The results of a two year project will soon reveal new insights into the rise of lawyers in the medieval and Tudor periods. Professor Anthony Musson, a legal historian at the University of Exeter, is about to complete a new book entitled,
The results of a two year project will soon reveal new insights into the rise of lawyers in the medieval and Tudor periods. Professor Anthony Musson, a legal historian at the University of Exeter, is about to complete a new book entitled, Lawyers Laid Bare: The Private Lives of Medieval and Early Tudor Lawyers, which seeks to provide a broader picture outside of the familiar portrayal of lawyers as figures of fun or revulsion.
Professor Musson was supported by an £80,640 grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). His research examined lawyers in medieval and early modern society (years 1258-1558). This entailed identifying how they managed their estates, where they lived, what their families and households were like, how they conducted themselves, their religious beliefs, philanthropy, and the nature of their marriages and alliances.
Professor Musson said, ‘By scrutinizing generations of lawyers across three centuries the research shows how education and study of the law enabled class barriers to be transcended. Many lawyers came from humble backgrounds with little or no prospects, some were born illegitimate, but as a result of their legal know-how they were able to achieve high professional and social status.’
He added, ‘Securing advantageous marriages to young heiresses or influential rich widows was common place. This was beneficial to both parties with the family gaining valuable inside information about the legal process, potentially helping them with land disputes, wills or acquisition of land and for the lawyer to advance his soci