By Frances Gies, Joseph Gies
The Pastons relations of Norfolk, England, has lengthy been recognized to medieval students for its huge number of own correspondence, which has survived 5 centuries. Revealing a wealth of knowledge approximately manners, morals, way of life, and attitudes of the past due center a long time, the letters additionally inform the tale of 3 generations of the fifteenth-century Paston kinfolk that treads like a old novel packed with memorable characters: Margaret Paston, the indomitable spouse and mom who fought the family's battles; her husband, John Paston I, difficult, hardheaded, and 3 times restricted to Fleet felony yet by no means yielding to his enemies; daughter Margery, who scandalized friends and family by way of falling in love with the Paston bailiff, Richard Calle; lighthearted, chivalric Sir John; and pleased, good John III, who opposed to all odds succeeded in marrying for love.
A Medieval Family lines the Pastons heritage from 1420, during the stormy Wars of the Roses, to the early 1500s. The family's tale, extracted from their letters and papers and instructed mostly of their personal phrases, indicates an aspect of heritage not often published: the lives and fortunes now not of kings and queens yet of standard middle-class individuals with difficulties, tragedies, and moments of happiness.