English Marital Violence in Litigation, Literature, and the Press

Scholars use marital violence as a tool to understand patriarchy, women's position within the institution of marriage and society, the nature of gendered relationships, and, increasingly, notions of femininity and masculinity. Elizabeth Foyster and Lisa Surridge have contributed further insights into these issues with two fine studies of marital violence in England, together covering the period 1660 to 1900. Both books also push forward our understandings in several key areas. These include the role that class played in marital violence, the permeability of the marital home to outside view, and the relationship between masculinity and wife beating. The similarities of their focus are yet more striking when we realize that Foyster and Surridge have a different chronological focus and work in different disciplines and therefore utilize different methodologies and sources.