Taking It to the Streets: Hucksters and Huckstering in Early Modern Southampton, circa 1550-1652

Historians have long recognized the prominent role women played in vending food and fuel on the streets of early modern towns, but huckstering was a profitable part-time trade that attracted men as well as women. Indeed, there were probably more male than female hucksters operating in Southampton an...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pennington, David (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc. 2008
In: The sixteenth century journal
Year: 2008, Volume: 39, Issue: 3, Pages: 657-679
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
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Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:Historians have long recognized the prominent role women played in vending food and fuel on the streets of early modern towns, but huckstering was a profitable part-time trade that attracted men as well as women. Indeed, there were probably more male than female hucksters operating in Southampton and other towns. While many scholars have been skeptical of the commercial opportunities open to street traders, hucksters, far from being under the thumb of exploitive suppliers, were sharp and independent, and adept at using their status as wholesale buyers to obtain goods at discount and sell them for profit. As an analysis of the presentments of Southampton's court leet shows, not only was huckstering a difficult commerce to constrain, but town authorities were loath to deny wives and widows one of the few trades they could practice in order to support themselves and their families.
ISSN:2326-0726
Contains:Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.2307/20478999