Brian Gastle, “Breaking the Stained-Glass Ceiling: Mercantile Authority, Margaret Paston, and Margery Kempe.”

Gastle, Brian. “Breaking the Stained-Glass Ceiling: Mercantile Authority, Margaret Paston, and Margery Kempe.” Studies in the Literary Imagination 36.1 (2003): 123-147.

In his article, Gastle discusses the role of women in business in late medieval England, focusing on how certain texts demonstrate the differing roles of authority women in business employed. Gastle spends a large chunk of his article initially laying out the presence of women within guilds and how these guilds simultaneously offered opportunities to and control over women. Certain guild statutes, according to Gastle, worked to limit the role women could play in the day to day trade of guilds, yet even these limits could be advantageous as they at least set the conditions under which women could operate. Much of what Gastle outlines here runs in accord with the work I've read from Judith Bennett, but Gastle advances an interesting suggestion that, rather than solely relying on their limited membership in guilds, women formed their own sorority of tradeswomen, so to speak, often relying on other women rather than even their husbands for advice, assistance, and navigating tricky legal situations. I would be curious to see this concept fleshed out with more evidence, but the idea of a less formalized social network among medieval tradeswomen is an interesting one. 

The latter portion of Gastle's article is broken in two parts, first considering the textual authority in Margaret Paston and then in Margery Kempe. For the former, Gastle argues that Paston's letters begin with some trepidation over completely managing her family's estates in her husband's absence, but over time the letters show remarkable familiarity and aptitude in doing so. I wonder if Gastle overemphasizes the discomfort in the early letters, but Paston's aptitude in the latter letters is intriguing. 

I rather wish I'd read this article before giving a paper last year on Margery Kempe, as some of Gastle's arguments preclude my paper in a more succinct and efficient manner. Gastle argues that Kempe's business acumen carries over into her spiritual endeavors, as she works to negotiate and market herself and her spiritual practices in order to pursue her calling. Gastle ties some of Kempe's later negotiation with the Virgin Mary to late medieval English property rights, suggesting that Kempe uses her own legal status to attain the best spiritual benefit. In sum, Gastle's article raises some rather interesting points that I would be interested in hearing more fleshed out.