ABSTRACT
Somerset in the early seventeenth century was a large, wealthy county renowned for its meat and textiles, with a population of 200,000. Until the seventeenth century coal-mining had been limited to commons and wastes, but increasingly miners received grants and licences from the lords of the manor to enter copyhold and leasehold land – often against the will of the tenants. Women were denounced by Church and state alike as inferior things, barely rational, which were governed by a voracious sexual appetite. Servants were usually forbidden to marry and as society prescribed a sexual moratorium during this long period of social dependency, the occurrence of pre-marital illicit sex was primarily a breach of and failure in household discipline. Women were also assaulted by those of their own sex. All Englishmen legally belonged to the Church of England and were compelled to attend its service in the parish church every week.
