A Medieval Family: The Pastons of Fifteenth-Century England [Paperback]

Frances Gies (Author), Joseph Gies (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 1999

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. Until now, however, they have remained virtually unknown to the general reading public. Revealing a wealth of information about the manners, morals, lifestyles, and attitudes of the late Middle Ages, the letters also tell a 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 Ill, who against all odds succeeded in marrying for love.

"A Medieval Family" traces the family history from 1420, through the stormy Wars of the Roses, to the early 1500s. The family's story, extracted from their letters and papers and told largely in their own words, shows a side of history rarely revealed: the lives and fortunes not of kings and queens but of ordinary people with problems, tragedies, and moments of happiness.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the early 1400s, a lawyer and judge named William Paston expanded his family's holdings by imprisoning a neighbor and seizing her property. This afforded his children a handsome inheritance, which they used to advantage, some becoming courtiers in the service of the king. During the bloody Wars of the Roses, the Pastons were fortunate to pick the winning side--not an easy task, given the constantly changing fortunes of the Lancastrians and Yorkists--and their power and influence grew. Had they sided with their long-time ally, the Earl of Oxford, at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, the Pastons would have been ruined.

But glory is transitory, and ruin eventually did come. Succeeding generations of Pastons spent their fortune more quickly than they could replenish it. In 1736, facing bankruptcy, middle-aged merchant Edward Paston sold off the family home outside London, including furniture, works of art, and a trove of documents that chronicled his family's rise to influence hundreds of years earlier. Those documents--letters, wills, and household inventories among them--inform this imaginative and well-written reconstruction by the popular medieval historians Frances and Joseph Gies, whose biography of the Paston family is also an absorbing history of English society as it emerged from the Middle Ages into the early-modern period. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The Gieses, who specialize in making the Middle Ages accessible to nonspecialists, have done a wonderful job of linking and amplifying the Pastons' words, creating a true historical novel."-- "New Yorker""[A]n improvement on previous editions. . . . the Gies deserve much credit for their work in making the Pastons' letters and family story available to a wide audience."-- "The Washington Times"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (August 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060930551
• ISBN-13: 978-0060930554
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,432,820 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Insight into Family in Medieval England, February 6, 2002

By 

D. Diaz "Dory D" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Medieval Family: The Pastons of Fifteenth-Century England (Paperback)

While the book boasts a large cast of interesting characters, the Paston family really comes alive through the Gies' judicious use of the family's own words...three generations of Paston and Paston associates' letters.

It is non-fiction, but through the letters and the context provided by the Gies' extensive research, the book reads like a non-fiction novel. I especially enjoyed Margaret Paston and the wry humor she managed to express in her letters as she played an important part in both family battles and the land battles that were common in her time.

I was also impressed with the small world that medieval England must have been. Chaucer's relatives, a few English kings, Queen Margaret, and Sir John Fastolf (the basis for Shakespeare's Falstaf) all came and went in various roles of importance in the lives of an otherwise everyday middle class family.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing history, June 17, 2008

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Reader - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Medieval Family: The Pastons of Fifteenth-Century England (Paperback)

The Pastons were not a likeable bunch. They were ambitious, litigious and acquisitive, embroiled in endless fights (both in and out of court) for diverse manors and lands - and making innocent parties, such as their servants and tenants, suffer as a consequence of these fights. They probably did not think twice about perjuring themselves in issues as sensitive as a man's last will, if it was in their interests to do so. They did not hesitate to change allegiances if the lord they served suddenly fell from favour, as often happened in those politically fraught times. They were snobbish social climbers, not above considering a mercer's daughter as a prospective bride if she happened to have a good dowry, but turning their back on their own daughter and sister when she had the audacity of marrying for love. They are not pleasant people, at least by modern-day standards. And yet (or maybe because of it) their lives are fascinating.

We are lucky that this medieval family's letters have been preserved, thus providing us with a priceless window into the late Middle Ages and what England was like at that time. And we are also lucky that there are scholars such as Frances and Joseph Gies, capable of weaving the letters into a gripping narrative that takes us through three generations of a family's life. This book is a real page-turner.

There are very few things missing. One oddity, in my opinion, is that the excommunication of one of the Paston patriarchs was passed over in one or two lines. Religion was all-important in the Middle Ages, so I suppose being excommunicated must have had a great impact (both practical and psychological) on this individual and his relatives. However, the issue was not analyzed. Also, I would have enjoyed more info on young Margery Paston's clandestine marriage to Richard Calle, the Paston bailiff. Margery defied her family in marrying a man they considered their social inferior, and was shunned by them for it. No information is given on her or her husband's later lives, except for the fact that apparently they had three surviving children. Margery and Richard are the two most endearing people in this chronicle, and I would have liked to know more about what happened to them (indeed, one hopes that they were happy!).

But, all in all, this book was a great read, and a source of important knowledge about the Wars of the Roses, as well as about the lives of a social class whose fortunes were on the rise towards the end of the fifteenth century.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for scholars of the time, August 22, 2009

By 

J. Grambo "Teacher" (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Medieval Family: The Pastons of Fifteenth-Century England (Paperback)

The Paston family, whose large collection of personal correspondence is the basis for this book, helps us see firsthand the lifestyle and attitudes of the Middle Ages. Although intriguing, I wasn't ready to limit my medieval reading to one family. The sheer volume of information obtained from personal correspondence and legal records makes this a heavy read if you are not a scholar. I read all the other Gies books with great enjoyment.