Tag Archives: Abduction

This one is a doozy. In 1461, Elizabeth Venour’s husband William died. William had held, through Elizabeth’s inheritance, a lucrative gig as warden of the Fleet Prison for debtors, just west of London. On her husband’s death, Elizabeth retained the wardenship (and acted in that capacity – an unusually public role for a woman) andContinue reading “Abduction and women’s agency: Elizabeth Venour, warden of the Fleet Prison”