The political and military history of the sixteenth cnetury is well known, and much written about, but what of the thousands of women who have, for the most part, eluded the historian's pen? The Tudor Housewife aims to answer this question providing a unique and accessible introduction to the everyday life and responsibilities of women from all levels of society in the age of Henry Viii and Elizabeth I. With chapters on marriage, childbirth and the upbringing of children, washing and cleaning, food and drink , the housewife as a doctor, women and business, and women and religion, Alison Sim reveals how women were expected to manage businesses as well as the household accounts, taken extensive personal interest in the moral welfare of their children, adminster medicine to their households and act as helpmeet to their husbands in every aspect of life.