0:00:03 > 0:00:06On 29th May 1660,
0:00:06 > 0:00:10King Charles II returned from exile to reclaim his throne.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17Everyone thought the Stuart dynasty had lost power for ever.
0:00:18 > 0:00:19His father, Charles I,
0:00:19 > 0:00:23had been publicly executed only ten years previously
0:00:23 > 0:00:28and England was firmly in the grip of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth,
0:00:28 > 0:00:32but now the monarchy was back in business.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36The Restoration was a turning point in British history.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40It marked the end of the medieval and the beginning of the modern age.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44It affected the life of every single person in the country.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47In this series,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50I'm looking at the lives of women in the late 17th century.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53This is a really exciting time to be a woman.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57For centuries, they've been lurking about in the footnotes of history,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59but now they come to prominence.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03Some of them have such modern attitudes and ambitions
0:01:03 > 0:01:05and we see them coming up against a world
0:01:05 > 0:01:08that was still pretty male and misogynistic.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12Over three programmes, I'm exploring their lives
0:01:12 > 0:01:15at the lavish and liberated royal court,
0:01:15 > 0:01:20out in public at work and play,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24and now at home as wives and mothers.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29You might have thought that Britain was swinging in the 1960s,
0:01:29 > 0:01:33but it was the 1660s that really shook things up.
0:01:42 > 0:01:43In 1662,
0:01:43 > 0:01:48only two years after Charles II's dramatic restoration to the throne,
0:01:48 > 0:01:53a new form of fun arrived in London from the continent...
0:01:53 > 0:01:54You did what?
0:01:54 > 0:01:56..the country's first ever Punch and Judy show.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58You take that, that, that.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Like so much of what we know about Restoration England,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06our picture of the first Punch and Judy show
0:02:06 > 0:02:09comes from the diary of Samuel Pepys.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14350 years later, nasty old Punch is still bashing up poor old Judy
0:02:14 > 0:02:18here at Covent Garden, but behind the pretty spectacle,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22there's a dark story here about 17th-century women
0:02:22 > 0:02:25and their experience of childbirth,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29and infant mortality, and domestic violence,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31and their whole relationship
0:02:31 > 0:02:32with their husbands.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37In this programme, I'm looking at the lives of 17th-century Judys,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40ordinary women, living at home.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42What do their lives tell us
0:02:42 > 0:02:46about these extraordinary years following the return of the King?
0:02:51 > 0:02:55To get right inside 17th-century women's domestic lives,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59I'm going to start off by looking at something pretty fundamental -
0:02:59 > 0:03:01their marriages.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05In the 17th century, every girl was expected to get married.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09A woman was defined throughout her life by her marital status,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13as either an unmarried maid, a wife or widow.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18But during this turbulent century, how you actually got married
0:03:18 > 0:03:21became a religious and political battlefield.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25The terrain was constantly changing.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Do you think that as we go through the 17th century,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31we can see its religious turmoil reflected
0:03:31 > 0:03:33in the different types of marriages that people are having?
0:03:33 > 0:03:34Oh, absolutely.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37The whole history of the regulation of marriage in the 17th century
0:03:37 > 0:03:39is a very good reflection of what's going on
0:03:39 > 0:03:41politically and ideologically.
0:03:41 > 0:03:46At a time when the state really needed to SEE people getting married
0:03:46 > 0:03:49in order to know that they were married,
0:03:49 > 0:03:51they wanted marriage to be public.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55In 1604, James I had laid down the rules
0:03:55 > 0:03:59for the traditional church wedding we still recognise today.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03Banns had to be read, rings were part of the ritual,
0:04:03 > 0:04:07but most importantly, his ceremony had to be carried out in church
0:04:07 > 0:04:10by a Church Of England priest
0:04:11 > 0:04:13But after the Civil War,
0:04:13 > 0:04:15when Cromwell and his Puritans were in charge,
0:04:15 > 0:04:20things were very different - THEY made adultery punishable by death.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Surprisingly though, the hyper-religious Puritans
0:04:23 > 0:04:27took weddings outside the Church and favoured civil marriage.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31When the Puritans come up with this new concept of civil marriage,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34they have just executed the King, they've chopped his head off.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Are these two things connected? I'm guessing that they are.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Yes, I mean civil marriage is very political.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46It's part of that whole rejection, not only of the King,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50but also of hierarchy, of the Church of England.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52So what did you actually have to do
0:04:52 > 0:04:54to get this sort of minimalist marriage
0:04:54 > 0:04:56that the Puritans had in the Commonwealth period?
0:04:56 > 0:04:59You went before a Justice of the Peace,
0:04:59 > 0:05:01exchanged vows in front of him.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04- So no rings or anything like that? - No rings, no.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07You were meant to join hands, but there's provision
0:05:07 > 0:05:11in the legislation for that to be dispensed with, if you have no hands.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13And presumably if you've lost them fighting in the Civil War.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15Presumably, yes.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19And just when everyone had got used to that,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Charles came back and it all changed again.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27What happens at the Restoration is really a sharpening up
0:05:27 > 0:05:29of what it means to be Anglican
0:05:29 > 0:05:32as distinct from any other denomination,
0:05:32 > 0:05:36so it becomes very clear in this period that the only person
0:05:36 > 0:05:40who can celebrate a marriage is an ordained Anglican clergyman.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47After the Restoration, women knew exactly where and how
0:05:47 > 0:05:49they were supposed to get married -
0:05:49 > 0:05:52in an Anglican church by an Anglican priest.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57And it was also made very clear who was in charge
0:05:57 > 0:05:58once they'd got married.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02If women were in any doubt about their position within marriage,
0:06:02 > 0:06:04they would be reminded at church
0:06:04 > 0:06:06through the regular reading of homilies,
0:06:06 > 0:06:08like this one on matrimony.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12This one says that women are the "weaker vessel."
0:06:12 > 0:06:14It says here,
0:06:14 > 0:06:17"You must obey your husband and cease from commanding him.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22"Avoid all things that might offend him. Apply yourself to his will."
0:06:22 > 0:06:25If you don't do this, everything'll go horribly wrong
0:06:25 > 0:06:28and the whole world will be turned upside down.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33In the 17th century, being second-class citizens
0:06:33 > 0:06:37was just the price women had to pay for respectability.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39Another painful fact about their marriage
0:06:39 > 0:06:42was the huge sum of money their fathers had to cough up,
0:06:42 > 0:06:46not just for the wedding, but also for the dowry.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51The 17th century saw the beginning of the lonely hearts ads,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54but don't expect tales of dreamy romance here,
0:06:54 > 0:06:55they get right down to business.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59Here we've got a gentleman who's got 30 years of age.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03He would willingly match himself to some good young gentlewoman,
0:07:03 > 0:07:07but there's no love of country walks or the cinema here at all.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09He says he has a very good estate
0:07:09 > 0:07:12and she has to have a fortune of about £3,000.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16Then we've got a young man about 25 years of age.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18He is in a very good trade,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20but I don't think he's got a very good sense of humour.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23It says here he's a sober man.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26He would willingly embrace a suitable match,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29but remember this, ladies, he's got £1,000 and you should have the same.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34A dowry could be vast.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39Mary Evelyn was a girl from a family reasonably well off, but not rich.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44When she decided to get hitched, her father, John Evelyn the diarist,
0:07:44 > 0:07:49had to fork out a whopping £350,000 in today's money.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52Mind you, he did get off relatively lightly.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55When Catherine Of Braganza married Charles II,
0:07:55 > 0:07:59her dad had to hand over both Bombay and Tangier.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04And the dowry wasn't the only thing the bride had to worry about.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08With a monopoly on marriage, church and state had realised
0:08:08 > 0:08:11that they could also make money from the transaction.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18To get married officially and properly
0:08:18 > 0:08:20could be really quite prohibitively expensive.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23As well as coughing up the dowry for the bride,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27you needed to buy entertainment for the guests and, from 1694,
0:08:27 > 0:08:29there was a new tax on marriage too.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33The government introduced stamp duty on every single ceremony,
0:08:33 > 0:08:38but there were sneaky ways of getting out of paying this.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42If you could avoid getting married in church, you could avoid the tax -
0:08:42 > 0:08:45about £600 in today's money.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48Don't involve your family and you could avoid the dowry too.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52In the late 17th century, London became the centre
0:08:52 > 0:08:55of a new cheap and easy black-market wedding industry.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Fleet Street takes its name from one of the lost rivers of London,
0:09:00 > 0:09:04the Fleet, which ran down there behind me.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07By the Restoration, it was quite an insalubrious part of town,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11full of inns and brothels and the infamous Fleet Prison.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13By the later 17th century,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17it was also home to about 40 small businesses.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19They were known as the marriage houses.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21They didn't have anything to do with the local church,
0:09:21 > 0:09:23in fact, they were pubs.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29The inns and pubs of Fleet Street, even the Fleet Prison itself,
0:09:29 > 0:09:33became venues for a shady phenomenon - the Fleet marriage.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36Officially recognised, but only borderline legal.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40In church, you had to get married between eight and twelve,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43but the marriage houses were always open for business,
0:09:43 > 0:09:45they simply changed the clocks.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50You needed a priest, but the prison had plenty of defrocked debtors
0:09:50 > 0:09:52who wouldn't ask too many questions.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56In the year 1700,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00Fleet weddings made up a third of all London marriages.
0:10:00 > 0:10:01So here we are in our little chapel,
0:10:01 > 0:10:05that's essentially the room over the pub, but none the worse for it.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07What would have been going on in here then?
0:10:07 > 0:10:12Well, we might actually have a marriage conducted in this room.
0:10:12 > 0:10:13With a proper priest?
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Well, with somebody who lives within the liberties of the Fleet,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20which meant he'd have been here because he'd been incarcerated for debt.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23- Oh dear, a dodgy priest is what you're saying.- A dodgy priest.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26And then they would have given you a marriage licence,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28something that looked like this.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32A certificate that looked like this, where you had your name on it
0:10:32 > 0:10:35and the date, but of course it could be backdated
0:10:35 > 0:10:38if you wanted to legitimise a birth, for example.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42You could have anybody as a witness sign it.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44You could even pull in witnesses at a later date as well.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49And you get a proper certificate like this. It's a little later.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52Says GR for George, but it looks official, doesn't it,
0:10:52 > 0:10:53with the royal coat of arms?
0:10:53 > 0:10:56But then you look at it and it says, "At the Hand and Pen".
0:10:56 > 0:10:59So this certificates says, we got marriage at the pub.
0:10:59 > 0:11:00Yes, it does.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03- This is a proper one, isn't it, used in a church?- Yes.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06And we know this because it's got the stamp here,
0:11:06 > 0:11:08they have paid their duty on it.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10- That's the thing that is missing from here.- That is missing.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13However, you could, if you were so inclined,
0:11:13 > 0:11:15bring your own stamped sheet of paper.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Were these cheap and dirty marriages good for women, do you think?
0:11:18 > 0:11:21In some cases they were, in a sense that
0:11:21 > 0:11:25if you wanted to legitimise the birth of a child, it was great.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28You could have something backdated.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31The family might not have to pay a large dowry.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33Certainly you didn't have to jump through all the hoops
0:11:33 > 0:11:37that were necessary in actually getting married.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43These dubious wedding venues gave the less well-off
0:11:43 > 0:11:47a chance of respectability without the cost,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50but they also opened up the opportunities for abuse.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53The marriage houses were perfect for bigamists,
0:11:53 > 0:11:57and some women were even dragged here and married,
0:11:57 > 0:11:59against their will.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03Mrs Anne Leigh was worth £200 a year
0:12:03 > 0:12:06and she was decoyed away from her friends in Buckinghamshire
0:12:06 > 0:12:10and married at the Fleet Chapel against her consent.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12- Oh, wow.- Yes.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14- She's been used barbarously. - Yes, poor woman.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17- So barbarously that she now lies speechless.- I know.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20She couldn't speak after this horrific experience
0:12:20 > 0:12:21- she went through.- Yes.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23It must have been very traumatic, you can imagine.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25Oh, poor Mrs Anne Leigh.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30With women physically being held to ransom in pubs,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33or financially held to ransom for a dowry,
0:12:33 > 0:12:36they were like commodities in a commercial transaction.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39This wasn't unnoticed by contemporary commentators.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44As the fictional heroine, Moll Flanders, says,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47"The market is against our sex just now.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50"Nothing but money recommends a woman."
0:12:50 > 0:12:53The writer, Daniel Defoe,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57described marriage as being like the Smithfield bargain.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59By this he meant that women were bought and sold
0:12:59 > 0:13:03like the cows at the famous Smithfield meat market in London.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06For women, the contract was binding, there was no escape
0:13:06 > 0:13:08if they didn't like their husbands.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Divorce was practically unheard of,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13it involved a special Act of Parliament.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15For men though, there was a way out
0:13:15 > 0:13:18if they weren't getting on with their wives.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23In 1692, we hear that Mr Whitehouse of Tipton sells his wife
0:13:23 > 0:13:25to Mr Bracegirdle.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28And you've got to imagine fairs with women walking up and down,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32wearing sandwich boards saying, "This woman is on the market."
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Wife sales were completely illegal and fairly uncommon,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49but the idea of marriage as a marketplace was totally accepted.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Love seemed to count for little and, from a young age,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00women were treated rather like livestock.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Even if you were a maid, in other words a single woman,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09you were still in a sense defined by your marital status,
0:14:09 > 0:14:11it's just that you weren't married yet.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13Marriage would be your destiny.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17And you get the idea that these baby girls in the 17th century
0:14:17 > 0:14:20are born and bred and reared and trained
0:14:20 > 0:14:22all for the purpose of reaching the marriage market.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27By the end of the 17th century though,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30something previously unheard of was beginning to happen -
0:14:30 > 0:14:34thousands and thousands of women weren't getting married.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36By about the 1690s you're getting towns
0:14:36 > 0:14:40where over half of the population are single women.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43Where are all these extra single women coming from?
0:14:43 > 0:14:46It may be something to do with the Civil War.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48It had one of the greatest casualty rates
0:14:48 > 0:14:51until you get to the First World War in England,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54and so there are just fewer men available.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57The Civil War had decimated the male population,
0:14:57 > 0:15:02and had thrown the county into turmoil that lasted decades.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04When times are hard, fewer people can marry
0:15:04 > 0:15:07because you need the economic wherewithal to set up
0:15:07 > 0:15:10a household and to be able to support a family thereafter.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13So that's when you start to get the term spinster being used,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17rather than an occupational term, a woman who spins for a living,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20but being attached to a woman who isn't married,
0:15:20 > 0:15:22and also the term, the old maid.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25'With so many spinsters on the scene,
0:15:25 > 0:15:30'the old maid became a stock character in comedy and songs.'
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Got a ballad here which is titled the Old Maid Mad for a Husband.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37'The Old Maid Mad for a Husband is a touching ballad
0:15:37 > 0:15:39'about a wealthy old spinster.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42'When the story starts, she's on the lookout for a husband.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46'"A man," she says, "is better than money to me."'
0:15:46 > 0:15:48A young shoemaker comes to her
0:15:48 > 0:15:52when he hears that she's on the lookout for a husband.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55She tempts him into bed but, a few days later,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58he starts to tell other people about this and her kindness.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02No, he's blabbed! Look, look, look, so in the end she neglects him
0:16:02 > 0:16:03because he kissed and told.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06She rejects him, so at that point she's stopped the refrain,
0:16:06 > 0:16:10- "A husband is better than money to me."- She's stopped saying that?
0:16:10 > 0:16:13- Yes, and she moved to, "Because like a rascal he did kiss and tell."- Aah!
0:16:13 > 0:16:17But there's a happy ending to it, because she then finds
0:16:17 > 0:16:21a young stonecutter who does just what she wants.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24He becomes her lover. She shares some of her gold with him.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28But interestingly with this man, she doesn't seem to marry him,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32so she manages to retain her economic independence.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35My goodness, she is Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, isn't she?
0:16:35 > 0:16:38- She's dumping men, she's using men. - Yes.- Picking and choosing.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41She's manipulating the men to suit her own ends.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44When I read "Old Maid Mad for a Husband", I laughed.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46I thought, "Ha, ha, ha!" It's like a mother-in-law joke.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50There's something a bit misogynistic about that, I now realise.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54Cos actually, she's a bit of role model, isn't she, for single women?
0:16:54 > 0:16:57I think there's a questioning of marriage as a status.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00- Well good on you, mad old maid. - Exactly.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05OK, these are just the words of a silly song, but they're part
0:17:05 > 0:17:07of a much bigger phenomenon.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Women were beginning to question the accepted order of things.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Perhaps they shouldn't get married at any cost.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Perhaps they shouldn't just put up and shut up.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25And for a woman to express these ideas was amazingly radical.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29Not long before, a woman could suffer the most brutal
0:17:29 > 0:17:32of punishments for simply speaking out of turn,
0:17:32 > 0:17:36with the notorious scold's bridle.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39A scold's bridle is a ferocious...
0:17:39 > 0:17:42- Ooh, a nasty thing! - ..looking instrument...
0:17:42 > 0:17:45- Oh, isn't that horrific? - ..which was fastened onto the head.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49So is this put on to somebody who scolds her husband?
0:17:49 > 0:17:54No, scolding was supposed to be sustained verbal harassment.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56Who's to say where that line is?
0:17:56 > 0:17:59You could just be a really outgoing, opinionated person.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01That's absolutely right.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04This is just such a striking illustration
0:18:04 > 0:18:06- of women being silenced, isn't it? - It is indeed.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10I'm opinionated and you're going to silence me.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17- Oh, right. - That goes on there.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19And I guess my nose goes in there...
0:18:21 > 0:18:23..and that in my mouth.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26- Oh!- Yes, indeed.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29MUFFLED SPEECH
0:18:29 > 0:18:32There's a contemporary description of the punishment of a woman
0:18:32 > 0:18:36called Anne Biddlestone being punished in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39It says that the tongue of iron pushed into her mouth,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41caused blood to flow out.
0:18:46 > 0:18:47Please take it off.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Oh, that's horrible, horrible, horrible.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53Eugh!
0:18:56 > 0:18:59It could be highly dangerous for a woman to speak out
0:18:59 > 0:19:01in the 17th century.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07Men did not want their status challenged, but extraordinarily,
0:19:07 > 0:19:12in the Restoration that's exactly what some women were doing.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14What's more, they were getting away with it,
0:19:14 > 0:19:19and even winning over some of the most unlikely individuals.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24This is Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28the family seat of William Cavendish, Duke Of Newcastle.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31'Originally, he'd been an archetypal 17th-century man
0:19:31 > 0:19:35'with archetypal views on women, love and marriage,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39'and he was very explicit in the ways he expressed them.'
0:19:41 > 0:19:45This crazy little castle was completed by William Cavendish
0:19:45 > 0:19:48when he was still married to his first wife, Elizabeth.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52He wasn't particularly faithful to her, and this place has been
0:19:52 > 0:19:55decorated as a kind of monument to his love for women.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59Lots of his different female relationships are expressed here.
0:19:59 > 0:20:05This room, for example, is all about virtue and it stands for his wife.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09We've got here Christianity. We've got the symbols of the passion.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12It's all about being good and doing your duty.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21But this second little closet off the bed chamber is the flip side
0:20:21 > 0:20:24to the first, the theme in here is pleasure.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27There's no more Christianity, here we've got the gods
0:20:27 > 0:20:32and goddesses of Mount Olympus, basically having an orgy together.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35And William wasn't alone amongst early 17th-century aristocrats
0:20:35 > 0:20:40in thinking it was OK to have a wife for duty and mistresses for pleasure.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44His first marriage to Elizabeth had all been about the merger
0:20:44 > 0:20:47of two great estates and the production of children.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50But when we get to the 1660s and his second marriage, it's a new
0:20:50 > 0:20:54and much more modern form of relationship.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57Following Elizabeth's death, William's conventional views
0:20:57 > 0:21:02were transformed when he met the incredible Margaret Cavendish,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05the 17th-century's most outspoken feminist thinker.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Margaret convinced him that marriage was a partnership of equals
0:21:09 > 0:21:14based on love and mutual respect, and their new-style relationship
0:21:14 > 0:21:18made them the John and Yoko of the Restoration age.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25So this is Margaret Cavendish's own handwriting
0:21:25 > 0:21:28and she's writing him a love letter during her courtship, isn't she?
0:21:28 > 0:21:31That's right, she was in Paris in 1645.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34He sent her 70 love poems in a space of just four months,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37so that's several a week, and this is one of her letters.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Read out a bit, cos there's some good, romantic stuff here.
0:21:40 > 0:21:41Absolutely, it really is.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45"And yet, my lord, I must tell you I am not easily drawn
0:21:45 > 0:21:51"to be in love for I did never see any man but yourself
0:21:51 > 0:21:54- "that I could have married." - Ah, he's the only man for her.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Absolutely. It really was a meeting of souls, I think.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00They weren't forced into it by families?
0:22:00 > 0:22:02No, there was no brokering, no dowry,
0:22:02 > 0:22:04so that bargaining was left out of it.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06In that sense it was a modern courtship,
0:22:06 > 0:22:08because it was just between the two parties,
0:22:08 > 0:22:11and then they had to square it with everyone else afterwards.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15With a marriage based on romance and respect rather than money,
0:22:15 > 0:22:19Margaret and William had defied convention.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23But even more unusually, Margaret had published her views on marriage.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26"For the most part," wrote Margaret,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29"maids desire husbands upon any condition,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32"but I am not of their minds for I think a bad husband
0:22:32 > 0:22:34"is far worse than no husband."
0:22:34 > 0:22:39And amazingly, William encouraged her to keep on writing.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43In her plays she often explored young women trying to choose
0:22:43 > 0:22:45who to marry, or even whether to marry.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48And there's some fiction and plays by her
0:22:48 > 0:22:49where she imagines women not marrying
0:22:49 > 0:22:51and going on to become heroic women
0:22:51 > 0:22:53who are generals in command of armies,
0:22:53 > 0:22:57or wise hermits advising people on how to live their lives.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02Margaret's plays were quite shocking to people of the time.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Pepys called her a mad, conceited, ridiculous woman.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09He says of William that he was an ass to suffer her to write what she did.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12So it wasn't just Margaret who got the stick, it was William as well.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15These two become very prominent in society
0:23:15 > 0:23:19- and their marriage becomes a sort of role model, doesn't it?- Absolutely.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22And people pursued her round London trying to study her
0:23:22 > 0:23:24and her relationship with William.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26She became a real celebrity,
0:23:26 > 0:23:28and this whole idea of a woman
0:23:28 > 0:23:31as an equal and someone that a man could share things with,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33that's sort of what she and William
0:23:33 > 0:23:35were being a real subject of interest for.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39This makes her an archetypical woman of the Restoration, doesn't it?
0:23:39 > 0:23:42In a sense, but in a sense a lot of women were frightened of her.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44I mean it may be the fascination...
0:23:44 > 0:23:46Yes, the Restoration women are frightening,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49- they're getting out of their box. - That's true, yes.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52I mean women like Mary Evelyn, married to John Evelyn,
0:23:52 > 0:23:54- I mean she was appalled... - Thumbs down.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57..and she thought Margaret must really be distracted,
0:23:57 > 0:24:01must be mad to be carrying on this way that no sane woman would.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Now Margaret's detractor, Mary Evelyn,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07was the wife of the diarist John Evelyn,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10who'd had to stump up that huge dowry.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16'They're buried together in their private chapel in Surrey.'
0:24:16 > 0:24:20While we learn a lot about the 17th century from John's diaries,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24'Mary's writings are equally fascinating because she endorses
0:24:24 > 0:24:28'the rather more conventional view on women and marriage.'
0:24:28 > 0:24:31This is the tomb of John Evelyn's wife, Mary,
0:24:31 > 0:24:36and she's described here as "The best daughter, wife, and mother."
0:24:36 > 0:24:38That's how she's recorded for posterity,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40but it wasn't always that way.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42She married him very young, at the age of 14,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45and she was worried about giving up her studies.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48Once she was married though, she quickly gave up
0:24:48 > 0:24:52her intellectual aspirations and she settles into this role of wife.
0:24:52 > 0:24:58As she says herself here, "Women were not born to read.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02"All time borrowed from family duties is misspent,"
0:25:02 > 0:25:07and she esteems herself, "Capable of very little".
0:25:10 > 0:25:13Mary and Margaret's polar opposite views on married life
0:25:13 > 0:25:15kicked off a very modern debate.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18'People don't realise it began in the Restoration -
0:25:18 > 0:25:23'what should a women demand from her marriage, her husband and home?
0:25:23 > 0:25:28'And with an increasingly literate middle rank in Restoration society,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31'more and more women were jumping into the debate.'
0:25:32 > 0:25:37'This is a typical rural 17th-century house of a middling family.'
0:25:37 > 0:25:40And here's a main living area.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43- This is all very shabby chic, isn't it?- Isn't it lovely?
0:25:43 > 0:25:48'It's interesting because, unlike the average family home in the past,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51'it's not just one open space but it's divided up into rooms,
0:25:51 > 0:25:53'each with a specific purpose.'
0:25:53 > 0:25:57- Now, in here there would have been people sleeping.- Bedroom one?
0:25:57 > 0:26:01'The new style of house brought with it new responsibilities
0:26:01 > 0:26:06'and for women, running it became a formidable and important job.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10This was the age of the professional housewife.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Elaine, this is quite a reasonably substantial property, isn't it?
0:26:13 > 0:26:15- Yes.- What sort of people would have lived here?
0:26:15 > 0:26:18Well, as it happens, we know exactly who lived here.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21There was a man called Nicholas Austen, who was a yeoman,
0:26:21 > 0:26:27- lived here in the Restoration period with his wife, Susannah.- Susannah.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29And six children.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31Six! Daughter, daughter, son, son, daughter, son.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33That's quite a household.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35And that wouldn't have been the whole household,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39because there would have been one or two live-in servants as well.
0:26:39 > 0:26:40It's quite a responsibility.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44Absolutely, really she's running a small business.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48This is not just being a housewife in a 1950s style.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53'A Restoration housewife like Susannah obviously didn't
0:26:53 > 0:26:56'have any electric gadgets, but what she now had was published
0:26:56 > 0:26:58'household advice books.'
0:26:59 > 0:27:02You think that Susannah, at this level in society,
0:27:02 > 0:27:04the yeoman level, would have been able to read?
0:27:04 > 0:27:06In those days,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09though most people wouldn't have had any reason to learn to write,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13people could read, people needed to read their Bible for themselves.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16So yes, I think she would very likely have been able to read.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20'The books Susannah would have wanted were the bestsellers by
0:27:20 > 0:27:24'the 17th-century's own domestic goddess, Hannah Woolley.'
0:27:24 > 0:27:27- Here we've got roast salmon. - Deer, baked.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30Quaking pudding! Do you think that wobbled?
0:27:30 > 0:27:34- Egg mince pie. - Marinated carp.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38- Mushrooms, fried.- You don't need a recipe to fry mushrooms!
0:27:39 > 0:27:42And who was Hannah Woolley?
0:27:42 > 0:27:44What we know of Hannah Woolley is that she was married
0:27:44 > 0:27:46to a schoolmaster.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49He ran the school and she looked after the children,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52and it was in the last months of his life that she turned
0:27:52 > 0:27:54her hand to writing cookery books.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59Hannah was one of the first women to earn a living from writing.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Between 1661 and 1672, housewives across the country
0:28:03 > 0:28:08'lapped up Hannah's first four books and when the fifth,
0:28:08 > 0:28:10'called the Gentlewoman's Companion,
0:28:10 > 0:28:14'was published in 1674, it was an overnight success.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19'But surprisingly, considering that Hannah had become the
0:28:19 > 0:28:22'housewives' heroine, the tone of some of the advice in it
0:28:22 > 0:28:25'wasn't particularly female-friendly.'
0:28:25 > 0:28:27I'm not so keen on this.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29"The wife ought to be subject to the husband in all things."
0:28:29 > 0:28:31You've got to keep the house in good order,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34you've got to have dinner ready when he comes home.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38And you've got to make the food nice or else he'll go off to the tavern,
0:28:38 > 0:28:40"Which many are compelled to do
0:28:40 > 0:28:44"because of the daily dissatisfactions they find at home."
0:28:44 > 0:28:45And that's quite shocking.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48- Yeah, it's a bit of a letdown, I have to say.- Yes.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53But there's a reason for the rather sexist tone.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56The book isn't by Hannah Woolley at all, it's written by a man.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59- It's an impostor! - An impostor.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01That's just typical, isn't it?
0:29:01 > 0:29:04He's putting male propaganda into the mouth of Hannah Woolley.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06That's exactly what he's doing.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09The Restoration housewife was becoming
0:29:09 > 0:29:11a powerful force in the home,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14and some men thought she should be kept in check.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17With no laws against plagiarism,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20what better ways to convey the message of,
0:29:20 > 0:29:22"Know your place, ladies",
0:29:22 > 0:29:25'than to put it into the mouth of every woman's idol, Hannah.'
0:29:26 > 0:29:29The views about how a woman should behave
0:29:29 > 0:29:34in no way resemble what Hannah Woolley says in her own book.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36I'm shocked on her behalf.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39What she could do, and what she did do,
0:29:39 > 0:29:43was to bring out another book of her own, where she says,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46"How dare they take my name to write that nonsense!"
0:29:46 > 0:29:48- I love it! Hannah Woolley is great! - Yes.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55'During the Restoration, a woman's responsibility for running the house
0:29:55 > 0:29:59'spanned across every social divide.'
0:29:59 > 0:30:02Hannah believed that it was every woman's duty
0:30:02 > 0:30:04to be an efficient housewife...
0:30:07 > 0:30:10..although some houses were clearly a little bigger than others.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16'This is Ham House in Surrey.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22'The diarist John Evelyn described it as one of the best houses
0:30:22 > 0:30:25'he'd ever seen.
0:30:25 > 0:30:30'The wife of this house was a truly impressive Restoration woman,
0:30:30 > 0:30:32'Elizabeth Dysart.'
0:30:35 > 0:30:40This is Elizabeth, one of the 17th century's most formidable women.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42She was a real survivor.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46She survived two husbands, giving birth to 11 children.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49She survived the Civil War and the Commonwealth and the Restoration.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52She's said to have been the secret lover of Oliver Cromwell.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54At the same time,
0:30:54 > 0:30:57she was secretly sending money to the exiled King Charles II.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01After the Restoration, she became best friends with his wife,
0:31:01 > 0:31:04Catherine of Braganza, the Queen, and she was tough as old boots.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Elizabeth didn't just look after Ham House,
0:31:08 > 0:31:10she gave it a complete makeover.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17- So all of these rooms were added by Elizabeth.- Absolutely.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20After she married Lauderdale in 1672,
0:31:20 > 0:31:25they filled in between these two turrets and she created this suite.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28When you say SHE did these things, isn't that quite unusual?
0:31:28 > 0:31:31Well it is unusual, but then it was her own family home,
0:31:31 > 0:31:32she grew up here.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34- Yeah.- And she was a very strong character.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37People said that she determined everything
0:31:37 > 0:31:39- and had a great sense of detail. - Yeah.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41And here at Ham she does seem really to have done everything.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44There may have been other cases where the women had done
0:31:44 > 0:31:47a lot to a house, but the man always got the credit anyway.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49How do you know Elizabeth did it herself?
0:31:49 > 0:31:50She put her mark everywhere.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53We can get some idea of this from this wonderful silver
0:31:53 > 0:31:57hearth furniture which she had made in the 1670s,
0:31:57 > 0:32:00and here on the bellows you have her own crest.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02It just says Elizabeth Lauderdale.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05- That's fabulously self-important, isn't it?- Very.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08- To sign your own bellows. - Absolutely. And also on the grate.
0:32:08 > 0:32:10Oh look, there she is again.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13And she's there with her husband, she's let him in now.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16And also she put her name over here on the floor.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18- Oh wow! There it is, underfoot. - A cypher.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22And you see here the E for Elizabeth, a loop in the middle.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24So when the Queen came, she would have been in no doubt
0:32:24 > 0:32:28- about who was in charge of this place.- Absolutely.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30One look at the household accounts and the depth of detail
0:32:30 > 0:32:34that Elizabeth mastered makes it quite clear
0:32:34 > 0:32:37exactly who was in charge.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40- Look, someone's bought a pig. - Yes.- And two carps.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42- Yes.- And a pound of butter.- Butter.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44- And what?- And some mustard. - Mustard!
0:32:44 > 0:32:48- Then you see Elizabeth has signed it off.- Yes, she's checked it!
0:32:48 > 0:32:50Yes, and she checked so many of them.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53And then over here, these are more supplies really for doing up
0:32:53 > 0:32:56the house and things, such as dishes.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Or here, one case to hold a flagon.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00- A flagon. Got a basin and a ewer. - And a ewer.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04And then down here, she signed it off, "Pay in full £6."
0:33:04 > 0:33:06Basically she's authorised the signature.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09And that's 1673, that's exactly when she's doing
0:33:09 > 0:33:11all these wonderful apartments.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16And then she personally had to manage the staff.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18The chaplain, the page, the butler.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22The coachman, the cook. The footman, the other footman, the groom.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24Groom, the groom.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28She is like the chief executive of a huge organisation, isn't she?
0:33:28 > 0:33:30Mmm, definitely, definitely.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33Do you think that the Restoration period caused any change
0:33:33 > 0:33:36in the way women were doing their household duties?
0:33:36 > 0:33:39I think it comes from what happened just before the Civil War,
0:33:39 > 0:33:41because the men were away so much.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45Elizabeth's father was away a lot, and her first husband, Sir Lionel,
0:33:45 > 0:33:48and a lot of the time she was here, running the house
0:33:48 > 0:33:50and so I think the women did get increasingly strong.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54So when Elizabeth came to her second marriage and she just about
0:33:54 > 0:33:57- allowed her husband to have his name on the stuff...- Yes.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59..in the house, she had this taste for power already.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Oh, I think so, definitely.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05By the Restoration, the perfect housewife was expected to have
0:34:05 > 0:34:08a phenomenal range of skills.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11She'd even had to become the family doctor,
0:34:11 > 0:34:14caring for the health and welfare of her children,
0:34:14 > 0:34:16household and community.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19Even Elizabeth, with her army of servants,
0:34:19 > 0:34:21was expected to get her own hands dirty
0:34:21 > 0:34:24and distil her own medicines,
0:34:24 > 0:34:26and some of her recipes
0:34:26 > 0:34:27still work today.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31And this is the recipe that she has, which would be quite typical
0:34:31 > 0:34:32of the day, and these would be
0:34:32 > 0:34:34commonly found garden plants.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37- That's rosemary, what's that good for?- Circulation.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39- What about that?- Mint is good for digestion.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41What's sage good for, as well as sausages?
0:34:41 > 0:34:43Sage actually is very good for the digestive system.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45It's very antimicrobial.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49- It's probably why these plants were added to foods then.- Really?
0:34:49 > 0:34:51Cos they're actually antiseptics.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53Oh. Here we go.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh!
0:34:55 > 0:34:58- Now, does the brandy go in next? - Yeah.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02Oh yeah, look at that.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05- Cover it. - Oh, you've made me a mojito!
0:35:05 > 0:35:08Oh, oh! Golly, very strong one.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15And we're going to cover this.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18And that's going to come to the boil,
0:35:18 > 0:35:20it's going to turn into steam, the steam's going to
0:35:20 > 0:35:23travel along this tube, the cold water is going to condense the steam
0:35:23 > 0:35:27- and then out of this little tap come the magical cordial.- Yep.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Going to make me 20 years younger in 20 minutes' time.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34What other recipes did Elizabeth Dysart have in her book?
0:35:34 > 0:35:36Pills for piles.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39Pills for piles? Where did you take that pill?
0:35:39 > 0:35:42- Up the fundament. - Oh golly, what was in it?
0:35:42 > 0:35:44Oil of poplar and burnt cork.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48- As a herbalist, does that work? - Well, actually it would do!- No!
0:35:48 > 0:35:53The bark of trees have a lot of tannins in them
0:35:53 > 0:35:56which are astringent, and basically would astringe the piles.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00It's actually working. The magic potion is coming out.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02I can't wait to taste it.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04Right, I'm going to taste it.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Ah, that is the elixir of life. Thank you, Elizabeth Dysart.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16Oh, dear.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18I can see why they thought that this would cure all ills.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20Mmm.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23Whatever's wrong with you, a shot of this will make you feel better.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29Healing the sick was the top domestic duty for a Restoration woman.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34But she had to tread carefully.
0:36:37 > 0:36:39To the 17th-century mind,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42making up potions was perilously close to witchcraft.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49In the years leading up to the Restoration, being labelled
0:36:49 > 0:36:51as a witch was a real danger.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56During the Civil War, the country had just witnessed
0:36:56 > 0:36:58the largest witch hunt ever.
0:36:58 > 0:37:03Between 1645 and '47 over 250 women
0:37:03 > 0:37:06were investigated in East Anglia alone.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12Martin, what if an innocent, law-abiding, 17th-century woman
0:37:12 > 0:37:16like myself was accused of witchcraft, what would happen to me?
0:37:16 > 0:37:20Well it's like any other major felony, you would be tried
0:37:20 > 0:37:23at the assizes and, if you were found guilty, you could be hanged.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30And what sort of evidence would they need to do that?
0:37:30 > 0:37:35Perhaps searching your body for witch's marks.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37Oh dear, I've got a mole on my leg just here.
0:37:37 > 0:37:38That's not good news at all.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44Some of the other tests were just as gruesome and possibly
0:37:44 > 0:37:46as deadly as the hanging itself.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50Ducking in the water from a great height,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53or the rather horrendous swimming of the witch.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58Thumb attached to your right foot.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03So you're going to throw me in the river like this?
0:38:03 > 0:38:06- Yeah, rope round your middle. - And around the middle too?
0:38:06 > 0:38:09Well I'm a goner, cos if I float I'm a witch and I will be hanged,
0:38:09 > 0:38:13and if I sink I won't be a witch, but I'll be drowned.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15If you sink, we hope we'll pull you out before you drown,
0:38:15 > 0:38:19but if you float that doesn't mean you're convicted,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23it means you're likely to be a witch, so you'll be sent for trial.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26During the East Anglian witch hunt,
0:38:26 > 0:38:28over 100 women were hanged for witchcraft.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34And although witch prosecutions continued through into the 1700s,
0:38:34 > 0:38:38the 17th century would see the end of the killings.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43The last conviction of a witch is in 1712,
0:38:43 > 0:38:47- the case of Jane Wenham in Hertfordshire.- What happens to her?
0:38:47 > 0:38:50She was reprieved. The judge was very sceptical.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53This was a case where there was evidence that she could fly
0:38:53 > 0:38:57and the judge said that there's no law against flying.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02If the judges and the establishment are getting more sceptical
0:39:02 > 0:39:04about witches that's one thing,
0:39:04 > 0:39:06but do you think people round here
0:39:06 > 0:39:09actually went on believing that they existed?
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Yeah, I think this is an important issue.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15By the end of the 17th century there's a gap
0:39:15 > 0:39:19between what the elites think, particularly the legal elite,
0:39:19 > 0:39:21and ordinary people.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24And ordinary people are often scandalised in fact
0:39:24 > 0:39:29that the courts, the judges, aren't prosecuting and hanging witches.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35The 17th century grew increasingly enlightened as it went on...
0:39:36 > 0:39:40'..but for many, ancient fears did still linger.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46'This is Kew Palace.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49'it was built in the 1630s on the outskirts of London.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53'In recent years its curators have revealed that
0:39:53 > 0:39:57'even in a grand house like this, superstition was still rife.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05'The evidence lies in the servants' quarters up in the rafters.'
0:40:05 > 0:40:09Goodness, pretty spooky and crumbly up here, isn't it?
0:40:09 > 0:40:10It's the best part about it.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14So what went on in these attics?
0:40:14 > 0:40:16- Well, I think the servants lived up here.- Yeah.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18And perhaps they used it for storage as well.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22Are these secret symbols to keep witches away?
0:40:22 > 0:40:24Yeah, supposedly a witch mark.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26And if you look at it, you can see a circle
0:40:26 > 0:40:30with possibly rays of the sun coming down from it.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34Perhaps it's the sun, but one theory is that the M might
0:40:34 > 0:40:38stand for the Virgin Mary, possibly the initial M.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40So we've got the sun to keep the witches away
0:40:40 > 0:40:42because they come at night,
0:40:42 > 0:40:45and we've got the M because the Virgin Mary might protect you?
0:40:45 > 0:40:49Yeah, it's a mixture of folk magic and Christianity, I think.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51This one is up on the rafters, why is that?
0:40:51 > 0:40:54Where we find them is normally in places
0:40:54 > 0:40:57where a witch could come in,
0:40:57 > 0:40:59so vulnerable places like windows, doors,
0:40:59 > 0:41:01staircases, fireplaces.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04And here, although we're standing on floorboards now,
0:41:04 > 0:41:07this was where the 1630s staircase came up through the building.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10And through here I can show you one which is next to a window.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13Now if you look at this one here.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16- Oh, there it is, look at that! - That's the same as the one out there,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19but it's not an M it's reversed, it's upside down.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21- It's upside down. - Or perhaps double V.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24- Oh, two letter Vs together like that.- That's right.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26Some people think it might stand for virgin of virgins,
0:41:26 > 0:41:30so again it's a possible plea to the Virgin Mary.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34It could be. Or maybe the servants who slept here were virgins.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40What other evidence do we see of superstitious behaviour?
0:41:40 > 0:41:41There's quite a bit.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45You also get things hidden away in buildings - witch bottles,
0:41:45 > 0:41:48urine bottles, shoes hidden in the rafters of roofs.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51Do you hide an old shoe cos it's lucky?
0:41:51 > 0:41:53I think you're trying to invest luck,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57or whatever you want to call it, in some inanimate object.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00The other possibility is that you're trying to deflect evil,
0:42:00 > 0:42:02so something that will fool an evil spirit.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05Now do you think that in the 17th century
0:42:05 > 0:42:07we start to see this sort of thing tailing off?
0:42:07 > 0:42:11Ironically, although the earlier period is said to be the more
0:42:11 > 0:42:14superstitious one, the number of shoes which have been discovered,
0:42:14 > 0:42:17and of course shoes are great because you can date them in the style
0:42:17 > 0:42:21of the fashion, actually rises at the end of the 17th century.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24So between 1690 and about 1710,
0:42:24 > 0:42:26there are almost 100 pairs of shoes known
0:42:26 > 0:42:29from different houses around the country.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32That's really interesting to think that witchcraft superstition
0:42:32 > 0:42:35is just as powerful at the end of the 17th century as it seems
0:42:35 > 0:42:38- to have been at the beginning. - It seems to be.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43'It's more than likely that the people who were scratching marks,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47'or hiding shoes, came from the lower and less literate classes,
0:42:47 > 0:42:52'and for them the world remained a scary place.'
0:42:55 > 0:42:59But for rising numbers of better off and better educated women,
0:42:59 > 0:43:01books were now demystifying the world.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08'Hannah Woolley's works, for example,
0:43:08 > 0:43:12'reveal a fascinatingly modern approach to women's issues,
0:43:12 > 0:43:14'in particular to sex.'
0:43:15 > 0:43:18This one's How To Cure The Green Sickness,
0:43:18 > 0:43:23and green sickness is essentially sexual frustration in young girls.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27It says here that laziness and love are the common causes.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31It can also be brought on if they are eating too much oatmeal,
0:43:31 > 0:43:35or chalk, or cinders from the fireplace,
0:43:35 > 0:43:36but you can cure it, not only by work,
0:43:36 > 0:43:40but by this rather delicious drink.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44You get a quart of fine claret wine, a pound of currants,
0:43:44 > 0:43:48a handful of the tops of rosemary.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51Then you take three spoonfuls every morning and evening.
0:43:53 > 0:43:54That's not very nice.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57But then you eat some of the currants as well and,
0:43:57 > 0:44:00because they've been soaked in the winey herby stuff,
0:44:00 > 0:44:02they're quite tasty. Mmm.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06Now, the idea that young girls should be suppressed
0:44:06 > 0:44:09and their desires brought in check may not surprise you,
0:44:09 > 0:44:12but I do think it's really intriguing that these young girls
0:44:12 > 0:44:16are expected to have such a high sex drive in the first place.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21It wasn't just the existence of women's sexual desire
0:44:21 > 0:44:25that was acknowledged, but also their need for sexual pleasure.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32Sarah, I think lots of people will have the idea that female
0:44:32 > 0:44:35sexual pleasure was only invented in the 1960s,
0:44:35 > 0:44:38- but this is utterly wrong, isn't it? - It certainly is.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41It was all there in the 17th century and the 16th century.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44Women were thought to be completely sexually voracious and we find
0:44:44 > 0:44:49it there in ballads and chat books, like this ballad Nine Times a Night.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53- It doesn't exhaust a woman, but the poor man can't keep up.- Oh!
0:44:53 > 0:44:58I love the way it ends, "Nine times a night is too much for a man,
0:44:58 > 0:45:02"I can't do it myself," he says, "but my sister can."
0:45:02 > 0:45:04She certainly can.
0:45:04 > 0:45:06She can do it as often as she needs to, for her own pleasure.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10Now if, in the 17th century, female sexuality was important,
0:45:10 > 0:45:12I'm having problems imagining the Puritans
0:45:12 > 0:45:14being terribly keen on this.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17Well, they weren't keen on having sexual pleasure
0:45:17 > 0:45:21outside of marriage, but within marriage it was hugely important.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23Stopped a man straying, stopped adultery,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26so it was key to a couple having a loving marriage.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28The Puritans are pretty unkeen,
0:45:28 > 0:45:31- aren't they, on extramarital relationships?- Absolutely.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34In 1650 they brought in the Adultery Act
0:45:34 > 0:45:38that made adultery and fornication capital crimes,
0:45:38 > 0:45:42so you could be executed for having sex outside marriage.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44So the Puritans are promoting married sex,
0:45:44 > 0:45:46but then we get the Restoration.
0:45:46 > 0:45:48It is a more permissive age, isn't it?
0:45:48 > 0:45:52Well, I don't think there's any major shift in knowledge particularly,
0:45:52 > 0:45:55but there's a burgeoning print culture.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59And you have books like Aristotle's Master Piece, for example,
0:45:59 > 0:46:01that women who were literate may well have had.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06'This Master Piece was the ultimate Restoration sex guide,
0:46:06 > 0:46:09'a 17th-century Joy Of Sex.
0:46:11 > 0:46:17'And no, it wasn't written by THE Aristotle, it's actually anonymous,
0:46:17 > 0:46:19'but some cunning publisher stole the Greek's name
0:46:19 > 0:46:22'to boost sales and give it an air of respectability.'
0:46:24 > 0:46:28It's very technical. We've got here a description of the clitoris,
0:46:28 > 0:46:32which, "Both in form and colour resembles the comb of a cock.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34"It looks fresh and red."
0:46:35 > 0:46:38SHE LAUGHS
0:46:39 > 0:46:41Sorry. Your face!
0:46:43 > 0:46:47- Well it's, it's, it's very, very... - It's explicit.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49THEY LAUGH
0:46:49 > 0:46:52It's full of good and very practical information.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54It says here that the clitoris
0:46:54 > 0:46:57is the female equivalent of the man's "yard".
0:46:57 > 0:47:00In the second half of the 17th century you get
0:47:00 > 0:47:04a focus on the clitoris and on women's pleasure.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07And also this is key, key, key thing, and to conceive.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11If you're not getting any pleasure, you're not going to conceive.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15'This obsession with female sexual pleasure sounds incredibly modern,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18'way ahead of its time, but in the 17th century
0:47:18 > 0:47:22'men actually cared about giving women satisfaction'
0:47:22 > 0:47:24'because of a medical misunderstanding.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29'They believed that their wives had to have an orgasm to get pregnant.'
0:47:29 > 0:47:31There was an idea that male and female bodies
0:47:31 > 0:47:33were essentially the same,
0:47:33 > 0:47:36so a women has to have sexual pleasure in order to orgasm
0:47:36 > 0:47:39and release a seed to produce a baby,
0:47:39 > 0:47:41so women's pleasure was hugely important.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46'During the Restoration, married women were presumably
0:47:46 > 0:47:47'enjoying a lot of good sex,
0:47:47 > 0:47:49'because getting them pregnant
0:47:49 > 0:47:53'and producing a child was their husband's ultimate goal.'
0:47:57 > 0:48:01John Evelyn makes it pretty clear that marriage is for procreation.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03He says that a wife is like an orchard,
0:48:03 > 0:48:06it's her job to produce fruit for her husband.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09His wife, Mary, was pregnant eight times,
0:48:09 > 0:48:13a good part of her life, and each time it must have been traumatic,
0:48:13 > 0:48:16given the odds of the mother dying or the baby dying.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20In fact, half of her children did not make it to adulthood.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25In the 17th century every family had to come to terms with
0:48:25 > 0:48:28the dangers and difficulties of childbirth.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33The birth of children was surrounded by fear and superstition.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38There were qualified midwives on hand to help,
0:48:38 > 0:48:41'but in an age still hovering between the medieval and the modern,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44'they were viewed with suspicion as well as respect.'
0:48:48 > 0:48:52You could spot a 17th-century midwife by her special red cloak,
0:48:52 > 0:48:54and these women had special freedoms.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57They could come and go, day and night,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59in and out of anybody's house.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02With this freedom though, came suspicion.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04They had to swear an oath to their local bishop
0:49:04 > 0:49:07saying that they would be diligent and faithful.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09They would help every woman.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13They had access to human body parts, like the foetus, the placenta,
0:49:13 > 0:49:16blood, and these could be used in spells,
0:49:16 > 0:49:20and this is why they also had to swear not to exercise,
0:49:20 > 0:49:23"Any manner of witchcraft, charme or sorcery."
0:49:27 > 0:49:31People were ambivalent about midwives because they had power
0:49:31 > 0:49:35over a process that was still feared and misunderstood.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38Women's experience of childbirth hadn't changed for centuries.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45Well, let's assemble our 17th-century birthing chair, then.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48- OK.- And I put my legs up like that.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50We'll tie you down cos we don't want you trying to get away,
0:49:50 > 0:49:54not after we've got you this far. Both legs up there, excellent.
0:49:54 > 0:49:55And it's simple, the midwife
0:49:55 > 0:49:57comes round to the front here,
0:49:57 > 0:49:59gets between your legs and receives the baby.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03There shouldn't be any problem.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06Were there any major improvements for women in childbirth
0:50:06 > 0:50:07throughout the 17th century?
0:50:07 > 0:50:10At the end of the 17th century we do start to see some shifts.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13One of them is we get a book written by a midwife for midwives.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16This is the work of Jane Sharp.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18This is great. Look, look, look!
0:50:18 > 0:50:19She says to them,
0:50:19 > 0:50:23"To the celebrated midwives of Great Britain and Ireland. Sisters."
0:50:23 > 0:50:24She's a midwife, they're midwives.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27And it's signed from "Your affectionate friend
0:50:27 > 0:50:30- "and well wisher, Jane Sharp." - It's wonderful.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33And she's got in it various pictures which are really interesting.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38So this edition has a frontispiece which shows the birthing chamber.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41And this lady is giving her alcoholic porridge to restore her.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44Yes, absolutely, you need that after that.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47- And what's going on down here? - Well, here's the whole family
0:50:47 > 0:50:50and they seem to be going off to church for the baptism.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52That's part of the midwife's role.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55- It's interesting, they're pillars of the community.- Absolutely.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59She's very much supporting organised religion and moral values.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01Let's look at this other picture here.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03Now is this pretty accurate,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06this information about the positions of the baby?
0:51:06 > 0:51:09Well, you can see for yourself that the babies are not
0:51:09 > 0:51:10exactly nine months old.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12He doesn't look like a baby really.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14He's a toddler really, a toddler in the womb.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16Look at his pectorals!
0:51:16 > 0:51:18But this is giving you the basics of what position
0:51:18 > 0:51:22could the child be in if it's not the normal head-first position.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25So you've got foot presentation, bottom presentation, hands,
0:51:25 > 0:51:27twins, all sorts of things.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29I guess that if you could tell that you had twins though,
0:51:29 > 0:51:32and one was upside down like that, this could really help you
0:51:32 > 0:51:34imagine what might be going on inside.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37Yes, and there is evidence that they were used like that.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39By setting out her stall in print,
0:51:39 > 0:51:43Jane Sharp introduced a scientific approach to midwifery,
0:51:43 > 0:51:45dispelling some of the myths and horrors
0:51:45 > 0:51:48that had previously surrounded childbirth.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53But her book wasn't the only 17th-century breakthrough.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57Midwives had always had some rather gruesome tools at their disposal.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02'These ones were used to extract dead babies from the mother.'
0:52:03 > 0:52:08But now came the arrival of a potentially lifesaving instrument.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11This is the forceps and you have two separate blades.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13And what you do is you put one on top of the other.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15- Is that how you get them in? - That's right.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18You go in like that and, once you're in the womb, you'll guide
0:52:18 > 0:52:22with your hand and then you open them up inside the womb and then...
0:52:22 > 0:52:26- Oh, then you can grab his head. - ..you can grab the head, exactly.
0:52:26 > 0:52:28Who invented these and when?
0:52:28 > 0:52:31These were invented by the Chamberlain family,
0:52:31 > 0:52:34a French Huguenot family, probably 1630s, maybe as early as that.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38These are men, what are they doing getting involved in childbirth?
0:52:38 > 0:52:40They've realised this is a really lucrative area.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43If you know that there is a chance if your baby's stuck
0:52:43 > 0:52:45that the Chamberlains can help, you'll employ them,
0:52:45 > 0:52:48- you won't employ anybody else. - Right.
0:52:48 > 0:52:53And they keep these a secret within their family for about 100 years,
0:52:53 > 0:52:57and when the secret comes out, when it's finally published
0:52:57 > 0:53:00after the death of one of the Chamberlains,
0:53:00 > 0:53:01immediately other people go into this.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04They can see this is a really important area.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07- So the forceps are invented by men and used by men.- That's right.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10They're used by men in difficult births
0:53:10 > 0:53:12that a midwife couldn't deal with.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14So that these ones are associated with the midwife
0:53:14 > 0:53:18and with the old ways, this is the new future of midwifery.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20Is it good or bad for women?
0:53:21 > 0:53:23I suppose it's good in the sense
0:53:23 > 0:53:26that they are going to save babies' lives.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29The trouble is that men are moving, in the Restoration period,
0:53:29 > 0:53:33from difficult births where nothing else will help,
0:53:33 > 0:53:38to any birth, so women are getting gradually squeezed out
0:53:38 > 0:53:40of the normal childbirth, which is their role.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43To have a man in at the start of the process implies that giving birth
0:53:43 > 0:53:46is somehow wrong, it's not a normal thing to do,
0:53:46 > 0:53:48it needs male medical intervention,
0:53:48 > 0:53:50even if it's going perfectly normally.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53- We lose the birthing chair as well, don't we?- We do.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55This is all to do with gravity.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58It helps the woman, but once the doctor comes along he doesn't want
0:53:58 > 0:53:59to be squatting down on the floor.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02No, you can't use forceps if someone's in that situation.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05So the women gets tilted backwards on her back
0:54:05 > 0:54:08and it's a less empowering position, isn't it?
0:54:08 > 0:54:10- Absolutely. - You're completely at his mercy.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13You are an object in a way that you weren't, there.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15- You were an active participant there.- Yeah.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21By the end of the 17th century, male doctors were pushing
0:54:21 > 0:54:24the midwife out of her traditional role,
0:54:24 > 0:54:30but women and their babies had a greater chance of surviving childbirth,
0:54:30 > 0:54:34'and that must have been one of the greatest breakthroughs of the age.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40'For any family, a healthy child was cause for celebration.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43'For the Royal Family, it was essential
0:54:43 > 0:54:46'for the stability of their reign.'
0:54:49 > 0:54:54Charles II had 11 children by his mistresses,
0:54:54 > 0:54:56but his wife Catherine was barren.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00Ironically, Charles never produced a legitimate heir
0:55:00 > 0:55:07'and so, at his death in 1685, the Crown passed to his brother James...
0:55:08 > 0:55:12'..and childbirth became a red-hot political topic.'
0:55:15 > 0:55:18The Queen's pregnancy became a real problem in the reign
0:55:18 > 0:55:22of the unpopular, autocratic James II.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25His big problem was that he converted to Catholicism,
0:55:25 > 0:55:30and the one thing people feared was a return to a Roman Catholic regime.
0:55:33 > 0:55:39In 1687 his young, Italian, Catholic wife, Mary of Modena,
0:55:39 > 0:55:43got pregnant, and this caused a huge panic.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45With the unpopular Catholic king
0:55:45 > 0:55:50about to get his own Catholic male heir, was Catholicism back for good?
0:55:52 > 0:55:56Nine months later the King's enemies' worst fears were realised
0:55:56 > 0:56:00when the palace announced that Mary had produced a legitimate male heir.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03But had she really?
0:56:03 > 0:56:07Not everyone believed that the child had survived,
0:56:07 > 0:56:10'and the contested birth set off a media feeding frenzy
0:56:10 > 0:56:13'that would make a modern journalist squirm with excitement.'
0:56:13 > 0:56:18James II's Protestant enemies put it about that the Queen's baby
0:56:18 > 0:56:20had died almost immediately,
0:56:20 > 0:56:23that the true heir to the throne was dead,
0:56:23 > 0:56:26and that it had been replaced by an impostor baby,
0:56:26 > 0:56:28somebody else's baby smuggled in.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32The rumours got quite elaborate.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34They said that the baby had travelled inside a warming pan
0:56:34 > 0:56:36to get into the palace.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39This is kind of like a big, metal hot water bottle.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43You put hot coals in there and it warms up the sheets of your bed.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47There were even maps printed to show the route along which
0:56:47 > 0:56:51the baby is supposed to have been smuggled in to St James's Palace.
0:56:51 > 0:56:53It came in through this little door here,
0:56:53 > 0:56:56along through these rooms, along through here,
0:56:56 > 0:56:58through these apartments,
0:56:58 > 0:57:02round here and into the Queen's bed chamber here.
0:57:02 > 0:57:07And these rumours did James II an awful lot of damage,
0:57:07 > 0:57:09even though it was a total load of old rubbish.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12When the Queen gave birth there were 40 people present in the room
0:57:12 > 0:57:15to act as witnesses specifically to stop
0:57:15 > 0:57:19this kind of scandal-mongering anyway.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23And secondly, how on earth do you fit a baby into a warming pan?
0:57:23 > 0:57:25There just isn't room.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35Nevertheless the incident had major consequences, contributing
0:57:35 > 0:57:38directly to James' downfall and what became known
0:57:38 > 0:57:41as the Glorious Revolution of 1688,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45when William of Orange and his wife Mary ousted James from the throne.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50By the end of the 17th century the country had now put aside
0:57:50 > 0:57:54the medieval and was heading for the modern age.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58Some things had indeed got better for ordinary women.
0:57:58 > 0:58:03'There was increased literacy and the ending of brutal punishments
0:58:03 > 0:58:07'for witchcraft, and there were new ideas about marriage
0:58:07 > 0:58:09'and health and childbirth.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15'In the next programme, I'm going to explore how the Restoration
0:58:15 > 0:58:18'allowed some of the most extraordinary women of
0:58:18 > 0:58:24'the 17th century to break the mould, as female pioneers in the theatre,
0:58:24 > 0:58:27'in science and even on the battlefield.'
0:58:40 > 0:58:42Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd