The Good Wife's Guide (Le Ménagier de Paris): A Medieval Household Book

by Unknown and Jérôme Pichon

Book Overview

In the closing years of the fourteenth century, an anonymous French writer compiled a book addressed to a fifteen-year-old bride, narrated in the voice of her husband, a wealthy, aging Parisian. The book was designed to teach this young wife the moral attributes, duties, and conduct befitting a woman of her station in society, in the almost certain event of her widowhood and subsequent remarriage. The work also provides a rich assembly of practical...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801474744
• ISBN13: 9780801474743
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Le Menagier de Paris

"The Goodman of Paris" is a good representation of LATE fourteenth century life in Paris. The work is written by a gentleman (not a noble) of Paris as a guide for his fifteen year old wife; morality, cooking, etc... This work does not represent the great noble houses of the same time period and is not indicative of the Middle Ages as a whole, it is a snap shot into the life of a 14th century household in Paris. The caveat of this work is that it is incomplete. The section of selection of servants and horses is not included (the author notes this in the end notes of the book). For a complete work, I highly recommend "The Good Wife's Guide (Le Menagier de Paris): A Medieval Household Book" that was published this year (2009). It is the most complete version in English.

Medieval Life

Absolutely Awesome Source on how people lived in Medieval Paris a jewel of a book.

Classic book on running a medieval household

This is a must-read for anyone interested in daily life in the medieval era. Written by a gentleman as an instruction book for his much younger wife, it is a guide to moral conduct and contains instructions on how to run and maintain a medieval household. Provides insight into the medieval mind and helps to cast aside the modern belief that the medieval woman had no significant role in society aside from making babies.