Hedgerows and Petticoats: Sartorial Subversion and Anti-enclosure Protest in Seventeenth-century England

Abstract

In seventeenth-century England, farmers and rural labourers contested authority through rituals of protest drawn from traditional communal practices. The ritual shaming of authorities or neighbours through skimmingtons involved cross-dressing and allowed for expressions of frustration and repression to manifest themselves in this festive practice. When protesting against the enclosure of common lands in southwest England, a man taking on the role of Lady Skimmington put 'ritual and festive inversion to new uses'. 1 Although a typical skimmington was directed against a fellow member of the community, during the Western Rising of 1626-32 Lady Skimmington and her followers directed their discontent against outsiders and social superiors, specifically King Charles I for enclosing their forests and the wealthy urbanites who were granted that land. Dressed in women's clothing, John Williams alias Lady Skimmington became a symbol of disorder to the state and a symbol of justice to members of the rural communities affected by enclosure. Women occasionally dressed in men's clothing and adopted male titles, such as captain, to protest enclosure and their own perceived injustices. Since women did not have an acceptable sphere for cross-dressing, such as in a skimmington or on stage, cross-dressing women were more threatening to the state. Cross-dressing provided a battleground for the contestation between individuals, communities, and the state over the ownership of land, one's social and gendered identity, and even ownership of the title Lady Skimmington. The conflict over ownership in its many forms, played out in the large scale protests against enclosure, was also reflected in the theatre, including The Late Lancashire Witches, The Tamer Tamed, and The Roaring Girl. Cross-dressing engaged the struggle to determine ownership of property, gender identity, and social status in ways that challenged and upheld traditional hierarchical society.