Title: A medieval family
First published: 1998
Description: The Paston family of Norfolk, England, has long been known to medieval scholars for its large collection of personal correspondence, which has survived five centuries.

Revealing a wealth of information about the manners, morals, lifestyle, and attitudes of the late Middle Ages, the letters also tell the story of three generations of the fifteenth-century Paston family that reads like a historical novel full of memorable characters: Margaret Paston, the indomitable wife and mother who fought the family's battles; her husband, John Paston I, tough, hardheaded, and thrice confined to Fleet Prison but never yielding to his enemies; daughter Margery, who scandalized family and friends by falling in love with the Paston bailiff, Richard Calle; lighthearted, chivalric Sir John; and cheerful, sensible John III, who against all odds succeeded in marrying for love.

A Medieval Family traces the Paston history from 1420, through the stormy Wars of the Roses, to the early 1500s.
Subjects: Correspondence, English letters, Family, History, History and criticism, Letter writing, Manuscripts, Medieval, Medieval Manuscripts, Middle class, Paston letters, Social life and customs, Sources, Families, Paston family, Great britain, history, tudors, 1485-1603, Great britain, social conditions
Places: England, Great Britain, Norfolk
People: John Fastolf Sir (1378-1459), Paston family
Time periods: 1066-1485, To 1500, Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485
LC classification: DA240 .G54 1998