Post by Steven GibbsI occasionally find "spinster" and "singlewoman" both used in the
same set of parish records, particularly marriages. I've worked
out that "singlewoman" applied to a woman who had already had an
illegitimate child. (Mainly 18th century, my data is all
Bedfordshire.)
Example: "Informatur per famam that John Keye of Okenshay, esquier,
maried, is reported to have had divers children by Dorothie Savell,
singlewoman, of Sutall Hall, and is now supposed to be with child by
him again."
Archbishop Gindall's visitation, 1575.
The final score was 7, more than his legitimate children. John Kaye
of Oakenshaw was deputy to Sir Henry Saville as Stweard of the Honor
of Pontefract and Dorothy was his daughter. Saville seems not to
have minded as he was not only divorced and remarried, Elizabeth
Soothill, Dorothy's mother being his 2nd wife, but he also had two
illegitimate sons by his wife's maid, the surviving one of whom
became his eventual heir. Nevertheless it was Dorothy who seems to
have received condemnation.
I think you will find at that time singlewoman just meant an unmarried
woman who may or may not have had a child. At that time spinster had not
yet become common usage for an unmarried woman. What other word(s) could
have be used?
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_women_in_the_Middle_Ages
Before 1800, the term "single women" (or "singlewomen", a 14th-century
compound) is defined as women who lived without having married, which
includes women who would eventually marry in their lifetime and women
who never would. The term "life-cycle single women" describes women who
were single for the years between childhood and marriage. Women who were
single for life fell under the category of lifelong single women.
It is important to distinguish single women from virginal nuns, another
group of husbandless women. Although unmarried, not all single women
were celibate virgins and virginal nuns practiced very different lives
than everyday single women. Widows also differed from single women, as
they often had greater economic security and occupational opportunity.
While widows and single women both lived without a spouse at some point
in their lives, their lifestyles were very different and widows were
often awarded more freedoms and opportunities.