[Diane Watt has translated most of 92 documents written
by the Paston women and other women connected to them. The letters
include 54 by Margaret (of a total of 104), and all those by
Agnes (16), by Elizabeth (2), and by Margery Brews Paston (6).
Watt's preface and introduction describe the decisions to be
made in translating writing of the 1400s and the social world
in which women like the Pastons found themselves. Her interpretive
essay analyzes the letters and in the process summarizes much
earlier research on the Pastons. In addition to the notes, the
book provides a glossary, an annotated bibliography and a detailed
index. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
The Paston women: selected letters / translated from the Middle
English with introduction, notes and interpretive essay [by]
Diane Watt (Library of medieval women, 1369-9652). Woodbridge,
UK; Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer, 2004. (x, 178 p.)
LC#: DA240 .P37 2004; ISBN:1843840243
Includes bibliographical references (p. [159]-164) and index
Agnes Berry Paston
Agnes Berry was about 15 when she was married to the 42-year-old
William Paston in 1420. She brought to the marriage valuable
properties, which she held in her own name until her death, 35
years after that of her husband. She and William had six children,
five of whom --- four sons and one daughter --- lived to adulthood.
Most of her letters are to her eldest son John, and they reveal
a strong-minded woman who wanted her sons to be successful and
who was not very fond of her daughter. Like her daughter-in-law,
Margaret, when she died Agnes was buried with her own (higher-
ranking) family, not with her husband.
--------------------------------------------------------
"She welcomed him kindly and courteously."
--------------------------------------------------------
[From Agnes to her husband William in 1440, telling him
of Margaret's first meeting with their 19-year-old son, John.
See the whole letter in the original spelling online, #13:]
Blessed be God, I send you good news of the coming and bringing
home of the gentlewoman [Margaret] whom you know of, from Reedham,
this very night, according to the agreement that you yourself
made about it.
And as for the first acquaintance between John Paston and
the said gentlewoman, she welcomed him kindly and courteously,
and said he was truly your son. And so I hope that no great negotiation
shall be needed between them.
The parson of Stockton told me that if you would buy her a
gown, her mother would add to it a fine fur. The gown is a necessity,
and the colour should be a fine blue or else a bright sanguine.
[p.23]
=========================================================================
Margaret Mauteby Paston
Margaret Mauteby, from an old and well-connected family, was
married to Agnes' and William's eldest son, John, probably in
1440. An only child, she brought even more valuable land to her
marriage than had her mother-in-law, Agnes. Margaret and John
had seven children: five sons and two daughters.
Margaret's letters --- to her husband and to her two eldest
sons (both also named John!) --- are fascinating: Gies and Gies
call her "the central figure of the Paston story."
She helped her husband, financially as well as morally; she defended
--- literally --- the family properties against sometimes violent
attacks; she tried through advice and scolding to guide her children.
She disowned the one daughter who married without her approval,
but in her will remembered that daughter's children.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I do not have enough time to have written half a quarter
as much...."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ From Margaret to John in 1443; he was sick in London,
and his young wife was concerned that is he not getting the care
she and Agnes could give him at home. Their son, referred to
in the last line, was about one year old (online,
#126):]
Most honourable husband, I commend me to you, wishing with all
my heart to hear of your welfare, thanking God for your improvement
from the serious illness that you have had. And I thank you for
the letter that you sent me, because on my word of honour, my
mother [Agnes] and I have not been easy in our hearts from the
time that we knew of your illness until we knew for certain of
your improvement....
I entreat you with all my heart to undertake to send me a
letter as quickly as possible, if writing is no trouble to you,
and that you undertake to send me word how your illness is. If
I might have had my way I would have seen you before now. I would
rather you were at home, if your comfort and illness could be
as well looked after here as it is where you are now, than have
a new gown, even if it were of scarlet....
I do not have enough time to have written half a quarter as
much as I would say to you if I could speak to you. I shall send
you another letter as quickly as I can....
Your son is doing well, blessed be God. [pp.46-47]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Wymondham called my mother and me flagrant whores."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[In 1448 Margaret described to her husband an attack on
her chaplain, James Gloys, by John Wymondham, a follower of a
nobleman who was claiming one of the Paston properties. After
telling of an insult to Gloys made on the street, she continues
(online, #129):]
And Wymondham and his man Hawes threw stones and drove Gloys
into my mother's [Agnes'] house. And Hawes followed him into
my mother's house, and threw a stone as big as a farthing loaf
into the hall after Gloys, and then ran out again. And Gloys
followed him out and stood outside the gate, and then Wymondham
called Gloys "thief" and said he would die. And Gloys
said he lied and called him "churl," and told him to
come himself or else the best man he had, and Gloys would answer
him one on one. And then Hawes ran into Wymondham's house and
fetched a spear and a sword, and gave his master his sword.
[During all this, Margaret and Agnes were attending Mass
(the above account is apparently based on Gloys' report):]
And with the noise of this assault and attack my mother and
I came out of the church from the consecration of the Host, and
I told Gloys to go back to my mother's house, and he did so.
And then Wymondham called my mother and me flagrant whores, and
said the Pastons and all their family were... [words deleted
from manuscript]. We said he lied, knave and churl that he was.
And he had plenty of offensive language, which you will know
of later, by mouth.
[And, after describing another assault later in the day
against Gloys and a Paston servant:]
And many other things were done, as Gloys can tell you, by
mouth. And because of the danger..., on the advice of my mother
and others, I am sending Gloys to serve you for a while to make
my own heart easier. Because in good faith I would not for 40
[pounds] have another disturbance like that. [pp.50-51]
--------------------------------------------------
"...until you hear that the world is safer."
--------------------------------------------------
[In the turmoil of the War of the Roses, John Paston made
enemies of some powerful men. Margaret wrote to him in London
in early 1461 (online, #158):]
May it please you to know that it has been made known to me
by someone who is well disposed toward you that, if you come
here freely, an ambush has been set in this district. They plan
to conduct you into the presence of such a lord in the North
who will not help you, but will be a danger to your life or great
and insupportable loss of your property....
Therefore please be more careful in managing the safety of
your person, and also do not be too hasty to come into this district
until you hear that the world is safer....
May God protect you. Written in haste on the second Sunday
in Lent by candlelight in the evening. [pp.64-65]
-------------------------------------------------------
"...so that they can bear witness to the truth."
-------------------------------------------------------
[Even after the War of the Roses, with Edward IV securely
on the throne, the lords continued to increase their properties,
legally or otherwise. In October 1465, two Paston houses, and
the villages that surrounded them, were destroyed by the retainers
of the Duke of Suffolk. Margaret described to her husband her
visit to one of the ruined areas and her concern for her own
home (online, #196):]
I was at Hellesdon last Thursday, and saw the place, and in
good faith no one could imagine what a bad and horrible state
it is in unless they saw it....
And they made your tenants from Hellesdon and Drayton, with
others, help to break down the walls of both the house and the
lodge, entirely against their wills, God knows, but through fear
they dared not do otherwise. I have spoken with your tenants
both at Hellesdon and Drayton, and reassured them as well as
I can.
The duke's men ransacked the church, and bare away all the
goods that were left there, both of ours and of the tenants,
and did not leave much. But they stood on the high altar and
ransacked the images, and took away whatever they could find,
and forced the parson out of the church until they had finished,
and ransacked the houses of everyone in the town five or six
times....
If it could be arranged, I would like some honourable men
to be sent from the King, to see what it is like, both there
and at the lodge, before any snows come, so that they can bear
witness to the truth. Otherwise it will not be seen as clearly
as it can be now.
And out of respect for God, advance your business now, because
the cost and trouble we have daily now, and shall have until
things are different, are too horrible. And your men dare not
go about gathering rent, and we keep more than three hundred
people here every day to protect us and the house, because, in
all faith, if the place had not been strongly protected the Duke
would have come here. [p.89]
=========================================================================
Elizabeth Paston Poynings
John's only sister, Elizabeth, was 11 years old when he married
Margaret; when she was 15, her father died. The family letters
don't speak of her until she is almost 20; then for the next
seven years, there was much talk of arranging a marriage for
her, but nothing worked out. Both Elizabeth and her mother, Agnes,
wanted a marriage; they seem not to have enjoyed each other's
company. Finally, when she was 28, Elizabeth was sent to London
into the service of Lady Pole, and there a marriage was arranged
(her husband was killed in battle two years later).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"And if it pleased your good motherhood to hear of me, and
how I do...."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[From recently married Elizabeth to her widowed mother
Agnes in 1459. The mother and daughter had never gotten along
well; here Elizabeth (with perhaps ironic politeness) reminded
her mother to pay her husband the settlement due to Elizabeth
from her dead father's estate (online, #121):]
Very honourable and my most dearly beloved mother, in the
most humble fashion I commend my self to your good motherhood,
beseeching you daily for your motherly blessing, wishing evermore
to hear of your good health and prosperity, which I pray God
to continue and increase according to your heart's desire.
And if it pleased your good motherhood to hear of me, and
how I do, at the time that this letter was composed I was in
good bodily health, thanks be to Jesus.
And as for my master, my most loved one as you call him, and
I should call him now, because I know of no reason to the contrary,
and as I trust to Jesus never shall. Because he is very kind
to me and is as solicitous as possible to make me certain of
my jointure....
Therefore I beseech you, good mother, as our most singular
trust is in your good motherhood, that my master, my most loved
one, should not be without the 100 marks at the beginning of
this term, which was promised him on his marriage, with the remainder
of the money left in my father's will....
...[A]s for my lady Pole, with whom I stayed, I hope that
you will be my esteemed and good mother, so that she can be paid
for the expenses incurred for me before my marriage. [pp.39-40]
=========================================================================
Margery Brews Paston
Margaret's eldest son (whom editors call John II) never married;
her second son (John III) tried until he was 33 to find the "right"
wife: she had to be of a good family, reasonably good-looking,
and above all, rich. In later letters to his elder brother, even
looks and family became unimportant; at one point he said he
would settle for "some old thrifty draff wife [ale wife]"
if she had enough money. Finally he met the 17-year-old Margery
Brews; she had the proper family background, but she was by no
means the heiress that his mother and grandmother had been. Worse,
her father had other daughters, so her dowry would be rather
small.
----------------------------------
"I would not forsake you."
----------------------------------
[From Margery Brews to John Paston III in February 1477.
John III and her parents could not come to an agreement on her
dowry. In her Valentine's Day letter, Margery assured John that
she would love him no matter how little money he had; since she
trusted that he also loved her, money wouldn't matter (online,
#415):]
Most respected and honourable and my most dearly-beloved Valentine,
I commend myself to you with all my heart, desiring to hear of
your happiness.... And if it please you to hear how I am, I am
not in good health in body nor in heart, nor will be until I
hear from you....
And my lady my mother has pursued the matter with my father
very industriously, but she cannot any more than you know of,
because of which, God knows, I am very sorry.
But if you love me, as I truly believe you do, you will not
leave me because of that. Because even if you did not have half
the wealth that you do, and I had to undertake the greatest toil
that any woman alive should, I would not forsake you....
And I beg you that you will not let anyone on earth see this
letter, except yourself. [pp.127-28]
---------------------------------------------------------------
"If you... believe that you could get more money...."
---------------------------------------------------------------
[But within a few days, she was forced to realize that,
to John, money mattered a great deal (online, #416):]
I thank you with all my heart for the letter you sent me...
from which I know for certain that you intend to come... shortly,
with no other errand or business except to bring to a conclusion
the business between my father and you. I would be the happiest
one alive if only the business might come to fruition.... And
if you come and the business comes to nothing, then I will be
even sorrier and full of sadness.
As for myself, I have done and endured in the business as
much as I know how or am able to, God knows. And I want you to
understand clearly that my father refuses to part with any more
money than 100 [pounds] and 50 marks in this business, which
is far from fulfilling your wishes.
For which reason, if you could be content with that amount
and my poor person, I would be the happiest maid on earth. And
if you do not consider yourself satisfied with that, or believe
that you could get more money, as I have understood from you
before, good, faithful and loving Valentine, do not take the
trouble to visit anymore on this business. Rather let it be finished
and never spoken of again, on condition that I may be your faithful
friend and petitioner for the duration of my life.
No more to you now, but may Almighty Jesus preserve you, in
both body and soul. [p.128]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"It seems to me a long time since I lay in your arms."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Margery and John III did in fact marry before the end
of 1477, in part because of the intervention of their mothers.
The ending of a letter Margery wrote her husband a few years
later suggests that her affection for him continued (online,
#417):]
It seems to my mother-in-law that she has not heard from you
for a long time. She is in good health, blessed be God, and all
your babies are too. I am Surprised that I hear nothing from
you, which greatly troubles me. I sent you a letter by the son
of Brasier of Norwich, of which I have not heard a word....
Sir, I entreat you that it will please you to send for me,
if you remain long in London, because it seems to me a long time
since I lay in your arms. [pp.129-30]
=========================================================================
[This is the standard critical edition, by Norman Davis, and
the source of the letters available online. Volume 1 gives the
421 letters by the Pastons, to 1495. There are detailed biographical
summaries and a helpful chronology:]
Paston letters and papers of the fifteenth century (2 vol);
edited by Norman Davis. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971-. (v. 15
plates. facsims., map)
LC#: DA240 .P294; ISBN 0198124155 (v. 1)
=========================================================================
[In this selection Norman Davis gives in an English "drastically,
yet not completely, modernized," 142 letters, most by the
Pastons, some to them. Included are 6 by Agnes, 39 by Margaret,
1 by Elizabeth, and 2 by Margery. Davis' introduction is brief
compared to that in his critical edition (above), but it is useful
and accompanied by notes, a glossary, and a detailed index:]
The Paston letters: a selection in modern spelling / edited
with an introduction by Norman Davis (Oxford world's classics).
Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. (xxxli, 288
p.: map)
LC#: DA240 .P32 1999; ISBN: 0192836404
"First published by Oxford University Press 1963; first
issued a World's classics paperback with corrections, new introduction
and list of dates 1983." Includes bibliographical references
and index
=========================================================================
[John Warrington's two-volume 1956 work is a "translation"
in that the spelling is modernized. Although the work is based
on a 1904 edition which omits some letters and gives a few erroneous
attributions and dates, it is valuable in that letters both by
and to the Pastons are given and in chronological order, which
allows the reader to see the various incidents play out. Warrington
gives a genealogical table and a glossary of unfamiliar terms:]
The Paston letters / edited with an introd. by John Warrington
(Everyman's library, no. 752). 2 vols. London: Dent; New York:
Dutton, c1975, 1978. (xxiii, 259, 283 p.: genealogical table,
map.; 19 cm)
LC#: DA240 .P34 1978; ISBN: 0460007521
Reprint of the two-volume 1956 ed. Includes bibliography and
indexes
=========================================================================
Secondary sources
[One of the three substantial chapters of Joel Thomas Rosenthal's
study is devoted to Margaret Paston's letters; he discusses the
structure and style of the letters and tells what they reveal
of Margaret's personality and views. Rosenthal has analysed the
letters closely and provides detailed tables, but his knowledge
is presented clearly and wittily. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Rosenthal, Joel Thomas. Telling tales: sources and narration
in late medieval England. University Park, Penn.: Pennsylvania
State University Press, c2003. (xxv, 217 p.)
LC#: DA170 .R67 2003; ISBN: 027102304X
Includes bibliographical references (p.197-212) and index
----------------------
[In Rebecca Krug's study, one chapter, "Husbands and
Sons: Margaret Paston's Letter-Writing," discusses Margaret's
writing style and how that style changed over time. To illustrate,
Krug describes the differences between the letters Margaret wrote
to her husband and those she wrote to her elder son after her
husband's death. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Krug, Rebecca. Reading families: women's literate practice in
late medieval England. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002.
(ix, 238 p.)
LC#: PR275.W6 K78 2002; ISBN: 0801439248
Includes bibliographical references (p. [213]-230) and index
----------------------
[Roger Dalrymple's essay in this collection,"Reaction,
Consolation and Redress in the Letters of the Paston Women,"
looks at what the letters reveal about the roles played by Margaret
and her mother-in-law, Agnes. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Early modern women's letter writing, 1450-1700 / edited by
James Daybell (Early modern literature in history). Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave, 2001. (xiv, 213 p.)
LC#: PR914 .E2 2001; ISBN: 0333945794
Includes bibliographical references and index
---------------------
[This collection includes an essay by Diane Watt, "No
Writing for Writing's Sake: Language of Service and Household
Rhetoric in the Letters of the Paston Women," which focuses
chiefly on Margaret Paston's correspondence; Watt goes into greater
detail here than in the introduction to her 2004 translation
(above). (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Dear Sister: medieval women and the epistolary genre / edited
by Karen Cherewatuk and Ulrike Wiethaus ( Middle Ages series).
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, c1993. (viii,
215 p.)
LC#: PN6131 .D4 1993; ISBN: 0812231708, 0812214374
Includes bibliographical references (p. [193]-206) and index
----------------------
[This is an excellent guide, by Frances and Joseph Gies,
to the whole Paston story: the Gies give frequent quotations
from the letters and a clear presentation of the fifteenth-century
background. The book has a chronological table, a glossary, and
a bibliography. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Gies, Frances. Gies, Joseph. A medieval family: the Pastons
of fifteenth-century England. New York: HarperCollins Publishers,
1998. (392p.)
LC#: DA240 .G54 1998; ISBN: 0060172649
Includes bibliographical references and index
---------------------
[Helen Castor's book is another useful general introduction
to the Pastons. Castor incorporates letter passages (in modernized
spelling) into what becomes a family biography, emphasizing the
Pastons' roles in the War of the Roses and the war's effect on
them. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Castor, Helen. Blood & roses: The Paston Family in the
fifteenth century. London: Faber and Faber, 2004. (xvii, 347
p., [16] p. of plates: ill. (mostly col.), map, geneal. tables)
LC#: DA250 .C37 2004x; ISBN: 0571216706
Includes bibliographical references (p. 305-334) and index
=========================================================================
Updated 05-04-09
Return to the index of "Other Women's
Voices."
Agnes Berry Paston
(c.1405-1479)