A Medieval Family: The Pastons of Fifteenth-Century England Book

The Pastons 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 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 treads 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 Pastons 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 middle-class people with problems, tragedies, and moments of happiness.

Praise for Frances and Joseph Gies

Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel

"The authors...demonstrate not only their remarkable well-informed and articulate mastery of technical detail but also their command of the historiographical issues that continue to enliven this field of study."
--Historical

"In their latest medieval study, the Gieses explore the myth that the Middle Ages were unconcerned with the empirical and demonstrate that the Renaissance itself was the outcome of gradual progress made over the previous thousand years...A mine of information."
--Kirkus Review

Life in a Medieval Village

What marks {Life in a Medieval Village} is its lucidity and the vividness of its imaginative reconstruction of the past--the detail of its pictures of peasant homes, peasant diet, parish politics, and peasant religion."
--New York Review of Books

"Extremely detailed research takes up in turn food, clothing, farm tools, marriage custom, prayer, games--in short, all conceivable threads in the fabric of village life...The simple and logical organization of the material--together with the lively illustrations taken from manuscript illumination, woodcuts, tapestry--makes Life in a Medieval Village a good introduction to the history of this period."
--Los Angeles Times

Women in the Middle Ages

"A reliable survey of the real and varied roles played by women in the medieval period...Highly recommended."
--Choice

Life in a Medieval Castle

"Joseph and Frances Gies offer a book that helps set the record straight--and keeps the romance too...The authors allow medieval man and women to speak for themselves through selections from past journals, songs, even account books."
--Time