Private Life in the Fifteenth Century: Illustrated Letters of the Paston Family

by Roger Virgoe

1989 Weidenfeld & Nicholson BOMC 1st American ed., oversized trade PB. A 15th century family on the make, the Paston's letters and documents span three generations ..."during one of the most turbulent... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1555842704
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicholson
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An Intimate Glimpse Into 15th Century England Society

This book is a real treat for readers who wish to obtain an intimate glimpse into the customs, society, manners, and life of an upper middle class English family of the 15th Century.The book presents a series of letters between various members of three generations of the Paston family, residents of the East Anglica area of England, principally Norfolk. The editor (Roger Virgoe) does a masterful job of weaving explanatory material, diagrams, and art work among the letters to make their contentsmore meaningful to the modern reader.The letters are presented in more or less chronological order and their contents reveal clearly the joys and trials of this family as they dealt with marriages, lawsuits, disease, and other relationships and concerns in many cases not unlike those we encounter in our own lives today.The letters vividly convey an impression of the diversity of peoples and customs of Eastern England in Late Medieval times. The book is eminently readable and can be thoroughly enjoyed by either the casual layman reader or medieval historian.