Introduction: The Walls of Jericho

Abstract

Medieval and early modern England was a corporate world, a society in which men and women were defined according to their associations. While membership in towns, guilds and other associations was important, the basic social unit was the family.

‘And the Lord said… “See, I have given into thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof, even the mighty men of valour. And ye shall compass the city… and when ye hear the sound of the horn, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat”.’

Joshua 6:2–5

‘The walls of Jericho have fallen before the voices and the confidence in their cause of a handful of women in a manner that is remarkable as any miracle.’

Florence Fenwick Miller Woman’s Signal, 4 January 1894