes a vision in which Christ says "how schalt nevyr com in helle ne in purgatorye, but, whan thow schalt passyn owt of this world, wythin the twynkelyng of an eye thow schalt have the blysse/ of hevyn."  This is unorthodox (yes?) and echoes Mary's special treatment.  In the York Death of the Virgin she asks "whane I schall dye/.../Pe fende pou late me no3t see" (132-4) and Christ responds "pe fende must be nedis at pyne endyng" (154) but then assures her that she will go directly to heaven.

More in a bit