Patriarchy In Early Modern Europe

This essay discusses the extent to which Europe was a patriarchal society during the early modern period. It will restrict its commentary to a definition of patriarchy and the impact this had on the social structure within a communities’ marital households. These households typically consisted of a husband, wife and servants largely living within rural and urban communities. The essay will take account of exceptions to the patriarchal model and will support its arguments with analysis of Primary source evidence taken from a contemporaneous “conduct book” and from published personal letters, both of which indicated patriarchal ideals, rules and desired behaviours.
Historian Gemma Allen (2016 p.236) describes patriarchy as “the social system whereby fathers (the patriarchs) ruled the household”. The typically patriarch was a married man, economically self-sufficient and perceived within his community as trustworthy and honourable. Contrastingly, Allen describes the female counterpart within this construct as one of subservience and deference to her husband, with delegated responsibility for running the household and with communal expectations of being demur and honorable. Allen (2016 p.238) further
However secondary source evidence suggests that although the extent of adherence to the patriarchal model may have been largely aspired to, the degree and extent of compliance showed variation across Europe. Historical evidence advocates that certain sectors of male society were denied the opportunity to partake in this social model and were excluded by way of gender, culture, and guild restrictions et al. The conclusion reached therefore is that although not all men followed the patriarchal model it dominated married life throughout Europe throughout the early modern