Definition
An Old French legal term meaning widow. Used in early English legal texts to denote a woman whose husband had died and who thereby acquired specific legal status under medieval English law. The term appears in its plural form as *wedues femmes* (widows, or widow-women). Derived from the Latin *vidua*.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in early English legal sources — particularly Anglo-Norman and Law French materials predating the gradual displacement of French by English in legal proceedings — will encounter *wedue* and *wedues femmes* in texts concerning dower rights, wardship, remarriage restrictions, and the legal capacity of widows. The term surfaces in Britton and similar thirteenth- and fourteenth-century compilations. Because Law French vocabulary was not standardized in spelling, researchers should expect variant forms. A widow's legal status in medieval English law was substantively distinct from that of a feme sole or feme covert, and recognizing *wedue* as a status term — not merely a descriptive one — is important for correctly interpreting the legal consequences attached to a woman in the records. Failure to identify the term can cause researchers to misread provisions about property rights, remarriage, and royal wardship that turned entirely on whether a woman fell within this category.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the core identification: *wedue* is Law French, derived from Latin *vidua*, meaning widow. Burrill cites Britton, chapter 21, as authority. The entry is brief but reliable for its narrow purpose. Historical dictionaries of Law French and Anglo-Norman legal vocabulary confirm the derivation and usage. Burrill does not elaborate on the legal incidents attaching to *wedue* status, which must be reconstructed from the primary sources themselves — particularly Britton, Bracton, and the early Year Books — rather than from dictionary treatment alone.
Jurisdictional Note
This term is specific to the historical English legal tradition and has no operative use in modern law. It is relevant only in the context of medieval and early modern English legal sources.