Author: William Chester Jordan
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1512804673
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
The active role of women in the labor force is not limited to recent decades, or even to the last century. As William Chester Jordan amply demonstrates in Women and Credit in Pre-Industrial and Developing Societies, women in premodern times played an integral part both as a source of labor and as participants in lending and borrowing. In this wide-ranging and provocative study, the author assesses the overall significance of women's work in medieval and early modern Europe, and in colonial and postcolonial societies. While earlier studies have concentrated on women in agriculture or craftwork, Jordan investigates consumption lending and borrowing among women in the European Middle Ages, female investment in early modern Europe, and, in a final section, the role of African and Caribbean marketwomen and their provision of and access to credit. By viewing the historical situation, Jordan sheds light on contemporary concerns about commercialization, the transformation of rural society, and industrialization. He provides a historical and comparative context for some of the current issues that plague the twentieth-century female work force. By understanding the role of gender in such an important aspect of traditional life as credit relationships, Jordan advances an ongoing reexamination of the issue in general. This work will be of interest to students and scholars of medieval and early modern European, African, and Caribbean history; anthropology; and women's studies.
Women and Credit in Pre-Industrial and Developing Societies
Author: William Chester Jordan
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1512804673
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
The active role of women in the labor force is not limited to recent decades, or even to the last century. As William Chester Jordan amply demonstrates in Women and Credit in Pre-Industrial and Developing Societies, women in premodern times played an integral part both as a source of labor and as participants in lending and borrowing. In this wide-ranging and provocative study, the author assesses the overall significance of women's work in medieval and early modern Europe, and in colonial and postcolonial societies. While earlier studies have concentrated on women in agriculture or craftwork, Jordan investigates consumption lending and borrowing among women in the European Middle Ages, female investment in early modern Europe, and, in a final section, the role of African and Caribbean marketwomen and their provision of and access to credit. By viewing the historical situation, Jordan sheds light on contemporary concerns about commercialization, the transformation of rural society, and industrialization. He provides a historical and comparative context for some of the current issues that plague the twentieth-century female work force. By understanding the role of gender in such an important aspect of traditional life as credit relationships, Jordan advances an ongoing reexamination of the issue in general. This work will be of interest to students and scholars of medieval and early modern European, African, and Caribbean history; anthropology; and women's studies.
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 1512804673
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
The active role of women in the labor force is not limited to recent decades, or even to the last century. As William Chester Jordan amply demonstrates in Women and Credit in Pre-Industrial and Developing Societies, women in premodern times played an integral part both as a source of labor and as participants in lending and borrowing. In this wide-ranging and provocative study, the author assesses the overall significance of women's work in medieval and early modern Europe, and in colonial and postcolonial societies. While earlier studies have concentrated on women in agriculture or craftwork, Jordan investigates consumption lending and borrowing among women in the European Middle Ages, female investment in early modern Europe, and, in a final section, the role of African and Caribbean marketwomen and their provision of and access to credit. By viewing the historical situation, Jordan sheds light on contemporary concerns about commercialization, the transformation of rural society, and industrialization. He provides a historical and comparative context for some of the current issues that plague the twentieth-century female work force. By understanding the role of gender in such an important aspect of traditional life as credit relationships, Jordan advances an ongoing reexamination of the issue in general. This work will be of interest to students and scholars of medieval and early modern European, African, and Caribbean history; anthropology; and women's studies.
Women and Credit
Author: Gail Campbell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000213536
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 293
Book Description
Credit can be instrumental in equalizing opportunity and alleviating poverty, yet historically men and women have not had the same access. Partly because of this, women have been excluded from many previous economic histories. This book fills a significant gap in exploring the vexed relationship between the women and credit across time and space.Providing examples of credit agencies and initiatives in both the developing and developed world, Women and Credit raises important policy issues and makes valuable suggestions for reconfiguring the relationship between women and credit. It also answers questions previously ignored by scholars, yet of vital significance to women's studies and economic history. What contribution did women make to the development of industrial capitalism? How does women's access to credit vary across time and cultures? How has the development of mico-credit initiatives affected women's economic position and what role will such initiatives play in the future?This book is an invaluable resource for anyone in the fields of Women's studies, economic history, anthropology or development.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000213536
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 293
Book Description
Credit can be instrumental in equalizing opportunity and alleviating poverty, yet historically men and women have not had the same access. Partly because of this, women have been excluded from many previous economic histories. This book fills a significant gap in exploring the vexed relationship between the women and credit across time and space.Providing examples of credit agencies and initiatives in both the developing and developed world, Women and Credit raises important policy issues and makes valuable suggestions for reconfiguring the relationship between women and credit. It also answers questions previously ignored by scholars, yet of vital significance to women's studies and economic history. What contribution did women make to the development of industrial capitalism? How does women's access to credit vary across time and cultures? How has the development of mico-credit initiatives affected women's economic position and what role will such initiatives play in the future?This book is an invaluable resource for anyone in the fields of Women's studies, economic history, anthropology or development.
Women and Trade
Author: World Bank;World Trade Organization
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464815569
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
Trade can dramatically improve women’s lives, creating new jobs, enhancing consumer choices, and increasing women’s bargaining power in society. It can also lead to job losses and a concentration of work in low-skilled employment. Given the complexity and specificity of the relationship between trade and gender, it is essential to assess the potential impact of trade policy on both women and men and to develop appropriate, evidence-based policies to ensure that trade helps to enhance opportunities for all. Research on gender equality and trade has been constrained by limited data and a lack of understanding of the connections among the economic roles that women play as workers, consumers, and decision makers. Building on new analyses and new sex-disaggregated data, Women and Trade: The Role of Trade in Promoting Gender Equality aims to advance the understanding of the relationship between trade and gender equality and to identify a series of opportunities through which trade can improve the lives of women.
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464815569
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
Trade can dramatically improve women’s lives, creating new jobs, enhancing consumer choices, and increasing women’s bargaining power in society. It can also lead to job losses and a concentration of work in low-skilled employment. Given the complexity and specificity of the relationship between trade and gender, it is essential to assess the potential impact of trade policy on both women and men and to develop appropriate, evidence-based policies to ensure that trade helps to enhance opportunities for all. Research on gender equality and trade has been constrained by limited data and a lack of understanding of the connections among the economic roles that women play as workers, consumers, and decision makers. Building on new analyses and new sex-disaggregated data, Women and Trade: The Role of Trade in Promoting Gender Equality aims to advance the understanding of the relationship between trade and gender equality and to identify a series of opportunities through which trade can improve the lives of women.
Never Married
Author: Amy M. Froide
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199270600
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
Never Married: Singlewomen in Early Modern England investigates a paradox in the history of early modern England: although one third of adult women were never married, these women have remained largely absent from historical scholarship. Amy Froide reintroduces us to the category of difference called marital status and to the significant ways it shaped the life experiences of early modern women. By de-centring marriage as the norm in social, economic, and cultural terms,her book critically refines our current understanding of people's lives in the past and adds to a recent line of scholarship that questions just how common 'traditional' families really were.This book is both a social-economic study of singlewomen and a cultural study of the meanings of singleness in early modern England. It focuses on never-married women in England's provincial towns, and on singlewomen from a broad social spectrum. Covering the entire early modern era, it reveals that this was a time of transition in the history of never-married women. During the sixteenth century life-long singlewomen were largely absent from popular culture, but by the eighteenth century theyhad become a central concern of English society.As the first book of original research to focus on singlewomen on the period, it also illuminates other areas of early modern history. Froide reveals the importance of kinship in the past to women without husbands and children, as well as to widows, widowers, single men, and orphans. Examining the contributions of working and propertied singlewomen, she is able to illustrate the importance of gender and marital status to urban economies and to notions of urban citizenship in the early modernera. Tracing the origins of the spinster and old maid stereotypes she reveals how singlewomen were marginalized as first the victims and then the villains of Protestant English society.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199270600
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
Never Married: Singlewomen in Early Modern England investigates a paradox in the history of early modern England: although one third of adult women were never married, these women have remained largely absent from historical scholarship. Amy Froide reintroduces us to the category of difference called marital status and to the significant ways it shaped the life experiences of early modern women. By de-centring marriage as the norm in social, economic, and cultural terms,her book critically refines our current understanding of people's lives in the past and adds to a recent line of scholarship that questions just how common 'traditional' families really were.This book is both a social-economic study of singlewomen and a cultural study of the meanings of singleness in early modern England. It focuses on never-married women in England's provincial towns, and on singlewomen from a broad social spectrum. Covering the entire early modern era, it reveals that this was a time of transition in the history of never-married women. During the sixteenth century life-long singlewomen were largely absent from popular culture, but by the eighteenth century theyhad become a central concern of English society.As the first book of original research to focus on singlewomen on the period, it also illuminates other areas of early modern history. Froide reveals the importance of kinship in the past to women without husbands and children, as well as to widows, widowers, single men, and orphans. Examining the contributions of working and propertied singlewomen, she is able to illustrate the importance of gender and marital status to urban economies and to notions of urban citizenship in the early modernera. Tracing the origins of the spinster and old maid stereotypes she reveals how singlewomen were marginalized as first the victims and then the villains of Protestant English society.
Women and Wealth in Late Medieval Europe
Author: T. Earenfight
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230106013
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
The twelve essays in Women and Wealth in Late Medieval Europe re-examine the vexing issue of women, money, wealth, and power from distinctive perspectives - literature, history, architectural history - using new archival sources. The contributors examine how money and changing attitudes toward wealth affected power relations between women and men of all ranks, especially the patriarchal social forces that constrained the range of women s economic choices. Employing theories on gender, culture, and power, this volume reveals wealth as both the motive force in gender relations and a precise indicator of other, more subtle, forms of power and influence mediated by gender.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230106013
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
The twelve essays in Women and Wealth in Late Medieval Europe re-examine the vexing issue of women, money, wealth, and power from distinctive perspectives - literature, history, architectural history - using new archival sources. The contributors examine how money and changing attitudes toward wealth affected power relations between women and men of all ranks, especially the patriarchal social forces that constrained the range of women s economic choices. Employing theories on gender, culture, and power, this volume reveals wealth as both the motive force in gender relations and a precise indicator of other, more subtle, forms of power and influence mediated by gender.
Creating Cistercian Nuns
Author: Anne E. Lester
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801462959
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
In Creating Cistercian Nuns, Anne E. Lester addresses a central issue in the history of the medieval church: the role of women in the rise of the religious reform movement of the thirteenth century. Focusing on the county of Champagne in France, Lester reconstructs the history of the women’s religious movement and its institutionalization within the Cistercian order. The common picture of the early Cistercian order is that it was unreceptive to religious women. Male Cistercian leaders often avoided institutional oversight of communities of nuns, preferring instead to cultivate informal relationships of spiritual advice and guidance with religious women. As a result, scholars believed that women who wished to live a life of service and poverty were more likely to join one of the other reforming orders rather than the Cistercians. As Lester shows, however, this picture is deeply flawed. Between 1220 and 1240 the Cistercian order incorporated small independent communities of religious women in unprecedented numbers. Moreover, the order not only accommodated women but also responded to their interpretations of apostolic piety, even as it defined and determined what constituted Cistercian nuns in terms of dress, privileges, and liturgical practice. Lester reconstructs the lived experiences of these women, integrating their ideals and practices into the broader religious and social developments of the thirteenth century—including the crusade movement, penitential piety, the care of lepers, and the reform agenda of the Fourth Lateran Council. The book closes by addressing the reasons for the subsequent decline of Cistercian convents in the fourteenth century. Based on extensive analysis of unpublished archives, Creating Cistercian Nuns will force scholars to revise their understanding of the women’s religious movement as it unfolded during the thirteenth century.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801462959
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
In Creating Cistercian Nuns, Anne E. Lester addresses a central issue in the history of the medieval church: the role of women in the rise of the religious reform movement of the thirteenth century. Focusing on the county of Champagne in France, Lester reconstructs the history of the women’s religious movement and its institutionalization within the Cistercian order. The common picture of the early Cistercian order is that it was unreceptive to religious women. Male Cistercian leaders often avoided institutional oversight of communities of nuns, preferring instead to cultivate informal relationships of spiritual advice and guidance with religious women. As a result, scholars believed that women who wished to live a life of service and poverty were more likely to join one of the other reforming orders rather than the Cistercians. As Lester shows, however, this picture is deeply flawed. Between 1220 and 1240 the Cistercian order incorporated small independent communities of religious women in unprecedented numbers. Moreover, the order not only accommodated women but also responded to their interpretations of apostolic piety, even as it defined and determined what constituted Cistercian nuns in terms of dress, privileges, and liturgical practice. Lester reconstructs the lived experiences of these women, integrating their ideals and practices into the broader religious and social developments of the thirteenth century—including the crusade movement, penitential piety, the care of lepers, and the reform agenda of the Fourth Lateran Council. The book closes by addressing the reasons for the subsequent decline of Cistercian convents in the fourteenth century. Based on extensive analysis of unpublished archives, Creating Cistercian Nuns will force scholars to revise their understanding of the women’s religious movement as it unfolded during the thirteenth century.
Women's Roles in the Middle Ages
Author: Sandy Bardsley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313055858
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
Information about women in this truly fascinating period from 500 to 1500 is in great demand and has been a challenge for historians to uncover. Bardsley has mined a wide range of primary sources, from noblewomen's writing, court rolls, chivalric literature, laws and legal documents, to archeology and artwork. This fresh survey provides readers with an excellent understanding of how women high and low fared in terms of religion, work, family, law, culture, and politics and public life. Even though medieval women were divided by social class, religion, age, marital status, place and period, they were all subject to an overarching patriarchal structure and sometimes could transcend their inferior status. Numerous examples of these exceptional women and their words are included. Chapter 1 examines religion, focusing on women's roles in the early Christian church, the lives of nuns and other professional religious women such as anchoresses and Beguines, the participation of Christian laywomen, and the experiences of Jewish and Islamic women in Western Europe. The second chapter examines women's work, looking in turn at the kinds of work performed by peasant women, townswomen, and noblewomen. Women's roles within the family form the subject of the third chapter. This chapter follows women throughout the typical lifecycle - from girl to widow - examining the expectations and experiences of women at each stage. Chapter 4, Women and the Law, focuses on the ways in which laws both restricted and protected women. It also considers the crimes with which women were most often charged and surveys laws regarding marriage and widowhood. Women's roles in creative arts form the basis of the fifth chapter, Women and Culture. This chapter examines women's roles as artists, authors, composers, and patrons, as well as investigating the ways in which women were represented in works produced by men. Finally, chapter 6 discusses women's experiences in politics and public life. While women as a group were typically banned from holding positions of public authority, some found ways to get around this stricture, while others were able to exercise power behind the scenes. The final chapter thus encapsulates a major theme of this book: the interplay between broader patriarchal forces that limited women's status and autonomy and the role of individuals who were able to overcome or circumvent such forces. Medieval women were, as a group, subordinate to their husbands and fathers, but certain women, under certain circumstances, evaded subordination.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313055858
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
Information about women in this truly fascinating period from 500 to 1500 is in great demand and has been a challenge for historians to uncover. Bardsley has mined a wide range of primary sources, from noblewomen's writing, court rolls, chivalric literature, laws and legal documents, to archeology and artwork. This fresh survey provides readers with an excellent understanding of how women high and low fared in terms of religion, work, family, law, culture, and politics and public life. Even though medieval women were divided by social class, religion, age, marital status, place and period, they were all subject to an overarching patriarchal structure and sometimes could transcend their inferior status. Numerous examples of these exceptional women and their words are included. Chapter 1 examines religion, focusing on women's roles in the early Christian church, the lives of nuns and other professional religious women such as anchoresses and Beguines, the participation of Christian laywomen, and the experiences of Jewish and Islamic women in Western Europe. The second chapter examines women's work, looking in turn at the kinds of work performed by peasant women, townswomen, and noblewomen. Women's roles within the family form the subject of the third chapter. This chapter follows women throughout the typical lifecycle - from girl to widow - examining the expectations and experiences of women at each stage. Chapter 4, Women and the Law, focuses on the ways in which laws both restricted and protected women. It also considers the crimes with which women were most often charged and surveys laws regarding marriage and widowhood. Women's roles in creative arts form the basis of the fifth chapter, Women and Culture. This chapter examines women's roles as artists, authors, composers, and patrons, as well as investigating the ways in which women were represented in works produced by men. Finally, chapter 6 discusses women's experiences in politics and public life. While women as a group were typically banned from holding positions of public authority, some found ways to get around this stricture, while others were able to exercise power behind the scenes. The final chapter thus encapsulates a major theme of this book: the interplay between broader patriarchal forces that limited women's status and autonomy and the role of individuals who were able to overcome or circumvent such forces. Medieval women were, as a group, subordinate to their husbands and fathers, but certain women, under certain circumstances, evaded subordination.
Marriage, Money and Divorce in Medieval Islamic Society
Author: Yossef Rapoport
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139444816
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 154
Book Description
High rates of divorce, often taken to be a modern and western phenomenon, were also typical of medieval Islamic societies. By pitting these high rates of divorce against the Islamic ideal of marriage,Yossef Rapoport radically challenges usual assumptions about the legal inferiority of Muslim women and their economic dependence on men. He argues that marriages in late medieval Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem had little in common with the patriarchal models advocated by jurists and moralists. The transmission of dowries, women's access to waged labour, and the strict separation of property between spouses made divorce easy and normative, initiated by wives as often as by their husbands. This carefully researched work of social history is interwoven with intimate accounts of individual medieval lives, making for a truly compelling read. It will be of interest to scholars of all disciplines concerned with the history of women and gender in Islam.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139444816
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 154
Book Description
High rates of divorce, often taken to be a modern and western phenomenon, were also typical of medieval Islamic societies. By pitting these high rates of divorce against the Islamic ideal of marriage,Yossef Rapoport radically challenges usual assumptions about the legal inferiority of Muslim women and their economic dependence on men. He argues that marriages in late medieval Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem had little in common with the patriarchal models advocated by jurists and moralists. The transmission of dowries, women's access to waged labour, and the strict separation of property between spouses made divorce easy and normative, initiated by wives as often as by their husbands. This carefully researched work of social history is interwoven with intimate accounts of individual medieval lives, making for a truly compelling read. It will be of interest to scholars of all disciplines concerned with the history of women and gender in Islam.
The Fruit of Her Hands
Author: Sarah Ifft Decker
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271093765
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
In the thriving urban economies of late thirteenth-century Catalonia, Jewish and Christian women labored to support their families and their communities. The Fruit of Her Hands examines how gender, socioeconomic status, and religious identity shaped how these women lived and worked. Sarah Ifft Decker draws on thousands of notarial contracts as well as legal codes, urban ordinances, and Hebrew responsa literature to explore the lived experiences of Jewish and Christian women in the cities of Barcelona, Girona, and Vic between 1250 and 1350. Relying on an expanded definition of women’s work that includes the management of household resources as well as wage labor and artisanal production, this study highlights the crucial contributions women made both to their families and to urban economies. Christian women, Ifft Decker finds, were deeply embedded in urban economic life in ways that challenge traditional dichotomies between women in northern and Mediterranean Europe. And while Jewish women typically played a less active role than their Christian counterparts, Ifft Decker shows how, in moments of communal change and crisis, they could and did assume prominent roles in urban economies. Through its attention to the distinct experiences of Jewish and Christian women, The Fruit of Her Hands advances our understanding of Jewish acculturation in the Iberian Peninsula and the shared experiences of women of different faiths. It will be welcomed by specialists in gender studies and religious studies as well as students and scholars of medieval Iberia.
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271093765
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
In the thriving urban economies of late thirteenth-century Catalonia, Jewish and Christian women labored to support their families and their communities. The Fruit of Her Hands examines how gender, socioeconomic status, and religious identity shaped how these women lived and worked. Sarah Ifft Decker draws on thousands of notarial contracts as well as legal codes, urban ordinances, and Hebrew responsa literature to explore the lived experiences of Jewish and Christian women in the cities of Barcelona, Girona, and Vic between 1250 and 1350. Relying on an expanded definition of women’s work that includes the management of household resources as well as wage labor and artisanal production, this study highlights the crucial contributions women made both to their families and to urban economies. Christian women, Ifft Decker finds, were deeply embedded in urban economic life in ways that challenge traditional dichotomies between women in northern and Mediterranean Europe. And while Jewish women typically played a less active role than their Christian counterparts, Ifft Decker shows how, in moments of communal change and crisis, they could and did assume prominent roles in urban economies. Through its attention to the distinct experiences of Jewish and Christian women, The Fruit of Her Hands advances our understanding of Jewish acculturation in the Iberian Peninsula and the shared experiences of women of different faiths. It will be welcomed by specialists in gender studies and religious studies as well as students and scholars of medieval Iberia.
Labors Lost
Author: Natasha Korda
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 081220431X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 345
Book Description
Labors Lost offers a fascinating and wide-ranging account of working women's behind-the-scenes and hitherto unacknowledged contributions to theatrical production in Shakespeare's time. Natasha Korda reveals that the purportedly all-male professional stage relied on the labor, wares, ingenuity, and capital of women of all stripes, including ordinary crafts- and tradeswomen who supplied costumes, props, and comestibles; wealthy heiresses and widows who provided much-needed capital and credit; wives, daughters, and widows of theater people who worked actively alongside their male kin; and immigrant women who fueled the fashion-driven stage with a range of newfangled skills and commodities. Combining archival research on these and other women who worked in and around the playhouses with revisionist readings of canonical and lesser-known plays, Labors Lost retrieves this lost history by detailing the diverse ways women participated in the work of playing, and the ways male players and playwrights in turn helped to shape the cultural meanings of women's work. Far from a marginal phenomenon, the gendered division of theatrical labor was crucial to the rise of the commercial theaters in London and had an influence on the material culture of the stage and the dramatic works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 081220431X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 345
Book Description
Labors Lost offers a fascinating and wide-ranging account of working women's behind-the-scenes and hitherto unacknowledged contributions to theatrical production in Shakespeare's time. Natasha Korda reveals that the purportedly all-male professional stage relied on the labor, wares, ingenuity, and capital of women of all stripes, including ordinary crafts- and tradeswomen who supplied costumes, props, and comestibles; wealthy heiresses and widows who provided much-needed capital and credit; wives, daughters, and widows of theater people who worked actively alongside their male kin; and immigrant women who fueled the fashion-driven stage with a range of newfangled skills and commodities. Combining archival research on these and other women who worked in and around the playhouses with revisionist readings of canonical and lesser-known plays, Labors Lost retrieves this lost history by detailing the diverse ways women participated in the work of playing, and the ways male players and playwrights in turn helped to shape the cultural meanings of women's work. Far from a marginal phenomenon, the gendered division of theatrical labor was crucial to the rise of the commercial theaters in London and had an influence on the material culture of the stage and the dramatic works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.