Having It All in Medieval England? The Careers of Ladies-in-Waiting

This paper reveals that medieval ladies-in-waiting often remained in service after marriage and, like modern women, women in service sought to negotiate the sometimes opposing demands and opportunities of family and career. Elite serving women enjoyed one of the few true career paths available for women in the Middle Ages. Female attendants earned compensation and many benefitted from retirement annuities. Ladies also exploited their connections to win patronage for their kin; they networked to achieve crucial introductions, financial rewards, and royal pardons. They had to balance these career opportunities with pressing family concerns. During childbearing years elite medieval women were expected to give birth with regularity but babies were given to wet-nurses while their mothers returned quickly to work. Family illnesses, deaths, and other crises also took women’s attention away from service at court.

Building upon archival research that yielded references to nearly 800 medieval English ladies-in-waiting, this paper delves into royal letters and records of payment and other rewards earned for loyal service to document the experiences of ladies-in-waiting as well as instances when they were granted leave from service to attend to personal or familial matters. This paper thus illuminates the historical challenges women faced when negotiating through the kinship networks of both natal and spousal lineages and juggling motherhood with career opportunities, all while seeking to advance personal interests. Viewing court culture through a gendered lens, this paper highlights how premodern servants operating in a proto-capitalist economy shared concerns of modern women functioning in today’s capitalist workforce.