LSAT 23, Section 4, RC Passage 2, Medieval Widows

RC Passage 2 Explanation

Paragraph Summaries

1. Widowed women had power in medieval England. This power blurred the line between private law and public law.
2. This paragraph describes a few ways that women could own property.
3. Some medieval women were wealthy through inheritances. They wielded feudal power and their names often appear in legal records.

Analysis

The main point of the passage is that some medieval women had power. Not the power of official office, of course. They were legally barred from office.

These women instead had the power that comes from owning land. In feudal England, this meant they made decisions that affected thousands of tenants, and could represent themselves in court.

This fact is often ignored, which is why the passage bothers to tell us about it.