Judith Mary Spicksley

Judith Mary Spicksley

Dr

Former affiliation

Personal profile

Research interests

My research is primarily concerned with the economic, social and cultural history of debt and credit relations in the early modern period. I have published articles on the role of spinsters in the provision of credit in England in the seventeenth century, and edited the business and household accounts of Joyce Jeffreys, a spinster who was extensively involved in moneylending in the West Midlands in the mid-seventeenth century. In addition I have interests in women's work and medicine in early modern England.

I am also researching the historical relationship between debt and enslavement, having taken as my starting point two case studies, one in West Central Africa and the other in West Africa between c.1600 and 1800. I have a growing number of publications on this topic, and am working towards the publication of a book that examines the relationship between debt and slavery in historical perspective.

My final area of interest sees me working with Dr Amanda Capern at the University of Hull on a project investigating the changes in advice and treatment for infertility in early modern England. This too will result in a book that examines the link between understandings of fertility, practical advice on conception the political economy of population, and concepts of femininity.