SEX scandals, she-devils, asylums and the Nestle factory in York are some of the topics explored in a series of open lectures at the University of York, focusing on women in the city from the Middle Ages to the present day.

The series began this week with a lecture by Dr Jeremy Goldberg about a church court case in 1366. It involved 11-year-old heiress Alice De Rouclif whose mother married her off to John Marrays.

She was abducted on the orders of her uncle, who in an attempt to take control of her marriage and her property, then claimed she was under-age and, therefore, unlawfully married.

Dr Goldberg said: "Our knowledge of women's lives then is so much coloured by the experience of queens and great ladies that we can all too easily lose sight of the less privileged and hence less well documented."

The subjects of future lectures include the role and status of 18th Century female Merchant Taylors and the public perception of female criminals in the 19th Century.

The lectures will feature case studies of female residents in York Retreat Asylum from 1870 to 1900, and reflections by women workers at the Rowntree factory in the 20th Century.

For more information visit the website www.york.ac.uk