Introduction

Abstract When Lady Lettice Treesham wrote her will in June 1557, she could look back with satisfaction on a life during which she had married three times; borne eight children; launched her eldest son’s, Francis’s, political career; and triumphantly defended her property against her stepson. Her ambitions and the basic course of her life resembled those of hundreds of other aristocratic women who lived between 1450 and 1550. Like Lady Tresham, they married more than once, bore large numbers of children, became rich through consecutive marriages, arranged their children’s careers and marriages, litigated successfully against their stepsons or in-laws, exploited their connections at court, and carefully distributed their property when they died.