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SHORT SUMMARY

Anu Lahtinen
Sopeutuvat, neuvottelevat, kapinalliset. Naiset toimijoina Flemingin sukupiirissä 1470-1620. (Conciliatory, negotiating, insubordinate women. Female agency in the Fleming family, 1470-1620). Doctoral Dissertation, Department of History, University of Turku (Turun yliopisto), Finland

My doctoral dissertation deals with female agency in noble families, especially in the Fleming family, in the Kingdom of Sweden (including the area of present-day Finland) during the period 1470-1620. The study points out that while women were, in normative terms, judicially and socially subordinated to men, it is important not to ignore their agency and means of exerting influence. The study focuses on female agency in family, the most important sphere of activity for women. In the nucleus of the family and the household there was a married couple and their offspring. Around this unit there was a larger family network of relatives and in-laws.

To emphasise the variety of women's roles in their family, female agency is studied in four different reciprocalities. First, relations between wife and husband are studied. Secondly, focus is shifted to interaction between mother and children, with a comparison to the position of daughters and sons. In this context, even in-law relations are analyzed. Thirdly, sisterly relations are studied, both when it comes to relations between sisters and brothers or same-sex siblings. Finally, attention is turned to relations between the powerful leaders of the family and their more distant female relatives and protegées.

Hierarchical relations inside the family would sometimes mask women's involvement and influence in decision-making. As wives and mothers, however, women could claim respect and certain authority inside the household. As widows, they were even legally acknowledged as leaders of their family. Unmarried women or other women with little legal authority could gain some influence, even socially legitimate authority through nursing, tending and serving their relatives. To conclude, the Swedish noblewomen of the past actively strove to shape their own lives, using whatever means were available to them.