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God's Own Gentlewoman

The Life of Margaret Paston

Diane Watt
Discovered in Oxnead Hall in Norfolk in 1735, Margaret Paston’s letters form an extensive archive of medieval correspondence, covering political conflicts and gruesome battles as well as personal and familial concerns. Using selected letters as her starting point, Diane Watt explores what they reveal about everyday life for women during the Wars of the Roses, focusing on topics such as marriage, childbirth and running a household as she recreates Margaret’s world.
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RRP £20.00

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Product information:
  • Publisher: Icon
  • Year: 2024
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 288pp
  • Illustrated: Yes
  • Dimensions: 240x160mm
  • ISBN: 9781837731640
  • Condition: New
  • Weight: 0.5kg
Product code:
541197
Product information
Full publisher description
The remarkable story of Margaret Paston, whose letters form the most extensive collection of personal writings by a medieval English woman.

Drawing on the largest archive of medieval correspondence relating to a single family in the UK, God's Own Gentlewoman explores what everyday life was like during the turbulent decades at the height of the Wars of the Roses. Covering topics including political conflicts and familial in-fighting, forbidden love affairs and clandestine marriages, bloody battles and sieges, fear of plague and sudden death, friendships and animosity, and childbirth and child mortality, Margaret's letters provide us with unparalleled insight into all aspects of life in late medieval England.

Diane Watt, a world expert on medieval women's writing, offers insight into Margaret's activities, experiences, emotions and relationships, presenting the life of a medieval woman who was at times absorbed by the mundane and domestic, but who found herself caught up in the most extraordinary situations and events.
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