The Pastons: A Family in the Wars of the Roses - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0851153380 ISBN 13: 9780851153384

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc, 1986

Synopsis

Within three generations (1426 to 1485), and through the dark and dangerous years of the Wars of the Roses, the Pastons established themselves as a family of consequence, both in their native Norfolk and within court circles. Ambitious and highly mobile - womenfolk as well as men -they kept in touch by correspondence, usually but not invariably through the medium of a clerk. These letters, a rare survival, break upon us across the centuries with the urgency, and sometimes the violence,of their preoccupations: defending property, fighting court cases, making the right alliances, and, on the domestic side, managing their estates, conducting their courtships, stocking their cupboards. Selected and presented here with Richard Barber's invaluable linking narrative, they bring the middle ages triumphantly to life.

About this title

About the Author

Richard Barber is one of Britain's leading authorities on medieval history and the author of The Penguin Guide to Medieval Europe and The Knight and Chivalry.

Review

Richard Barber's attractive selection, originally published by the Folio Society, well deserves this more accessible reissue. The letters are presented in modernised form with spare but informative linking commentary, and the volume is ideal both for the `ordinary reader' and for medievalists for whom a friendly acquaintance with the Pastons is a sufficient substitute for linguistic or historical scholarship. The selection conveys well their recurrent concerns with land, money, civil violence, flirtation, marriage and the purchase of ginger and lace. MEDIUM AEVUM

Edition details

• Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc
• Publication date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0851153380
• ISBN 13: 9780851153384
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208
• Editor: Barber Richard