本文旨在探討十三世紀英格蘭女繼承人如何在法庭上爭取自己的繼承分，及其所遭遇的挑戰與所做出的回應。和長子繼承制不同，女兒作為繼承人必須和姐妹們均分財產，而這項規定使得姐妹之間的遺產紛爭屢見不鮮。學界目前對於女繼承人的研究多著重貴族女性，因此本文利用皇家法庭之訴訟紀錄做案例分析，研究社會中間階層之女繼承人的遺產訴訟，並深入探討以下幾點：(一)女繼承人遺產訴訟的策略五花八門：她們如何透過互相合作或相互抗衡在法庭上進行攻防戰；(二)丈夫及家族利益對女性處分自身繼承分之影響 ；(三)在十三世紀這一百年間，女性繼承人對自身財產權控制的變化。藉由討論以上三點，本文試圖描繪平民階層之女繼承人在遺產訴訟裡的樣貌，以及法律如何以家族利益限縮女性處分自身繼承分的權利。

This article explores how heiresses strove to obtain their inheritances through courts in thirteenth-century England. Whilst most scholarship has concentrated on heiresses of the nobility and gentry, as they are well documented in primary sources, this study focuses more on heiresses from the middle and the lower social rungs by investigating different court records in order to discuss: first, the challenges ordinary heiresses faced in courts and their response to them; second, the dynamics between co-heiresses and their family members, and third, the development of women’s rights to inheritance in thirteenth-century England. As an important means of transmitting property, women, however, did not enjoy as much right to their property as men did, which was repeatedly confirmed in Glanvill and Bracton. Their right to dispose of their own inheritance and maritagium was further circumvented by the enactment of the Statute of Westminster II 1285, which prioritized the heir’s interests. Nevertheless, by using case studies, this article demonstrates how women fought for their inheritance shares with limited freedom and advances our knowledge of the dynamics between co-heiresses and reciprocal relations between women and law.

女繼承人;中世紀婦女;女兒均分財產;《格拉斯特法令》;《第二西敏寺法令》

heiress;medieval women; partible inheritance; the Statute of Gloucester; the Statute of Westminster II