ABSTRACT
THE PASTON WOMEN AND GENTRY CULTURE: THE
DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL
IDENTITY IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND
This gender and social history examines the role of the Paston family in the
developing gentry culture in fifteenth-century England. A family who desired to
increase their social standing, the Pastons worked to first obtain land and wealth in
order to become a part of the gentry. This study primarily examines the second
way that the Pastons proved their gentility; through exhibiting behavior associated
with the gentry, the Pastons proved to the public that they were above the
peasantry and that they belonged in the upper echelons of society.
In their quest for gentility, the behavior of the Paston women was
particularly important to the efforts of their family. This thesis focuses on the
ways that Agnes and Margaret Paston adopted the advice present in contemporary
conduct manuals and how they incorporated such behavior into their letters. By
presenting an image of gentility in their letters, Agnes and Margaret participated in
both the developing gentry culture in fifteenth-century England and in their
family’s efforts to increase their social status. Letter writing was a venue through
which medieval women could express their opinions, and in the case of the Paston
women, it was a way for them to directly impact the station of their family. The
exercise of gentility in which the Paston women participated demonstrates one
way the creation of an individual identity impacts both social status and group
formation in Late Medieval England.
Melissa Marie Morris
December 2010
THE PASTON WOMEN AND GENTRY CULTURE: THE
DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL
IDENTITY IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND
by
Melissa Marie Morris
A thesis
submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of History
in the College of Social Sciences
California State University, Fresno
December 2010
© 2010 Melissa Marie Morris
APPROVED
For the Department of History:
We, the undersigned, certify that the thesis of the following student
meets the required standards of scholarship, format, and style of the
university and the student's graduate degree program for the
awarding of the master's degree.
Melissa Marie Morris
Thesis Author
Mark Arvanigian (Chair)
History
Maritere López
History
Jill Fields
History
For the University Graduate Committee:
Dean, Division of Graduate Studies
AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRODUCTION
OF MASTER’S THESIS
I grant permission for the reproduction of this thesis in part or in
its entirety without further authorization from me, on the
condition that the person or agency requesting reproduction
absorbs the cost and provides proper acknowledgment of
authorship.
X
Permission to reproduce this thesis in part or in its entirety must
be obtained from me.
Signature of thesis author:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It seems that writing this thesis has taken over my life, but not in a bad way.
I have dedicated a majority of my time and energy into researching, writing, and
editing this thesis, but now that it is finished, I am extremely happy that I devoted
so much effort towards its completion. The task has not been easy, and often not
enjoyable; however, I am glad that I endured the process and completed the task
that I set out to do.
Although I would love to take credit for the entirety of this process, without
the support of a number of others I would not have had the knowledge or the
stamina to finish this task. Without them, this thesis would likely still be an
unfinished product.
First and foremost, I must thank Dr. Mark Arvanigian. He has spent the
last three years carefully listening to my often crazy ideas, pointing me in the right
direction. Without our many discussions of books and ideas, this thesis would still
be an unfocused, jumbled mess. With his help, I have been able to gather my
thoughts and research, and with his guidance, feel that I have a better
understanding of the Late Middle Ages in England.
Overall, the graduate program at California State University, Fresno has
been a positive experience for me. In large part, I feel this has to do with the
guiding hand of Dr. Maritere López. More than a graduate coordinator and
advisor, Dr. López has pushed me and my writing to the next level. She has
always been completely, often brutally, honest, telling me when I have needed to
scrap ideas and start all over again. Although frustrating at the time, I realize now
that her guidance has made me not only a better researcher and writer, but also a
better individual. I am truly honored to have worked with Dr. López on several
vi
projects, including the publication of Hindsight Graduate History Journal and
serving as her graduate assistant. These experiences have made my graduate
school career both more enjoyable and more rewarding, while preparing me for
my future endeavors.
During my studies, Dr. Jill Fields has been gracious enough to not only
give me guidance in the issues faced by women’s historians, but has also given me
invaluable experience. By working closely with Dr. Fields, I have learned the
processes behind producing an academic publication. Further, she has given me
the opportunity to guest lecture in her women’s history classes, helping me to
become more comfortable in front of a classroom of college students. Her
confidence in me has greatly enhanced my graduate experience.
Of my fellow graduate students, two in particular have impacted not only
the writing of this thesis, but also my life. Michael Eissinger continuously
encourages me and pushes me to continue with my research and education. He
has read through this thesis a countless number of times, providing suggestions
and edits that I would have missed. Jessica Szalay has been there for me in a
number of ways during my time at Fresno State. From helping with Hindsight to
letting me bounce ideas off of her, she has been a true friend and colleague.
Without my many coffee and lunch outings with both Michael and Jessica I never
would have stayed sane throughout the writing of this thesis.
Most of all, my family has been an unbelievable source of strength. My
grandparents Jerry and Janet Pfeiffer have given me both financial and emotional
support. No matter how boring, my grandpa always reads the projects I have been
a part of and asks me questions about my research. His interest in history and my
research has kept me on track many times. Similarly, my grandma has always
vii
voiced how proud she is, marveling at the work I have put into this thesis. Their
support has truly given me the strength to continue researching and writing.
My parents, Larry and Cheryl Morris, have been my biggest cheerleaders
throughout my life, and this process was no exception. A friend and confidant, my
mom has patiently listened to my stress and frustrations, all the while encouraging
me to continue to work towards my goals. Always ready with a smile and a joke,
my dad often provided me with much needed stress relief by making me laugh.
His reminders to never take life too seriously always helps me to put things in
perspective and not get caught up in the seemingly small details. Without the
love, support, and encouragement of both of my parents, I would not be where I
am today.
Last, but certainly not least, my husband Chris has always believed in me,
even when I have doubted myself. His constant attention to detail has saved me
numerous times from leaving embarrassing typos in various papers, including this
thesis. But more than that, his friendship and love has encouraged me to continue
on with this project, even during the times when I desperately wanted to give up.
Thank you all for your time and commitment. It has truly made a
difference in this resulting thesis and in my life.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 2: THE ENGLISH GENTRY IN THE FIFTEENTH-CENTURY:
PROFESSIONS, WEALTH, AND SOCIAL MOBILITY ......................... 26 CHAPTER 3: THE IDEAL WOMAN: FEMALE EXERCISES OF
GENTILITY ................................................................................................ 45 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 81 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 93 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
The fifteenth century was a time of contradiction in England; an expansion
of royal government encouraged social movement and growth, while political
events, such as the Wars of the Roses, created a tumultuous atmosphere in both the
towns and countryside. Individuals and their families carefully navigated the
political and social scene of the century, with many attempting to find favor with
those higher in status while avoiding the direct danger of fighting or, more
importantly, being on the losing side of a military dispute. It is this struggle to
advance while eluding danger that largely defines the context of fifteenth-century
England. A family with aspirations to climb the social ladder, the Pastons of
Norfolk illustrate the opportunities available in England and the often difficult
path to increasing, and maintaining, one’s status. Although the Paston’s tale is
representative of the life of a socially ambitious family, they are particularly
important because they left an extensive collection of letters, today referred to as
the Paston Letters, which detail the daily business of family affairs and their
efforts to increase their status through activities such as securing land.1 The extant
Paston Letters reflect the thoughts of several members of the medieval branch of
the family, and not only contain invaluable information regarding the political and
familial struggles in Late Medieval England, but also include detailed images of
the personal and social experiences of the family.2 The Paston Letters have
1 The surviving Paston Letters are gathered in: Norman Davis, ed., Paston Letters and Papers of
the Fifteenth Century, vol. I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), and Davis, ed., Paston Letters and Papers of
the Fifteenth Century, vol. II (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976).
2 I focus on the Paston Letters of the fifteenth century. Later generations of the family also have
extant letters and documents which I do not discuss here. Following the efforts of the family in the fifteenth
century to establish themselves politically and socially, successive generations of the Pastons were
important in England and were increasingly prosperous. Continuing to record their thoughts, later
generations of the family similarly left letters and other documents. The letters attributed to Katherine
2
become important to modern historians due to the sheer volume of extant personal
documents left by the family, many providing personal and business details of the
lives of various family members. These letters create a detailed picture of the
origins of a gentry family, seeking status and land to solidify their position
amongst the upper echelons of society, and the manner in which they lived their
daily lives.
The wealth of information left by the Pastons regarding medieval life
illustrates not only the personal dealings of the family but also an England in
transition. Indeed, the Pastons experienced often the tumult of English politics,
seeking any opportunities to raise their status. Much of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries in England were dominated by war. The Hundred Years War,
fought against France from 1337 to 1453, encouraged the establishment of laws
and taxes in England to fund the war, leading to the growth of Parliament as a
governmental institution.3 The length of the Hundred Years War clearly impacted
the overall structure of English government, causing the King to update the
manner in which the government did business and how it interacted with the
people. The Wars of the Roses during the second half of the fifteenth century
further impacted the manner in which England was ruled. Dealing with the
political divisions created by the end of the Hundred Years War and the inability
of Henry VI to rule, civil war ensued in England over who would ultimately hold
Knyvett, wife of Sir Edmund Paston, are the most important of such documents for the Paston family in the
seventeenth century. Her letters are discussed briefly in: Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, li. For the text of her
letters see: Katherine Knyvett Paston, The Correspondence of Lady Katherine Paston, 1603-1627 (Norfolk:
Norfolk Record Society, 1941).
3 Christopher Allmand, The Hundred Years War: England and France at War c. 1300 – c. 1450
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 167, 172. For more detailed information on the intricacies
of the war and its impact on English and French society, see: Anne Curry, The Hundred Years War (New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), and David Green, Edward the Black Prince: Power in Medieval Europe
(London: Pearson, 2007).
3
the crown.4 With battles fought on English soil, people of all social classes were
drawn into the conflict. The Yorkists, led by Richard, Duke of York, and the
Lancastrians, under the leadership of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, were
each determined to save the crown from the incompetency of the king, leading to a
drawn-out conflict.5 Such fighting often caused the families to choose sides,
providing social, political, and economic opportunities for those who correctly
picked the winning side.6 The turmoil created by such disturbances fomented
change not only in the political structure of England but also in its organization of
society. The fifteenth century was a time of change where individual families
such as the Pastons could take advantage of the unsettled political situation, unify
with others who possessed similar aspirations, and raise their social status.
On a basic level, the wars of the fifteenth century altered the political and
social structures in England; government, and by association the number of
governmental officials, grew, while those in the towns and countryside responded
to the hardships of extended war and the changes in monarchical power. Due to
these political changes in England, society became more flexible, allowing both
social movement and a regrouping of individuals due to a newly acquired status.
One particular social sector who benefitted from such transformation was the legal
profession. Beginning with the war campaigns of Edward I, kings increasingly
utilized the gentry nobility to staff governmental posts.7 With continued warfare,
the king and the government needed more individuals to perform basic services,
4 Christine Carpenter, The Wars of the Roses: Politics and the constitution in England, c. 14371509 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 116, 255.
5 Ibid., 116-117.
6 Ibid., 136.
7 Peter Coss, The Origins of the English Gentry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003),
166.
4
such as tax collection, and in direct service to the king, for example, by sitting in
parliament, voting to approve the raising of taxes to finance further military
expeditions. To fulfill his duties, knowledge of the law was particularly important
to an individual’s ability to serve, providing him with a largely proven means of
social advancement.8 To obtain such an appointment required a formal education;
legal acumen was necessary for such positions, a noble family lineage was not.
The government’s increasing need for legal professionals presented an opportunity
for individuals to not only participate in the political decisions of England, but also
to raise their social position in a world previously committed to giving a governing
role only to those possessing a proven family lineage.
The Pastons were one such family who took advantage of the available
opportunities for social advancement. For the generations prior to Clement
Paston, there is no existing documentation of the standing or profession of the
Paston family, so Clement forms the de-facto beginning of the Paston family story.
Although the exact status of the early generations of the family is unknown, a few
facts suggest that they were of humble origins. In a document titled “A
Remembraunce of the wurshypfull Kyn and Auncetrye of Paston, borne in Paston
in Gemyngham Soken,” the anonymous author noted that Clement was “a good
pleyn husbond, and lyvyd upon hys lond … The seyd Clement yede att on Plowe
both wyntr and somer, and he rodd to mylle on the bar horsbak wyth hys corn undr
hym, and brought hom mele ageyn under hym. And also drove hys carte with
dyvrs cornys to Wyntrton to selle, as a good husbond ought to do.”9 Although
8 M. M. Postan, The Medieval Economy and Society (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1973), 157.
9 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, xli-xlii. Davis reprinted the text as recorded by William Frere, who
possessed the document in 1823. However, the original document is missing and has been lost since the
nineteenth century.
5
likely written sometime between 1444 and 1466 by an enemy of the Pastons, and
thus possibly suspect, the information offered therein is supported by further
information reflecting the Paston’s humble origins.10 Particularly, the Paston’s
continued preoccupation in their letters with obtaining land and a solidified social
standing illustrates their desire to distance the family from its past. Likely with
aspirations to establish his children in a higher position, Clement, with the help of
his wife’s brother Geoffrey Somerton, ensured his son William Paston received a
formal school education in the law.11 It is possible that Clement recognized the
opportunities available to those who obtained an education, and worked the land to
enable his son to achieve the status that he had not. In this way, the Pastons are
one example of a family with humble origins who possessed aspirations to
advance socially and actively looked for ways to establish themselves amongst the
upper echelons of society.
Clement’s insistence on an education for his son William created
opportunities to which the family previously did not have access. As a result of
this education, William Paston established himself as a legal professional,
increasingly holding governmental posts and consequently opening a larger circle
of influence for the Paston family.12 In spite of William’s legal prowess, however,
the family needed to confirm that they had overcome their lowly past to
demonstrate that they legitimately belonged to the higher social class with which
they increasingly associated. As one scholar noted, exhibiting behavior
representative of the socially mobile, the Pastons likely recognized that they “must
10 Ibid., xli-xlii.
11 Ibid., xlii.
12 Frances and Joseph Gies, A Medieval Family: The Pastons of Fifteenth-Century England (New
York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1998), 29, 32.
6
be vigilant and wise to advance their status, for while much will be determined by
their economic success, that material flourishing is itself dependent on their social
self, that is, on their reputation and its enhancement.”13 Ownership of land and
wealth was an important marker of status; however, a construction of the “social
self,” according to the parameters of the group to which one aspired, was vital to
social mobility. Historian Anna Bryson specifically discussed the importance of
the “social self” to understanding the lives of Late Medieval and Early Modern
individuals. For Bryson, manners were a vital element which defined the social
interactions between individuals. Additionally, Bryson noted the importance of
proper behavior in the shaping of identities. For example, creating a uniform
behavior code among the aspiring gentry allowed them not only to form a coherent
class, but also to set themselves apart from the rest of society. In this way, both
the developing gentry and the established aristocracy “managed to find or forge
new cultural forms, self-images, and codes of conduct which preserved their
identity and upheld their legitimacy in a changing world.”14 With the changes in
society, especially regarding the increased social mobility of individuals, the
gentry and the aristocracy needed to establish that they were separate from the
peasants and workers of England. This was particularly done through a creation of
a uniform set of characteristics for the upper classes. By participating in activities
like good behavior, individuals were able to come together with others who
possessed ideals similar to their own to create a unified social group. Such
individuals often were in comparable economic positions, and in defining the
13 David Gary Shaw, Necessary Conjunctions: The Social Self in Medieval England (New York:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 71.
14 Anna Bryson, From Courtesy to Civility: Changing Codes of Conduct in Early Modern
England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), 24.
7
gentry, many utilized good behavior to distance themselves from their humble
familial origins. Even aristocratic families who had lost their wealth and prestige
participated in activities of the gentry to prove that they still belonged to the ranks
of the elites of society, although they no longer possessed the high honors which
they previously held. For the Pastons, and families with similar aspirations, a
large part of constructing an acceptable image was through exhibiting behavior
and traits acceptable for members of the upper echelons of society. Land and
wealth, though important, could only partly increase the status of an individual and
his family. It was this exhibition of behavior accepted by the gentry that truly set
families such as the Pastons apart from both the peasants and their own humble
origins.
Proper manners and behavior were an integral part of establishing social
status. Furthermore, the acceptance of certain types of behavior by a number of
individuals has impacted the development of a variety of social groups.
Recognizing the importance of changing modes of acceptable behavior and the
impact of manners on the development of Western societies and nations, social
scientist Norbert Elias examines the origins of concepts such as “civilized” and
“civilization,” linking them to the evolution of conduct which occurred during the
Early Modern period, particularly in Germany and France.15 Elias posits that
manners were vital in the formation of Early Modern social groups; specifically,
individual groups utilized certain types of behavior to become civilized. By
identifying such behaviors as “civilized,” individuals gave such traits meaning in
the social realm.16 Individual social groups thus adopted such civilized behaviors,
15 Norbert Elias, The Civilizing Process: Sociogenetic and Psychogenetic Investigations, trans.
Edmund Jephcott (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2000).
16 Ibid., 8.
8
which were further refined through speech and in writing.17 It is through the
writing down of these acceptable forms of behavior that such traits become rooted
in society and subsequently used by varied groups as a means of self definition.
The process of civilization depends on the acceptance by groups and individuals of
“proper behavior”; once established, individuals perpetuate such behavior by
teaching its properties to their children, the first generation to grow up adhering to
such types of behavior.18 The formation of civilization and civilized behavior is
therefore a process, shaped by association with like individuals who consciously
adopt certain characteristics deemed appropriate by the group as a whole. As
established by Elias, social groups are defined by the types of behavior to which
they subscribe, a process seen in the development of the gentry in fifteenthcentury England.
If, as Elias argued, social groups were defined and advanced by their
behavior, exhibiting proper manners was vital to families with social aspirations.
Families such as the Pastons thus needed guidance on the types of behavior
encouraged by the elite. To obtain this information and learn how to properly
behave like members of the gentry, the Pastons likely turned to courtesy literature.
These texts were written with the express purpose of teaching men and women
how to increase their social status, and exhibiting “good behavior” was of primary
importance in this quest.19 As established by Raluca Radulescu, conduct manuals
were read and used by the gentry as tools in the shaping of a group identity.20
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid., 8-9.
19 Philippa Maddern, “Gentility,” in Gentry Culture in Late Medieval England, ed. Raluca
Radulescu and Alison Truelove (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), 26.
20 Raluca Radulescu, “Literature,” in Gentry Culture in Late Medieval England, ed. Raluca
Radulescu and Alison Truelove (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), 100-118.
9
Members of the gentry, or individuals aspiring to it, examined such texts and used
the advice contained in them as guidelines for their own behavior.21 With its goal
of instructing individuals on how to act, medieval conduct literature is
consequently of chief importance to understanding the mindset of socially mobile
professionals. Further, these texts are vital to recognizing how such ambitious
individuals gathered together to establish the gentry as a distinct social entity in
fifteenth-century England.
Courtesy literature was an important instructional tool for families who
desired to better their social status. Rather than providing general instructions for
all sectors of the population, individual texts largely focused on one specific
group. For example, The Babees Book, composed during the fifteenth century,
concentrated on the instruction of young noblemen, while the poem “What the
Goodwife Taught Her Daughter” advised a mother how to direct her daughter on
the proper behavior of young women.22 Since courtesy texts directed their advice
to a specific audience, in this study I focus only on the manuals which give
instructions to women of the gentry. The building of status and reputation was a
task given to all members of a socially mobile family. Families like the Pastons
needed to prove their gentility in two ways: first, land and wealth were necessary
precursors for an increased social standing. For example, male family members,
such as William Paston and his son John I, politically established the family by
gaining access to the royal court and parliament, positions which could lead to
money and land. However, gentility also needed to be proved in a second, less
21 Ibid., 101-102.
22 Edith Rickert, The Babees’ Book: Medieval Manners for the Young: Done into Modern English
from Dr. Furnivall’s texts (London: Chatto and Windus, 1923). For a detailed discussion of “What the
Goodwife Taught Her Daughter,” see: Felicity Riddy, “Mother Knows Best: Reading Social Change in a
Courtesy Text,” Speculum 71, no. 1 (Jan. 1996): 66-86.
10
concrete way. The rise of the Pastons depended on others thinking that they were
a part of the gentry. Public perceptions of the Paston family were vital in a society
and culture that often believed that appearance echoed reality. Thus, to be a
gentleman or gentlewoman, others needed to believe that the individual was a
member of the gentry. The creation of an image of gentility was one way that the
Paston women contributed to the overall status of the family. While their
respective husbands were obtaining wealth and land, Agnes and Margaret were
responsible for the family’s local affairs. In taking care of these affairs, these
women directly interacted with their neighbors. This made them more locally
visible, a fact which required Agnes and Margaret to present themselves in a
particular way to confirm the raised status of their family. Gentlewomen needed
to maintain, and enhance, the family’s position to those around them, for aspiring
gentry not only desired social status but also political and economic power.
Without securing gentle status in the minds of local individuals, families such as
the Pastons could not hope to gain control in their localities. Self presentation was
thus as important, if not more so, for the Paston women than their male
counterparts, due to their visibility in the community, and it was necessary for
them to present an image consistent with the gentry status that their husbands
worked so hard to achieve. The Pastons needed to not only acquire physical
wealth and land, but it was also necessary for them to create a public image which
confirmed their gentility to their neighbors.
To understand Agnes and Margaret Paston’s quest for gentility, two
courtesy manuals are particularly relevant. The Goodman of Paris and The Knight
of the Tower each instruct women on the types of behavior which men considered
appropriate not only for women in general but for gentlewomen specifically.
Written to instruct his wife on how to behave as a member of the bourgeoisie, the
11
Ménagier de Paris, an unknown Parisian merchant writing during the late
fourteenth century, recorded advice on a number of issues a wife might face on a
daily basis.23 In her introduction to The Goodman of Paris, editor Eileen Power
marveled at the details included by the Ménagier, for “there is hardly a side of her
daily life upon which it does not touch and it depicts in turn the perfect lady,
whose deportment and manners do credit to her breeding, the perfect wife, whose
submission to her husband is only equaled by her skill in ministering to his
ease.”24 Through presenting advice to his wife, the Ménagier recorded the types
of behavior acceptable for the upper classes, and ultimately created an image of
what he, and by extension his social class, felt constituted an ideal woman and
wife.
Similarly to the Ménagier, Geoffroy de La Tour Landry instructed the
women in his life, particularly his daughters, in proper behavior. However, what
makes The Knight of the Tower unique is the fact that it was translated into
English from the French in 1484 by William Caxton. Although many of the elite
would have been able to read French, this work’s translation into English signified
both the growth of the written vernacular and the importance of this particular text.
Caxton’s efforts reflect his belief that the advice in this particular book was
relevant to the lives of the English. In his introduction, Caxton established the
value of his work, explaining that in its instructions “I fynd many virtuous good
enseygnementis & lernynges by euydent histories of auctorite & good ensa~ples
for al maner peple in generally / but in especial for ladyes & gentilwymen
douyters to lordes & gentilmen / For whiche book al the gentilymen now lyuyng &
23 The Goodman of Paris (Le Ménagier De Paris): A Treatise on Moral and Domestic Economy
by a Citizen of Paris (c. 1393), trans. Eileen Power (London: George Routledge & Sons, LTD., 1928), 1.
24 Ibid., 10.
12
herafter to come or shal be arn bounde to gyue laude praysyng & thankynges to
the auctor of this book & also to the lady that caused me to tra~slate it.”25
Containing a number of examples from the Bible and other ancient sources,
Caxton argued that The Knight of the Tower provided a verified tradition of
acceptable female behavior, dating back to antiquity. Caxton thus not only
reiterated ancient traditions of proper behavior for gentlewomen, but also
encouraged contemporary Englishwomen to exhibit such behaviors. As a text
recently translated into English and directed at the instruction of gentlewomen,
The Knight of the Tower was likely used by the Pastons, influencing the manner in
which these aspiring gentlewomen behaved, further impacting how they defined
themselves privately and publicly.
The study of conduct manuals adds a further element to the investigation of
individuals such as the Pastons, who employed proper modes of behavior as one
way to increase their social status. Although courtesy literature has long been
used by historians to illustrate various elements of medieval society, only recently
have historians begun to examine the individual intricacies of these manuals.
Anna Bryson detailed the way in which manners changed in England as a result of
the switch from the medieval concept of courtesy to its Early Modern successor of
civility.26 Believing that manners define our understanding of society and the
ways in which individuals identified and grouped themselves, Bryson compared
medieval conduct manuals to instructional literature printed later in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. Although these medieval manuals established the ideal
forms of behavior for men and women, such texts had to be read and imitated to
25 La Tour Landry, The Knight of the Tower, 1.1.
26 Bryson, From Courtesy to Civility.
13
have true relevance in society.27 Late Medieval and Early Modern English society
was influenced by the evolution of social behavior; where medieval society
emphasized the concept of “courtesy,” early modern society focused on the
concept of “civility.” A comparison of the behavior encouraged in courtesy texts
from both the Medieval and Early Modern periods demonstrates how pervasive
good manners, and the manuals which provided instruction on such topics, were to
English society. Good manners, as defined in courtesy literature, impacted the
transition of English society from the Medieval to the Early Modern, largely
through reshaping the image of how an individual should properly behave.
As a group of professionals who used their education to increase their
social standing, the gentry were more likely than those belonging to a lower social
class to have access to conduct manuals and their content. Such access allowed
the gentry to use this information to create a distinct identity separate from the
illiterate masses. Manners became one way for specific groups to identify
themselves, thus impacting the overall structure of society and its constituent
social classes. Yet, tracking the acceptance and use of such types of behavior is
quite difficult, largely due to the content of extant sources. Details linking the
impact of the advice contained within conduct manuals are sparse. However,
personal letters provide one valuable source of information regarding the ways
that individuals subscribed to the ideals contained within courtesy literature.
Letters were more than a method of communication; their composition reflects the
personality of an individual through both the information he or she chose to
include within the letter and the manner in which such information was structured.
Agnes and Margaret Paston must have structured the information contained within
27 Ibid., 107.
14
their letters, and their decisions to exhibit proper behavior as described in
contemporary conduct manuals demonstrates their acceptance of such advice and
the role that these manuals had in the formation of social groups.
As a cross between a public and a private document, letters provided
women with a venue to discuss their opinions with others, often the men and
women in their family or social class. Conversely, as semi-public documents,
letters were a venue through which women could create a public image. Through
their descriptions and their choices in structuring extant letters, women
demonstrated the social conventions to which they subscribed. Using the clues
left in extant letters, this study looks at the way the Paston women presented
themselves in their letters and how their adherence to proper behavior contributed
to the growing class consciousness of the gentry.
Although conduct manuals provide the foundation for a study of the role of
behavior, specifically women’s behavior, in the establishment of the English
gentry, it is the Paston Letters which can show how an individual family used such
advice in their daily lives. The letters of Agnes and Margaret Paston demonstrate
the power of presenting a proper public image and how the adherence to social
conventions, like good behavior, was used to develop class consciousness among
individuals. In this way, the Paston women were acutely aware of their social
position, while their sex was a secondary factor in their lives. Thus their position
as aspiring members of the gentry figured prominently in their correspondence, as
Agnes and Margaret each demonstrated their gentility to others. For this reason,
the Paston Letters form the crux of my argument. Yet to recognize the true
significance of these letters, letter writing as a genre must first be understood.
Letters are invaluable to historians as sources which provide a deeper
understanding of an individual interpretation of events. Specifically, for women,
15
letters provided a rare venue to express opinions to others. Yet the letter is a
complex document, impacted by the writing style of the author, by the way the
author chose to structure it, and by whether the letter was autographed or dictated
to a scribe. Each of these various elements impacted both the content of the letter
and the image created by its author. Further, it is the descriptions contained within
a letter and its structure that provides insight into the life of an individual. In this
way, letters possess meaning, or “epistolarity,” and it is this meaning that sets the
letter apart from other written documents. A pioneer of the study of the letter and
its form, the historian Giles Constable establishes the early foundations for the
study of medieval letters.28 For Constable, “the essence of the epistolary genre,
both in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, was not whether a letter was actually sent
but whether it performed a representative function.”29 Individuals composed and
sent letters for a myriad of reasons and wrote them in various forms; such variety
makes a specific definition of the epistolary genre difficult, if not impossible.
Eschewing the urge to define the epistolary genre concretely, Constable simply
explained it as literature which represents the author to his or her audience. For
Constable, the act of sending a letter was not necessary for a letter to be included
in the epistolary genre. Rather, it was the author’s construction of his or her
thoughts in the letter format which gave the letter its meaning. In Constable’s
definition of the epistolary genre, it was an individual’s decision to compose his or
her thoughts in the letter format that both gave it value and separated it from other
documents. When a letter was sent, it served as the written form of verbal
communication between author and recipient; it was only physical distance
28 Giles Constable, Letters and Letter-Collections (Brepols: Turnhout, 1976).
29 Ibid., 13.
16
between the two that confined the communication to the form of a letter. The
letter was one manner of communication; on a basic level, it enabled individuals to
relay information to others, while allowing them to insert their personality
throughout the text of the letter.
The study of the epistolary genre has greatly expanded since Constable,
with historians and scholars of English literature contributing new scholarship to
the growing field.30 Cultural historian Janet Altman, for example, further
explained epistolary theory by looking at what she terms the “epistolarity” of
correspondence.31 Defined as “the use of the letter’s formal properties to create
meaning,” Altman detailed the various ways in which letters have been used,
particularly in literature, although actual letters possessed many qualities utilized
by fiction writers.32 Altman detailed six elements of the epistolary genre she
believed were most important to the epistolary genre. Of greatest relevance to the
dissection of both the form of the letter and the manner in which it was written
was her discussion of epistolary discourse and its main characteristics.33 Among
30 For further studies on letter writing during the Medieval and Early Modern Periods, see: Roger
Chartier, Alain Boureau, and Cécile Dauphin, Correspondence: Models of Letter-Writing from the Middle
Ages to the Nineteenth Century (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), Karen Cherewatuk and
Ulrike Wiethaus, ed., Dear Sister: Medieval Women and the Epistolary Genre (Philadelphia: University of
Philadelphia Press, 1993), Eleanor Duckett, Women and their Letters in the Early Middle Ages (Baltimore:
Barton-Gillett Company, 1965), Elizabeth C. Goldsmith, ed., Writing the Female Voice: Essays on
Epistolary Literature (Boston: Northeast University Press, 1989), Claudio Guillén, “Notes Toward the
Study of the Renaissance Letter,” in Renaissance Genres: Essays on Theory, History, and Interpretation,
ed. Barbara Kiefer Lewalski (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986), and Barbara Kiefer Lewalski,
ed., Renaissance Genres: Essays on Theory History, and Interpretation (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1986).
31 Janet Gurkin Altman, Epistolarity: Approaches to a Form (Columbus: Ohio State University,
1982).
32 Ibid., 4.
33 Ibid., 117. Altman establishes six key characteristics of the epistolary genre which include: (1)
epistolary mediation, where the letter serves as a way to separate or connect individuals, (2) confidence and
confidants, (3) the weight of the reader, (4) epistolary discourse, (5) epistolary closure, and (6) the
epistolary mosaic, or the manner in which the letters are arranged within a specific text.
17
its core elements, Altman stressed the temporal limitations of the letter. In this
respect, there are three moments relevant to the lifecycle of a letter: first, an event
occurs; next, the author of the letter writes about the event that happened; last, the
recipient of the letter reads about the event at a later point in time.34 Thus the
cycle of a letter is more complex than just author, recipient, and immediate text.
The passing of time is a crucial element in the cycle of a letter, and this is
important to remember when studying its content because this time lapse impacted
both the way a letter was written and received. An author writes about an event
after it occurs, giving him or her an opportunity to decide the manner in which to
present it. This time allows for reflection of the authors; letter writers have time to
digest the details of an event, enabling them to decide how they are to recount
their tale to the letter’s intended recipient. Medieval letter writers were keenly
aware of this time lapse; for example, in a letter to Margaret Paston, Alice Crane
noted, “at the makyng of this letter I was in good hele.”35 The acknowledgement
of the gap in time between the composition of a letter and its reading by the
intended recipient must have weighed on the minds of the authors, impacting the
manner in which they composed their thoughts. The conscious decision to
compose a letter in a specific way, choosing to include some details over others,
provides insight into the author’s personality. Furthermore, a recipient has the
opportunity to re-read a letter, digesting and reinterpreting the information present
in the text. The relationship between the letter’s author and its recipient is thus
impacted by time and space, ultimately influencing the contemporary meaning of a
letter and its historical epistolarity.
34 Ibid., 118.
35 Norman Davis, ed., Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century, vol. II (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1976), no. 711.
18
In her work, Altman provided for ways to recognize and study the various
elements of letters, but her focus on fictional letters begged further study into the
lives and experiences of real correspondents. Furthering the work of predecessors
such as Constable and Altman, Gary Schneider applied the definitions of
epistolarity to circulated letters in Early Modern England, revealing a developing
epistolary culture.36 For Schneider, letters embodied face-to-face contact when
such personal interaction was not possible due to distance; as a form of personal
contact, letter writers thus infused their personality, emotions, and behaviors into
their letters.37 Building on Constable’s earlier work, Schneider noted that senders
of letters utilized this form of communication to create a defined representation of
not only themselves but also their culture and its established social customs to
their recipient. Most noticeably, in these letters authors “frequently employed
body parts, body motions, and body images as epistolary metaphors of demeanor
and behavior in order to represent convincingly the operations, actions and
performance of the sender. These epistolary exchanges obeyed the customs,
courtesies, and civilities of early modern society in all its environments – in
intimate circumstances, in patron-client relationships, and in official contexts.”38
Information contained within letters thus demonstrates the cultural behaviors and
customs accepted by the author. It is thus the realization that the authors infused
their culture and personality in their letters that separates Schneider’s work from
Constable’s. Letters not only conveyed information; they simultaneously included
mental images of social convention as adapted by the author of a letter. In a
36Gary Schneider, The Culture of Epistolarity: Vernacular Letters and Letter Writing in Early
Modern England, 1500-1700 (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2005).
37Ibid., 110.
38Ibid., 115-116.
19
variety of letter types, both personal and business, polite behavior was exercised
by the author. The portrayal of such behavior confirmed to individuals,
specifically the letter’s recipient, of the social standing of the author. Further, the
inclusion of proper manners echoed the types of behavior which the author of a
letter exhibited in his or her daily life. The decision of which information to
include ultimately impacted the image of the author which the recipient gathered
from the letter; for example, in order to uphold the public status of the author, he
or she often included social conventions, like polite behavior, to reinforce their
position. In this way, a letter served as a representational microcosm of
contemporary social courtesy and the degree to which individuals subscribed to
and utilized proper behavior.
The intricacies involved in examining both letters and conduct manuals as
documents influence a study of the impact of proper behavior on the lives of
medieval individuals and their efforts of group formation. As historical
documents, letters possess both strengths and weaknesses; however, letters still
provide personal insight into how individuals, particularly those who did not have
a public voice like Agnes and Margaret Pastons, used courtesy literature.
Furthermore, the construction of such letters demonstrates how individuals
transferred the behavior they learned from conduct manuals to their daily lives.
Yet the question remains, how did the Pastons utilize their letters to present an
image of gentility? Through their correspondence, the Pastons created a detailed
picture of not only the daily lives of medieval individuals but also the efforts of a
family desiring to raise their social status. As the authors of a number of letters,
the Pastons provide insight into many issues faced by socially mobile individuals
and how such persons interacted with others to establish the gentry as a defined
class during the fifteenth century.
20
With the wealth of information left by the Pastons, the family has been the
focus of several historical studies. In his foundational study of the family and
their letters, The Pastons and their England: Studies in an Age of Transition, H.S.
Bennett primarily focused on the society of the fifteenth-century and how the
Pastons fit into the social fabric of England.39 Particularly, Bennett aimed to
explain the everyday life of the Paston family.40 To do so, Bennett divided
medieval society into specific elements, like marriage, parenting, housing, and
education, using each topic to develop their influence on the Pastons and their
letters by comparing this information to other texts, both literature and political
documents. Covering a wide range of topics, Bennett examined varied social
elements such as marriage and the family, alongside vastly different factors like
the condition of roads and bridges in the countryside. By covering a wide range of
topics, Bennett provided a sweeping overview of the many details of medieval life.
Through the lens of the Paston Letters, Bennett not only created a picture of
the lives of the Paston family but also an image of English society as it impacted
the family and others in a similar economic, political, and social position. Bennett
utilized the wealth of information in the Paston Letters to describe the structure of
society; however, with the focus on medieval society, he was not able to also
explain the intricacies of the lives of members of the family. Instead, their letters
were used to create a larger picture of life in England during the fifteenth century.
For example, in a chapter devoted to the experiences of the daily lives of the
Paston women, Bennett superficially recounted the tasks and chores these women
were responsible for managing. In introducing these women as housewives,
39 H.S. Bennett, The Pastons and their England: Studies in an Age of Transition (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1951).
40 Ibid., ix.
21
Bennett stated that “Margaret Paston, as well as all women of a humbler station of
life, was obliged to scheme and plan in order to keep her kitchen and pantry well
supplied.”41 From this point, Bennett proceeded to explain how Margaret Paston
managed to maintain the family cellars. This created an image of the activities in
which medieval women were involved on a daily basis, yet Bennett merely briefly
explained what these activities were rather than providing any in-depth analysis of
the way that Margaret experienced these responsibilities. Thus, with the wide
range of topics and the lack of detailed explanations, Bennett developed an
introductory work regarding gentry society as reflected in the Paston Letters. For
Bennett, the Pastons were the means to explain the larger forces at work in the
fifteenth century.
Through their letters, the Paston family describes the quality of life for
individuals and the structure of society in fifteenth-century England. Although
their letters present information which can create a better understanding of society
as a whole, it was the lives of the individual Paston members that ultimately
influenced the writing of their letters and the content each included in their
correspondences. However, the personal experiences of the Pastons impacted the
information contained within their letters. Historian Colin Richmond produced a
massive three-volume project to examine in detail the family’s experiences.42
Although each of Richmond’s volumes chronicled different aspects of the lives of
the Pastons, he clearly established his goals for the three in the introduction to his
first volume, The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: The First Phase. For
41 Ibid., 52.
42 These three volumes include: Colin Richmond, The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century:
The First Phase, The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: Fastolf’s will (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1996), and The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: Endings (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 2000).
22
Richmond, the details of the lives of the Pastons presented a pleasurable
opportunity to examine the fifteenth century in a unique, and entertaining, way.
Richmond desired to present the numerous details of the lives of the Pastons, both
the major events and the minutiae, in a narrative manner, eschewing analysis in his
personal belief that too much analysis smothered the enjoyment of both the student
of history and the reader.43 Furthermore, Richmond wanted to stay true to the
voices of the Pastons, allowing them to speak through the direct text of their
letters.44 Thus the letters were extensively quoted in order to recreate the
experiences of various members of the family.
Richmond’s narrative clearly
established the details of the social, political, and economic rise of the Pastons,
their subsequent struggles in maintaining their increased status, and the eventual
reinstatement of their property holdings and position as a gentry family. However,
in focusing solely on the lives of the Pastons, Richmond often ignored the larger
context of the fifteenth century. Instead of comparing the experiences of the
Pastons to their peers, Richmond established the Pastons as the archetype of the
gentry. For example, in noting the long life of matriarch Agnes, Richmond
described the impact this had on her children, specifically her eldest son, John
Paston I.45 With Agnes alive, John I had a smaller inheritance, for one-third of the
family lands were committed to maintaining the livelihood of his mother as
dowager. Rather than offering examples of similar situations, Richmond noted
that a majority of the widows of the gentry often survived their husbands by a
number of years, stating, “all, therefore, seems to be true to fifteenth-century
43 Richmond, The First Phase, ix.
44 Ibid., x.
45 Richmond, Fastolf’s will, 8.
23
English gentry form.”46 Richmond neither supported nor verified his claim. In
fact, this weakness is evident throughout volumes one and two, The First Phase
and Fastolf’s will. Therefore, while Richmond created a detailed history of the
Pastons’ lives and experiences, his assumptions regarding them as the archetypal
gentry family in Medieval England may be overreaching. The narrative style of
these volumes compromises his argument, by not contextualizing the Paston’s
experiences with those of a similar status. In spite of this weakness, Richmond’s
committed focus to explaining the lives of the Pastons created a broad history of
the family, providing a basis for a deeper contextual examination into specific
elements of the family. Through the works of individuals such as Bennett and
Richmond, the lives of the Pastons are widely known, creating a foundation for
further research into both this family specifically and the gentry more generally.
As we have seen, the details found in the Paston Letters have encouraged
the composition of a number of historical studies focused on the experiences of the
family and also how they viewed fifteenth-century politics, economics, and
society.47 However, of the scholarship previously produced on the Pastons, no
study has examined the impact that courtesy literature had on the Paston women,
particularly Agnes and Margaret, and the way that their adherence to such ideals
allowed them to participate in the growing gentry culture of fifteenth-century
46 Ibid.
47 The Pastons have been examined by historians in a number of contexts. Below is a list of some
good examples of the variety of scholarship produced using the Paston Letters. For more information on the
lives of the Paston family, see: Helen Castor, Blood and Roses: One Family’s Struggle and Triumph
During England’s Tumultuous Wars of the Roses (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006) and Frances
and Joseph Gies, A Medieval Family: The Pastons of Fifteenth-Century England (New York:
HarperCollins Publishers, 1998). For a condensed discussion of the experiences of the Pastons and the
context of their letters, see: Charles W. Turner, “The Paston Letters,” The Sewanee Review 5, no. 4 (Oct.
1897): 425-437. For an example of how the details found in the Paston Letters have been used to explain
the lives of individuals in fifteenth-century England, see: Peter Fleming, Family and Household in
Medieval England (New York: Palgrave, 2001).
24
England. In the remainder of this study I focus on understanding both the rising
gentry class and the ways in which women like Agnes and Margaret Paston
contributed to the group’s culture through their adherence to idealized behavior as
presented in contemporary courtesy literature. In Chapter 1, I examine the
background of the Paston family and their efforts to raise the status of the family.
Additionally, I detail the Pastons’ means of social mobility, including how they
were able to capitalize on the social turmoil of the fifteenth century, thus gaining
land, wealth, and political power. In Chapter 2, I narrow the focus to Agnes and
Margaret Paston, examining the manner in which each presented herself in her
letters. I then compare the idealized images presented in contemporary conduct
manuals with the way the Paston women constructed the thoughts in their letters.
This comparison demonstrates the importance of such advice and its impact on
how women used such presentations to enhance their family’s social position.
Agnes and Margaret Paston both contributed to the establishment of the gentry as
a distinct social entity, proved through their adherence to behavior adopted by the
gentry as a group. The Paston women were not alone in their efforts, as evidenced
by the use of proper behavior by other women in families similarly working to
establish themselves amongst the gentry. These aspiring women’s choices to
exhibit proper behavior illustrates that women did have an active role in the
creation of a unified gentry culture.
The Paston family survived the tumult of the political situation of fifteenthcentury England, navigating its economic and social situation to increase their
status and wealth. The Paston men were not the only members responsible for the
rise of the family; Agnes and Margaret participated in activities, including the
exhibition of proper behavior, to establish the family in a better social position.
This adherence to proper behavior, which women in a similar position also
25
displayed, demonstrates the ways society impacted the development of the gentry
as a distinct group. The experiences of the Paston Letters thus provide the
perspective of one family and how they fit into this development of the gentry as a
separate social group.
CHAPTER 2: THE ENGLISH GENTRY IN THE FIFTEENTHCENTURY: PROFESSIONS, WEALTH, AND SOCIAL
MOBILITY
The Paston family desired to secure their position amongst the landed elite
of England. In this respect, they were hardly unusual amongst the gentry
population. Social and political changes in the landscape of Late Medieval
England encouraged movement between social classes. A growing number of
professionals, significant to the evolving nature of the government, desired to
parlay their social position as they became increasingly important in the political
world.1 As a member of this growing professional class, William Paston
established a legal practice which allowed him to begin the process of acquiring
land.2 Land remained the key element in determining position, power, and status,
and amassing it was a necessary precursor for William and other professionals to
achieve high status. In addition to obtaining land, there were many other elements
vital to securing a family’s position in the gentry. Behavior and manners might
demonstrate a family’s social quality, as well. The exhibition of polite behavior,
an element of the process of gentrification, allowed the nouveau riche of the
professional classes to show that they were worthy members of the gentry, in spite
of any questionable family lineages or other obstacles. All members of the Paston
family, male and female, recognized the importance of proper behavior as a
supplement to their efforts in acquiring land. The adoption of these processes of
gentrification allowed the Pastons to, in a sense, “rewrite” their family genealogy,
enabling them to participate in the developing gentry culture.
1Peter Coss, The Origins of the English Gentry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003),
200.
2Colin Richmond, The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: The First Phase (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996), 23.
27
This manifestation of proper behavior, along with the acquisition of land,
was critical in the process of gentrification, and also the defining of the gentry as a
social class, distinct from the nobility and the peasantry. The origins of the gentry
class has been hotly debated amongst historians, with some tracing its origins as
far back as Anglo-Saxon England, while others have argued that the gentry
coalesced as a class much later, really in the sixteenth century, further defining
itself socially, politically, and economically thereafter.3 With the varying dates for
the origins of the gentry, it becomes difficult to trace the beginnings of the group
as a social and political entity. Recognizing the debatable origins of the gentry,
Peter Coss places the development of the gentry in the political context of Late
Medieval England, arguing that the growing royal government encouraged the
formation of a lesser nobility to fill the new positions it created, particularly as a
result of the exigencies of war.4 Coss supports this through an examination of the
rising influence of the Commons and the involvement of the localities in the
government. Christine Carpenter similarly recognizes the importance of this time
to the development of the gentry. In studying the dynamics of the landed elite in
Warwickshire, Carpenter clearly establishes the fifteenth century as a time of
change and expansion for the gentry.5 Although studying a single county,
3 For a brief example of an argument for the earlier establishment of the gentry see, John
Gillingham, “From Civilitas to Civility: Codes of Manners in Medieval and Early Modern England,”
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth Series, 12, (2002): 267-289. Describing the concept of
courtesy literature, Gillingham argued that a focus on polite behavior emerged in manuals beginning in the
twelfth century. For Gillingham, these instruction manuals in the twelfth century were connected to
instructing the population on how to be gentle, which he believed was connected to the concurrent rise of
the English gentleman.
4 Coss, The Origins of the English Gentry, 15.
5 Christine Carpenter, Locality and Polity: A Study of Warwickshire Landed Society, 1401-1499
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 17-95. In her chapter, “Who Were the Gentry?”
Carpenter compares the situation of the Warwickshire gentry at three different years throughout the
fifteenth century, 1410, 1436, and 1500. Carpenter clearly establishes an evolution of the landed elite at
28
Carpenter’s analysis can be utilized in various parts of England, including the
county of Norfolk where the Pastons exhibited their ambitions. For D.A.L.
Morgan, however, the fifteenth century marked the establishment of the gentry as
separate from the lower classes, particularly the yeomen, by giving the gentleman
“the exercise of rule.”6 Changes in government allowed the lesser nobility, which
was increasingly identified as the gentry, to establish itself as an entity separate
from the nobility and peasantry. It was this opportunity for growth and
improvement that allowed the Pastons the chance to better the position of their
family.
In order to understand the evolution of the gentry in England, it is important
to recognize the dynamics of the population that constituted the group. According
to Coss, there are three major elements that define the gentry: land, territoriality,
and a feeling of social difference.7 In regards to the feelings of social difference,
Coss argues that the gentry was determined by the existence of the nobility.8 By
the mid-fifteenth century, likely feeling threatened by those attempting to usurp
their elevated positions, the nobility became increasingly stratified, creating newly
classified groups to separate the gentry from the nobility.9 The gentry looked to
the nobility for guidance as to how to behave as a member of the upper echelons
of society while the nobility increasingly separated themselves from the rising
these varying points throughout the century, but suggests that it was this period that solidified the position
of the gentry in local and national society.
6 D.A.L. Morgan, “The Individual Style of the English Gentleman,” in Gentry and Lesser Nobility
in Late Medieval Europe, ed. Michael Jones (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986), 19.
7 Peter Coss, “The Formation of the English Gentry,” Past and Present, no. 147 (May, 1995): 4748.
8 Ibid., 48.
9 K. B. McFarlane, The Nobility of Later Medieval England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973),
122.
29
professionals. However, for the gentry, the nobility continued to be a model
whose actions the gentry often imitated to solidify their standing. For example,
those aspiring to the gentry often looked to the ranks of the nobility for ways to
acquire property. Although the well established families often possessed a variety
of reasons for selling their land, childlessness was one of the most compelling
reasons for parting with family property.10 For those desiring to gain land, and the
status that accompanied it, the failure of a family line provided an opportunity to
increase income and position. Furthermore, the nobility provided the ideal image
to which the rising families aspired, and obtaining property constituted the first
concrete manifestations of increasing one’s status.
Along with the numerous families who desired to be a part of the elite, the
Pastons recognized the importance of land possession to self-presentation. As a
lawyer, William Paston recognized the connection between land and status, and
began the process of procuring property with the money he earned in the legal
profession.11 Professional earnings enabled men such as William to purchase a
better life, especially through obtaining material goods that were previously
reserved for the nobility.12 With high aspirations, William undertook the process
of acquiring land from those who had it, and as a lawyer, he understood the ways
that the law could be used to achieve a desired result. It is possible that William
utilized devious means in trying to obtain land, especially from those he deemed
vulnerable. Helen Castor notes that “the political, social, and financial value of
manorial land was such that no one would willingly relinquish any sort of a claim
10 Chris Given-Wilson, The English Nobility in the Late Middle Ages (London: Routledge, 1996),
129.
11 Richmond, The First Phase, 23.
12 R. H. Gretton, The English Middle Class (London: G. Bell and Sons, LTD., 1917), 10.
30
to its possession, and the heirs of whoever sold the property, or of those who had
owned it in the past – even the distant past – might allege that they had been
unlawfully deprived of their rights.”13 While gaining manorial land was
particularly important to those desiring to raise their social status, the process
could be difficult and costly. As a lawyer, William had at his disposal legal means
that could be used to gain land in the most efficient way. Yet doing so was not
without potential conflict.
The ambition of the Pastons for power, land, and prestige was not always
received well by those around them, particularly those that the family had
manipulated in order to achieve their goals. William was particularly astute at this
game, and in the process, created certain enemies. For example, in a petition to
King Henry VI, Juliane Herberd “widue, or Norwyche, doughter and heire to
Henry Herbard and to Margaret his wyf” accused William of depriving her “of a
mesuage with xix acres of lande arable, vij acres of heth, with the appurtenauncez,
in Plumsted.”14 William, after offering a sum that Juliane believed was too little
for her property, “by fals emaginacion sodeynly sent the same Juliane vnto prison
to one of the countours of London, and there kept hire in prison xiij nyghtes and
more, feterid by bothe feet, and thretenyd the same Juliane to kepe hir there all the
dayes of her lyffe.”15 From Juliane’s descriptions, William was painted as a
sinister man who was willing to do whatever was necessary in order to gain the
property that he desired, even if it meant taking advantage of a defenseless widow.
In one of William’s few remaining personal letters, he referred to the situation
13 Helen Castor, Blood and Roses: One Family’s Struggle and Triumph During England’s
Tumultuous Wars of the Roses (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2006), 36.
14 Norman Davis, ed., Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century, vol. II (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1976), no. 870.
15 Ibid.
31
with Juliane when asking for deliverance from three of his enemies, of which
Juliane was one. In William’s words, “I haue nought trespassed a-geyn noon of
these iij, God knowith, and yet I am foule and noysyngly vexed with hem to my
gret vnease.”16 The opinion of Juliane and William obviously differed regarding
the situation. Yet the issue does not hinge on which party was giving an accurate
retelling of the situation. Instead, the character of William and his strong desire
for land was demonstrated through his involvement and treatment of Juliane
Herberd. William was far more concerned with the landed status of his family
than in the treatment of a lowly widow; he knew that possessing property was in
the long term a more critical manifestation of wealth and status. It is possible that
in this situation William acted as a greedy newcomer, thinking first of himself and
his family while ignoring the livelihood of a widow. If Juliane’s version of events
is accurate, it did not matter to William that he had to take drastic measures in
order to obtain her land. William’s letter regarding the situation demonstrates that
he believed he did not do anything wrong, and if he did recognize the
unlawfulness of his actions, he clearly showed no remorse for the measures taken.
Regardless of the implications, William participated in strong actions to obtain the
property that he desired.
For members of the rising professional class, land was a commodity that
was desired precisely because it could be passed on to future generations, who
then could work to further strengthen the family name. In regard to the Pastons, a
fixation on increasing the family estate and status was passed on from William to
not only his male children, but also to his wife Agnes and his sons’ wives,
especially his daughter-in-law Margaret. In a letter encouraging her son John I to
16 Norman Davis, ed., Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century, vol. I (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1971), no. 4.
32
acquire more land, Agnes opined that “John Dam told me that þe Lady Boys will
selle a place called Halys, but he seith sche speketh it prevyly and seith it is not
tayled; as John Dam knoweth will, she hath seide as largely of oþer thyng þat hath
not be so.”17 Agnes had learned of the possibility that Lady Boys wished to sell
some of her property, and informing John of this rumor would allow him to take
the opportunity to convince Lady Boys that she did indeed want to sell her land.
Gaining property appeared to be a point of focus for Agnes in 1452, for in the
same letter she similarly noted to John that John Dam “herd seyn Sere John Fastolf
hath sold Heylysdon to Boleyn of London, and if it be so it semeth he will selle
more; wherefore I preye you, as ye will haue my loue and my blissyng, þat ye will
helpe and do youre deuer that sumthyng were purchased for youre ij bretheren.”18
For Agnes, the fact that John Fastolf had recently sold some property meant that
he was likely to be willing to sell more in the near future.19 Acquiring such land
would not only increase the immediate situation of John, but it would also allow
for the provision of his younger brothers. Agnes was concerned with the overall
image of the heir of the Paston family; however, she wanted her younger sons to
be similarly provided for. Agnes clearly understood William’s desire to increase
the family landholdings and she continued to pursue this goal after his death.
17 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 25.
18 Ibid.
19 Sir John Fastolf was an individual who would ultimately influence the efforts of the Paston
family. Fastolf fought in France during the Hundred Years War and he gathered extensive wealth in both
England and France from his service. He was a distant relative of Margaret Paston, and John I’s marriage to
Margaret introduced Fastolf to the Pastons. John I served Fastolf near the end of his life, and it is the
dispute over Fastolf’s inheritance that occupied much of the energy of the Paston family after Fastolf’s
death. For more information on Sir John Fastolf, see: Helen Castor, Blood and Roses: One Family’s
Struggle and Triumph During England’s Tumultuous Wars of the Roses (New York: HarperCollins
Publishers, 2006), especially 136-161, Frances and Joseph Gies, A Medieval Family: The Pastons of
Fifteenth-Century England (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1998), especially 99-161, and Colin
Richmond, The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: Fastolf’s will (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1996.
33
William and Agnes instilled in their children a desire for property in order to
solidify the family’s status as members of the gentry and not just residents of the
rising professional class.
Purchase was not the only method for the gentry to obtain land and
prestige. In families with high aspirations, marriage was an avenue through which
they could easily increase their landholdings and their status. Reoccurrence of
plague during the late fourteenth century, and the general tendency for aristocratic
lines to fail often left heiresses rather than heirs in charge of the family property.20
These heiresses became a desirable commodity for status building purposes.
Making a successful marriage match became increasingly important, for the right
decision “could provide an alliance with a family which had influence with the
king or the nobility, standing and power in the locality, social status, money and
lands, and it was through marriage that the family name and patrimony were
maintained.”21 The stakes were relatively high in obtaining a beneficial marriage
match, but for those seeking to increase their social status, the time and effort
devoted to securing a beneficial marriage was vitally important.
The marriage game was one that the Pastons understood well. Beginning
with the founding ambitions of William, the Pastons strove in successive
generations to secure propitious marriages for themselves and their children. The
marriages of William to Agnes Barry, and their son John I’s marriage to Margaret
Mautby were especially important to the rise of the Paston family.22 Agnes was
an heiress whose marriage settlement included valuable lands around Paston, near
20 S.J. Payling, “Social Mobility, Demographic Change, and Landed Society in Late Medieval
England,” The Economic History Review 45, no. 1 (Feb., 1992): 52.
21 Peter Fleming, Family and Household in Medieval England (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 31.
22 Richmond, The First Phase, 117.
34
those added by William through the property market.23 William’s marriage to
Agnes had improved the standing of the family early on in its rise into the gentry;
however, it was the marriage of his heir John I to Margaret that ultimately proved
more beneficial to the ambitions of the family. The marriage of their son John was
obviously of great importance to both William and Agnes, for in reporting to her
husband about the initial meeting between John and Margaret, Agnes wrote that
“as for þe furste aqweyntaunce be-twhen John Paston and þe seyde
gentilwomman, she made hym gentil chere in gyntyl wyse and seyde he was
verrayly yowre son. And so I hope þer shal nede no gret treté be-twyxe hym.”24
Similar to her mother-in-law, Margaret was the heiress of her father’s property,
although the property that she brought was more significant and more important
than those contributed by Agnes.25 Aside from providing additional lands to the
Paston family, Margaret also placed her husband in a position to make connections
with her father’s powerful friends, including Sir John Fastolf, whose acquaintance
would prove decisive to the fate of the family.26 The addition of Agnes and
Margaret to the family benefitted their husbands with additional property and
prestige during their lifetimes, and in this respect, William and John made
successful matches to strengthen their ambitions. These Paston women were vital
to the initial social advancement of the family. Yet Agnes and Margaret provided
more than physical assets to the family, and as heiresses of the landed elite, they
recognized the varied elements that went into being members of the upper
23H.S. Bennett, The Pastons and their England: Studies in an Age of Transition (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1951), 2.
24 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 13.
25 Richmond, The First Phase, 121.
26 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, xliv.
35
echelons of English society. In more than one respect, the Paston women aided
their husbands in establishing the family in the ranks of the gentry.
The Pastons were not the only rising family that worked the marriage
market to their advantage. Evidence from extant sets of gentry letters confirms
this general point. The correspondence of the Plumpton family, for example,
demonstrates a similar desire of the male heads of the family to secure
advantageous matches for their children.27 Unlike the Pastons, the Plumptons
contracted early marriages for their children, generally involving girls younger
than twelve and boys younger than fifteen.28 For example, Sir William
Plumpton’s first marriage to Elizabeth Stapleton was arranged by his parents in
1416 when both were still in their minorities.29 Taking an active hand in the
marriages of his descendants, Sir William capitalized on the heiress status of his
two granddaughters, Margaret and Elizabeth, in order to obtain advantageous
marriages and thereby promote family interests after the death of his legitimate
heir.30 Both girls were still young at the time of their marriages, and their matches
were clearly manipulated by Sir William. The control of Sir William over his
granddaughters was evident in a letter addressed to him from Bryan Rocliffe, the
father of John Rocliffe who eventually married Margaret Plumpton. Recognizing
the youth of Margaret, Bryan Rocliffe noted that “your daughter any myn, with
humble recomendations, desireth your blessing, and speaketh prattely and French
27 These letters are compiled in: Thomas Stapleton, ed., Plumpton Correspondence: A Series of
Letters, chiefly domestick, written in the reigns of Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII, and Henry VIII
(London: Johnson Reprint Company, 1968).
28 Keith Dockray, “Why Did Fifteenth-Century English Gentry Marry?: The Pastons, Plumptons
and Stonors Reconsidered,” in Gentry and Lesser Nobility in Late Medieval Europe, ed. Michael Jones
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986), 64.
29 Stapleton, ed., Plumpton Correspondence, xliii.
30 Dockray, “Why Did Fifteenth-Century English Gentry Marry?”, 67.
36
and hath near hand learned her sawter. Sir, Henry Suthill hath knowledge of her
feofment, as a man tould me secretyly, but for all that I trust all shalbe well.”31 Sir
William took great pains to secure the betrothal of his granddaughter Margaret,
while keeping this agreement secret in order to solidify a marriage for Elizabeth.
His decisions were clearly calculated, devised in such a way as to strengthen the
position and prospects of the family. For the Plumptons, marriage was a
commodity that was capitalized on in both the matches of male and female
children. During his lifetime, the marriage matches of his descendants were
extremely important to Sir William, particularly regarding how these marriage
connections could strengthen his position politically and socially. For gentry
families, like the Pastons and the Plumptons, the marriage market was a valuable
commodity that could be utilized to their own advantage to further their family
interests, both financial and social.
Marriage provided one avenue for ambitious families such as the Pastons to
gain access to the land, prestige, and connections that were necessary to solidify
their position in the gentry. However, marriage was not the only element required
to gain entry into the higher social classes. Coss argues that the power of the
gentry was territorial in nature, as determined through four components which he
termed “collective identity, status gradation, local public office and authority over
the populace.”32 It was through these four elements that the gentry formed a
unified group identity during the Late Middle Ages. As a lesser nobility, the
gentry needed the nobility to define its existence. Building on this foundation,
through the development of a group identity based on status, the gentry separated
31 Stapleton, ed., Plumpton Correspondence, 8.
32 Coss, “The Formation of the English Gentry,” 48.
37
themselves from the nobles, yeomen, and the peasants. From this argument, we
can define the gentry as a land-owning group, dependant on the existence of the
nobility, whose members possessed a territorial focus that allowed the group to
develop a common identity due to their shared experiences and conditions. Yet
the beginnings of the gentry encompassed an evolution of traits and
characteristics, and the process was not instantaneous. To solidify their exalted
position in society, this land-owning class needed to establish itself as a group
distinct from other elements of the English population. In order to unify, the
gentry required a shared set of characteristics to publicly mark their positions as
superior and worthy of owning land. Thus a development of a gentry culture by
the group was meant to develop their position as separate from the rest of society,
including those higher and lower in status. Through learned traits such as proper
behavior, the gentry created a unified public front that embodied a prospering
middling class located squarely between the peasants and nobility.
The process of solidifying the gentry as a class with significant prominence
in English society required the development of standard actions and characteristics
which the group would possess as a whole. This gentrification process allowed for
the adoption of a gentry culture among its members which clearly delineated them
from the rest of society. In explaining the varied elements that went into the
creation of a civilized population, Norbert Elias argues the importance of the
concept of good behavior during the Middle Ages. Elias hypothesizes that
“through it [good behavior] the secular upper class of the Middle Ages, or at least
some of its leading groups, gave expression to their self-image, to what, in their
own estimation, made them exceptional.”33 The social elites used good behavior,
33 Norbert Elias, The Civilizing Process: Sociogenetic and Psychogenetic Investigations, trans.
Edmund Jephcott (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2000), 54.
38
and their knowledge of it, to demonstrate to the rest of society that they were
superior and deserved recognition. Combined with other elements, the concept of
good behavior was an important aspect that encouraged the evolution of a gentry
culture in England.
The manifestation of noble traits, such as good behavior, was important for
those families seeking a position among the gentry. Yet the question remains,
how did these aspiring members become educated on the types of public behavior
that society deemed appropriate? In England, the Late Middle Ages marked a
time of expanding literacy, specifically in the number of people who could copy,
understand, and write documents.34 As a group with a number of rising
professionals, who acquired literacy skills for their profession, reading and writing
was particularly important to the formation and solidification of the gentry. Yet
the gentry did not utilize their literacy for purely professional pursuits. To
demonstrate their higher social status, the gentry also used their literacy as a way
to distinguish themselves from the peasants and yeomen. In fact, “there also
seems to have been an increasingly strong desire to establish a group identity
through ‘literary’ cultural pursuits, such as recreational reading and writing,
sometimes in an attempt to emulate the activities of the nobility.”35 By leisurely
participation in the literary realm, the gentry found ways to not only mirror the
activities of the nobility but also to create an identity of their own. These rising
professionals learned literary skills in order to further their education and business
pursuits, however, they were similarly able to utilize them to increase their status.
34 John Nelson Miner, “Schools and Literacy in Later Medieval England,” British Journal of
Educational Studies 11, no. 1 (Nov., 1962): 16.
35 Alison Truelove, “Literacy,” in Gentry Culture in Late Medieval England, ed. Raluca
Radulescu and Alison Truelove (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), 85.
39
Reading and writing allowed members of the gentry to communicate more easily
with one another, and in the process exchange ideas regarding what it meant to be
a part of their social class. This increase in literacy, especially among the socially
elite, encouraged the rise of a network focused on the solidification of the gentry
as a superior class.
In their climb up the social ladder, aspiring gentlemen, such as the Pastons,
were required to demonstrate the outward manifestations of the elite through a
variety of methods. As a community and individually, these rising professionals
“were seeking a recognition hitherto reserved for the noble class, and in pursuit of
this honor were acquiring and displaying objects and behaviors of authority that
were traditionally noble.”36 One of the easiest ways for the aspiring gentry to
demonstrate their new social status was through imitating the nobility’s behaviors
and habits of consumption.37 One way these traits were communicated was
through conduct manuals. Owning conduct manuals not only provided the gentry
with the status marker of possessing books, but they also instructed the gentry on
the manners that the nobility exhibited on a daily basis. The ability of these rising
professionals to read allowed them to gather the skills and appearance that was
expected of those belonging to the social elite.
The expansion of literacy was therefore critical, not only for professional
but social reasons. Reading and writing were particularly valuable to those on the
fringe of the gentry who desired to establish their social status. Specifically, as
36 Mark Addison Amos, “‘For Manners Make Men’: Bourdieu, De Certeau, and the Common
Appropriation of Noble Manners in the Book of Courtesy,” in Medieval Conduct, ed. Kathleen Ashley and
Robert L.A. Clark (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001): 26.
37 For a further discussion of the changes in English consumption during the Late Medieval and
Early Modern Periods see, Keith Thomas, The Ends of Life: Roads to Fulfilment in Early Modern England
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). Chapter Four, “Wealth and Possessions,” is particularly relevant
as it discusses the changing nature of goods and consumption and how they contributed to social hierarchy.
40
Philippa Maddern says, there existed “a flourishing genre of late medieval
instructive poetry and conduct literature explicitly aimed to teach aspiring
gentlemen/women how to achieve a rise in status.”38 Families wishing to better
their position, such as the Pastons, could receive instruction from a number of
manuals concerning the behavior and attitudes that were considered acceptable for
members of the gentry. Yet in order to learn of these traits, instructional manuals
needed to be distributed not only amongst elites, but also to those aspiring to enter
elite society. Recognizing the market for romances and conduct manuals, William
Caxton encouraged the distribution of his works of French and English romances
by persuading the gentry to read his works, resulting in a wide circulation.39 Far
from altruistic, for Caxton, the distribution of his romances and instructional
works was a business, and circulating his works among the emerging gentry
proved to be a rewarding venture, for all of the parties involved with these
manuals. Discussing the opportunity available to Caxton to establish his printing
business at the time he did, H.S. Bennett notes the increasing literacy of the
English population, particularly the vernacular, which encouraged the distribution
of more texts.40 Recognizing the opportunity, Caxton “found a considerable
reading public available, and secondly he found that this public had been
accustomed for half a century at least to read matters of all kind. Caxton had only
to reap where others had sown.”41 A larger reading public, especially among
38 Philippa Maddern, “Gentility,” in Gentry Culture in Late Medieval England, ed. Raluca
Radulescu and Alison Truelove (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), 26.
39 Raluca Radulescu, “Literature,” in Gentry Culture in Late Medieval England, ed. Raluca
Radulescu and Alison Truelove (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), 105.
40 H.S. Bennett, “Caxton and His Public,” The Review of English Studies 19, no. 74 (Apr., 1943):
113.
41 Ibid., 119.
41
those desiring to establish themselves in the gentry, allowed Caxton to establish a
printing business that successfully distributed information through books and
manuals. His work in turn enabled the aspiring gentry to gain the knowledge they
believed necessary to strengthen their claims to status and power.
Indeed, it was the gentry, and aspiring members of the gentry, that best
utilized their literacy. Bennett argues that country gentlemen “evidently began to
feel that the possession of a few books was a thing demanded by his position, if
not by his own tastes.”42 The possession of books, no matter their subject,
outwardly confirmed the status and wealth of the owner. Yet the value of the book
to the gentry was not merely in its possession, content mattered also, for “books
were a channel through which gentry culture could travel and hence they
contributed to moulding a group consciousness … [for] books allowed members
of a circle to keep in touch with one another.”43 Printed literature was critical in
the transmission of attitudes. The passing of books from family to family allowed
aspiring gentry to share ideas with each other about propriety, behavior, and even
such things as terminology. These shared thoughts greatly facilitated the
development of a common culture among these individuals and their families.
The increased spreading of information through the sharing of books among the
rising professionals contributed greatly to the establishment of the gentry as a
distinct social entity during the course of the fifteenth century, one distinguished
not merely by land or profession, but increasingly by shared cultural values.
The Pastons recognized the importance of literacy in their quest to solidify
their position among the gentry. Evidence suggesting the possession of books by
42 Ibid., 114-115.
43 Deborah Youngs, “Cultural networks,” in Gentry Culture in Late Medieval England, ed.
Raluca Radulescu and Alison Truelove (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), 120.
42
early generations of the Paston family is sparse; however, there is evidence that in
1434 Agnes possessed a copy of the Stimulus Conscientiae, which was loaned to
her by Robert Cupper.44 Agnes’ possession of this book suggested her
acknowledgement of the importance of books in regard to the instruction of her
family and also in the Paston’s participation in the larger, developing gentry
culture. In particular, Agnes may have distilled in her descendants the importance
of reading and book ownership. Her grandson, John II, appeared to take the
family’s love of learning and books to heart. In a letter from William Ebesham to
John II, Ebesham asked to be paid the remainder due to him for the work he
performed for John II.45 Ebesham listed the literary works done for John II, and
included in the list is “the Grete Booke, first for wrytyng of the Coronacion and
other tretys of knyghthode.”46 John II was clearly interested in obtaining written
works, as he had employed Ebesham to copy a number of texts for him. Although
the specific contents of the Great Book remain a mystery, it appeared that the
compilations included works concerning the activities and characteristics of
knighthood. In this way, John II recognized the importance of exhibiting behavior
proper for a knight. Beginning with Agnes, there is a record of the participation of
the Pastons in literate society as it contributed to the development of a gentry
culture. This participation in the gentry culture was continued through subsequent
members of the family, such as John II, who not only enjoyed books but also
recognized the instructional elements present in conduct manuals. These manuals
served the twofold purpose of demonstrating the wealth of a family while
44 Bennett, The Pastons and Their England, 110-111.
45 Davis, ed., Paston Letters II, no. 755.
46 Ibid.
43
instructing those on the rise about the behaviors and traits that were necessary in
order to belong amongst the social elites.
Families such as the Pastons aspiring to the gentry class possessed a
number of tools which aided in their rise in society. Such families benefitted from
a growing government that required a larger workforce to maintain and expand its
national power.47 The need of the crown for a larger professional class of subjects
not only encouraged its growth, but also increased the social standing of those who
filled these vital posts. Through activities such as the acquisition of land and
beneficial marriages, aspiring families achieved the outward manifestations of
being members of the upper echelons of society. However, these outward
possessions meant nothing if ambitious individuals did not exhibit the behavior
considered proper for those of the higher social classes. By obtaining conduct
manuals aimed at instructing individuals on every aspect of proper behavior,
ranging from table manners to the deportment of one’s self in a variety of
situations, aspiring families gained insight into the details of what it meant to be a
member of the gentry class. As more individuals subscribed to these tenets, the
attitudes and behaviors in these manuals further solidified the evolving identity of
the gentry class as a whole. It is in this developing gentry culture that we truly
begin to understand the multifaceted elements that went into the establishment of
the gentry as a distinct social class during the Late Middle Ages in England.
As the heads of the household, men such as William Paston were vital
instruments in the social rise of a family. Taking advantage of the increasing
status of the professional class, ambitious men often exploited the social and legal
47 For a more complete discussion of the evolution of the English government and law see,
Anthony Musson and W.M. Ormrod, The Evolution of English Justice: Law, Politics and Society in the
Fourteenth Century, British Studies Series, ed. Jeremy Black (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999).
44
situations in their localities. Through his professional knowledge, William was
able to elevate his family to a position of stability within the bounds of the gentry
class. However, the actions of individuals such as William were not the only
elements that allowed for the rise in stature of a family. Women, like Agnes and
Margaret Paston, contributed to not only the elevation of the status of the family
but also to the overall development of a larger gentry class in England. Through
their words, as they survive in their remaining letters, we gain an image of the
importance of the efforts of the Paston women in the rise of the family. Men such
as William may have instigated the establishment of the family fortunes, but it was
the continued efforts, especially after his death, of Agnes and Margaret that both
stabilized their family and furthered it on its social climb. Without the continued
focus of these two women, the Paston family could have easily fallen from its
newly gained position of status. We turn now to the directing efforts of these
women in order to understand both the manner in which women contributed to the
emerging gentry culture and how their actions conformed to the image of proper
female behavior as presented in the conduct manuals which aimed to teach these
women what it meant to be considered gentle.
CHAPTER 3: THE IDEAL WOMAN: FEMALE EXERCISES OF
GENTILITY
In their quest for gentility, the Paston family utilized the art of letter-writing
not only to communicate with one another but also as a way to participate in the
emerging gentry culture. Letters were one acceptable outlet for women to
communicate their experiences and opinions to others. Agnes and Margaret
Paston utilized the letter format not only to communicate information to other
members of the family; they also created through it an image of themselves and
their daily lives as impacted by both social and political factors. Evidenced in
their letters, the Paston women, particularly Agnes and Margaret, often directed
the family’s affairs, a result of their long lives and determined personalities. As
dowagers, Agnes and Margaret were able to guide the family because they
outlived their respective husbands by decades: Agnes survived William by thirtyfive years, while Margaret lived for another eighteen years after the death of John
I.1 As widows, Agnes and Margaret assumed the role of the head of household, to
a great degree directing the lives of their children and the further expansion of
family interests. Thus, while William and John I each increased the social
standing and wealth of the Paston family by marrying Agnes and Margaret, Agnes
and Margaret also contributed much to the position of the Pastons, notably in
securing the family’s social position amongst the gentry.
Clearly, in the Paston’s exercise of gentrification, women also played a
crucial role. In this process, Agnes and Margaret Paston exhibited gentle
behaviors in two very distinct ways. First, and most easily recognized in their
letters, Agnes and Margaret acted like the gentry through the actual protection and
1 Norman Davis, ed., Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century, vol. I (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1971), liii, liv, lv, lvi.
46
expansion of the Paston family assets. Initially, they were each wives who
expanded their husbands’ assets by marrying into the Paston family. However,
Agnes and Margaret often participated in maintaining family affairs when their
husbands were away; the Paston men were often required to be away from the
family home due to their professional duties in London or because of death.
Agnes and Margaret thus served as surrogates for their respective husbands, a
position of prominence that became more permanent upon reaching widowhood.
Specifically, Agnes and Margaret directed the affairs of the Paston family,
concretely working to solidify the status of the family. Secondly, these women
exhibited gentility in a representational way. Through their letters, Agnes and
Margaret Paston personified the ideal woman of the rising gentry as depicted in
contemporary conduct manuals. A close reading of these women’s letters reveals
the ways in which they each exhibited gentility by appropriating elements of the
ideal woman in their letters. By demonstrating behavioral traits which defined the
ideal gentlewoman, like wifely obedience, Agnes and Margaret showed not only
that they understood the instructions presented in conduct manuals, but also that
they could utilize such behavior to confirm the increased status of their family.
Furthermore, Agnes and Margaret presented themselves as pious women, claiming
for themselves the piety, wealth, and leisure time that came to represent the gentry.
The provision for one’s soul was a public display of an individual’s wealth and
status, and including these religious motives in their letters shows the commitment
of Agnes and Margaret to, at least outwardly, behave like the gentry. Through
these activities, the Paston women embodied physical and representative images
of the gentry.
This chapter examines Agnes and Margaret Paston’s letters, particularly the
way they presented themselves in them. The concrete ways which these women
47
influenced the Paston family and their rise into the gentry are discussed first,
establishing the obvious impact that Agnes and Margaret had on their family.
Their position as wives, and especially as widows, illustrates the actions of Agnes
and Margaret while establishing the ideal roles of the English gentlewoman. Next,
the representational behaviors of these women are examined. Agnes and Margaret
likely learned gentle behavior from contemporary conduct manuals, and their selfpresentation in their letters shows how learned images of proper behavior were
utilized to increase and solidify their status, particularly through the outward
projection of gentility. Such representational images are not definitive; instead,
they suggest ways in which Agnes and Margaret exercised gentility in their daily
lives. Agnes and Margaret Paston’s letters provide detailed information about the
lives of gentlewomen and the development of the gentry in fifteenth-century
England. Offering such a wealth of information, their letters need to be more than
superficially read; they need to be placed in the context of the social elements of
the time to show how Agnes and Margaret were a part of the gentry and how they
used gentility to participate in the establishment of the group.
As discussed in previous chapters, the Pastons, including Agnes and
Margaret, lived at a time of increased social mobility in England, enabling the
family to take advantage of opportunities to rise in prominence, a subject which
dominates a number of their letters. Yet, as women, Agnes and Margaret were
limited by social expectations as defined by fifteenth-century standards. For
example, regardless of a family’s stature, women generally did not learn many of
the basic skills that their male counterparts did. Specifically, education was
limited for women of all classes; often they did not possess basic literacy.2
2 Eileen Power, Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 (Cheshire: Biblo and Tannen, 1988),
238, 244. Power suggests that even in convents, where women were allowed to enter a profession by
48
Furthermore, grammar schools in Late Medieval England were primarily focused
on the education of their male pupils, leaving girls to find instruction in convents,
where education was generally sparse, or in a private home.3 Faced with these
limitations, women did not receive even those skills considered basic for men,
such as rudimentary reading and writing. A limited education was the reality for
women like Agnes and Margaret Paston, in spite of their social status. Though the
fifteenth century in England presented opportunities to increase the status of
families, at the same time there were limits on the prospects of women even in
upwardly mobile families.
In their limited educational opportunities, learning to read was an
individual pursuit for girls and women of any social class; medieval society
generally discouraged teaching women to read, and as a whole, the education of
women focused on obtaining other skills.4 Indeed, the courtesy literature of both
Geoffroy de La Tour Landry and the Ménagier of Paris discusses contemporary
conventions of educating girls and women. In The Knight of the Tower, La Tour
Landry alternately criticizes and praises education for women. In writing to his
daughters, he notes “that as for wrytyng it is no force / yf a woman can nought of
hit but as for redynge I saye that good and prouffytable is to al.”5 Reading was for
La Tour Landry a desirable skill in a woman, while writing was superfluous. In
becoming a nun, education was limited. Further, she believes that nuns were only nominally literate; they
were encouraged to read, but the dearth of remaining written evidence from the convents implies that they
were not taught, or encouraged, to write.
3 John Nelson Miner, “Schools and Literacy in Later Medieval England,” British Journal of
Educational Studies 11, no. 1 (Nov., 1962): 25.
4 Rebecca Krug, Reading Families: Women’s Literate Practice in Late Medieval England (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2002), 28.
5 Geoffroy de La Tour Landry, The Knight of the Tower, trans. William Caxton (London: 1484),
84.
49
contrast, when instructing his wife how to perform her duties, the Ménagier
assumes his wife’s capability to write.6 Informing his wife of which medicine will
cure the bite of a dog, the Ménagier tells her to “take a crust of bread and write
what follows: †Bestera †bestie †nay †brigonay †dictera †sagragan †es †domina
†fiat †fiat †fiat†.”7 The Ménagier does not editorialize on whether reading and
writing are essential skills for a good wife, but from his instructions, he obviously
knows his wife can write, as well as understand Latin on some basic level.
Although La Tour Landry’s opinion and that of the Ménagier appear to be
contradictory, they both illustrate that the education of women, though not
widespread, was nonetheless often dictated by individual circumstance. Even if a
woman was said to be “educated,” it cannot be supposed with certainty that she
had learned to both read and write competently.
It is therefore possible that Agnes and Margaret Paston achieved only a
nominal level of literacy, even if a number of documents attributed to each survive
in the collection.8 The prospect of only a limited education for both Agnes and
Margaret raises the question of how these women could have produced these
letters. Examining the writing styles and autographs present in the Paston Letters,
Norman Davis notes that, while continuity can be seen in the writing of many of
the letters attributed to the Paston males, the letters attributed to the Paston women
instead display a variety of writing styles.9 Added to the varied handwriting styles
6 The Goodman of Paris (Le Ménagier De Paris): A Treatise on Moral and Domestic Economy by
a Citizen of Paris (c. 1393), trans. Eileen Power (London: George Routledge & Sons, LTD., 1928), 305.
7 Ibid.
8 Of the extant documents, 22 are attributed to Agnes, while 107 are attributed to Margaret.
9 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, xxxvi-xxxvii. For a further discussion of Davis’ reasoning for
Margaret not being the physical author of her letters see, Davis, “A Paston Hand,” The Review of English
Studies 3, no. 11 (Jul. 1952): 209-221. In the article, Davis examined the writing styles in thirteen of
Margaret’s letters. Looking at the spelling, word choice, and word form of the letters, Davis concluded that
50
of these letters, this also suggests that Agnes and Margaret did not autograph their
own letters. Instead, an amanuensis, or scribe, likely recorded the letters dictated
to them. This fact is not necessarily a comment on the quality or content of the
letters themselves. Members of the upper echelons of society, men and women,
often utilized secretaries to transcribe letters.10 This fact would certainly not
detract from the authority of the individual who dictated it. According to Davis,
“the natural interpretation of this multiplicity of hands in one person’s work surely
is that the women could not write, or wrote only with difficulty, and so called on
whatever literate person happened to be most readily at hand.”11 It is likely that
Agnes and Margaret were educated in the manner encouraged by La Tour Landry,
echoing the belief that the ability to read was important for a woman, while
writing was a luxury rather than a necessity. Relying on the help of others to
transcribe their thoughts, the educational experiences of the Paston women were
likely similar to those touted by La Tour Landry, especially regarding the concept
that reading was more important a skill for a woman to possess than writing. It
was more beneficial for Agnes and Margaret to read the letters they received than
be able to autograph one on their own, as they had ready access to others who
could write for them.
The letters in which Agnes and Margaret’s thoughts are recorded are
noteworthy especially because of the limited educational opportunities available to
women. However, their existence also speaks to the Paston family’s position in
the rising professional class, as scribes were a luxury that the lower classes did not
all of these letters were written by one individual. However, the examined factors concluded that they were
written by Edmond Paston and clearly were not physically written by Margaret.
10Alison Truelove, “Literacy,” in Gentry Culture in Late Medieval England, ed. Raluca
Radulescu and Alison Truelove (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), 90.
11 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, xxxvii.
51
have. Without access to such individuals, Agnes and Margaret might not have
been able to communicate through letters. It was their position among the aspiring
gentry that allowed these women to participate in epistolary communication with
others.
Confirming the contemporary emphasis on reading, in a letter to his brother
John III, John II suggested that his mother Margaret could read, requesting that
John III “schewe ore rede to my moodre suche thyngez as ye thynke is fore here to
knowe.”12 John III could have easily read the letter to his mother; however, the
fact that John II advised his brother to show Margaret the letter implies that she
could read the words for herself.13 In this sense, at least, the Paston women
appear to have met the ideal of female gentility, although the individual literacy of
women continued to vary among gentry families.14 Families wishing to prove
their gentility seem to have been reticent to challenge this convention, believing it
more beneficial to employ a scribe rather than enable women to record their
thoughts and ideas on their own.
As explored in the previous chapter, as legal professionals William Paston
and his son, John I, recognized the importance of written documents to both their
work and their efforts to establish their family among the gentry. This emphasis
on written documents may have in turn encouraged their wives in similar types of
12 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 248.
13 Similar to the established opinions of La Tour Landry and other authors of conduct manuals,
gentlewomen largely appear to be able to read. Similar to Margaret Paston, Elizabeth Stonor, a
contemporary member of the gentry, often repeated the phrase, “which letter I have red and right well
undyrstond,” in letter to her husband William, showing that at a minimum, she could read and comprehend
the letters that she received. Christine Carpenter, ed., Kingsford’s Stonor Letters and Papers 1290-1483,
Camden Classic Reprints (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), no. 180.
14 Julia Boffey, “Women authors and women’s literacy in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century
England,” in Women and Literature in Britain, 1150-1500, ed. Carol Meale (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1993), 165.
52
literary pursuits, a fact evidenced in their wives’ letters to them detailing family
affairs. In describing Margaret Paston’s relationship to letter writing, Rebecca
Krug suggests that John I encouraged his wife to write letters to him because of
the example he witnessed in his parents’ relationship.15 In spite of the fact that no
letters remain from William to Agnes, an extant letter sent from Agnes to William
suggests that an on-going correspondence between the two existed. In this letter,
Agnes mentions the arrival of Margaret, “þe gentylwomman þat ye wetyn of fro
Redham.”16 William and Agnes were both active participants in the search for a
wife for their son John I, as the outcome of the arranged meeting between John
and Margaret was important for the economic and political ambitions of the
Pastons. It appears that William initially wrote to Agnes about Margaret and her
familial connections. Knowing the importance of obtaining a propitious marriage
match, and aware that her husband wanted to hear an account of the meeting,
Agnes detailed in her letter the first interactions between John I and Margaret.
This conversation between William and Agnes illustrates that there was a tradition
of letter writing in the Paston family, which succeeding generations of the family
were likely encouraged to follow and imitate. The exchange of such letters
enabled family members to communicate not only information about business
dealings but also individual experiences, thoughts, and feelings regarding their
daily lives.
Following his parents’ example, John I probably encouraged his wife
Margaret to write to him, particularly concerning household affairs while he was
away. However, Krug proposes that rather than seeing writing letters to her
15 Krug, Reading Families, 31.
16 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 13.
53
husband as a duty, Margaret instead embraced the culture of letter writing and
adapted the form for her own purposes. Margaret establishes herself as the author
of these letters, never asking a scribe for verification of her authorship; instead,
Margaret recorded her opinions in her letters and used these missives as a way to
increase her social standing.17 Thus, in spite of the fact that Margaret did not
physically write down her thoughts, she nonetheless claimed the letters as her
own, and recognized that the words were still of her own composition, as they
recorded her own thoughts and opinions. Yet Margaret was not the only
gentlewoman to suggest authorship of a letter without actually autographing it.
Noting the social conventions regarding female letter writing, Krug further argues
that “Margaret and her friends and associates generally used the verb ‘written’ to
describe their actions even when they had clearly employed a scribe, suggesting
that despite the oral component of their writing, they distinguished between
speaking and dictating.”18 Margaret and her circle of gentlewomen clearly
believed their letters embodied their personalities and thoughts and that, despite
using an amanuensis, Margaret had agency in determining what to include in the
content of her letters. Women like Agnes and Margaret Paston obviously believed
that in dictating a letter, their thoughts and personalities were sufficiently present
to constitute authorship.
Although medieval letters often included personal details, the nature of
these documents generally limited the type of information that might be contained
within. The very structure of a letter, in which an author intends to pass
information on to the recipient, dictates the type of information that might have
17 Ibid., 43.
18 Ibid., 46.
54
been included by Agnes and Margaret. Margaret herself recognized the
limitations of her letters when, in writing to her husband, she noted “I may non
leyser have to do wrytyn half a quarter so meche as I xulde seyn to yow yf I myth
speke wyth yow.”19 If Margaret had more to say to John I, either the content was
not appropriate for this format, or she was limited by time and space. Margaret’s
statement suggests that she realized the limits of letters; far from private, medieval
letters often were read, or transcribed, by people other than the author or recipient.
At a minimum, the scribe who transcribed Margaret’s words would be aware of
the content of her letters. Thus the correspondence between Margaret and John I,
and similarly that between Agnes and William, was not strictly a private matter
between husband and wife. Like other letter-writing women, Margaret likely
recognized the semi-public nature of the correspondence, and chose her words
accordingly.20 Late Medieval letter writing thus presented a contradiction. On the
one hand, it allowed authors to include more intimate thoughts than did more
public documents. On the other hand, however, personal opinions and intimate
views were likely limited, due to the quasi-public nature of the correspondence.
The letters of the Paston women thus present their thoughts to a certain degree, as
the information included within was probably censored by the authors. As a
result, Agnes and Margaret Paston likely created an image of themselves that was
intended for a wider audience than just the letter’s recipient and appropriate to
their station and ambitions.
19 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 126.
20 Ann Crabb, “‘If I could write’: Margherita Datini and Letter Writing, 1385-1410,” Renaissance
Quarterly 60 (2007): 1172. Examining a set of Italian letters between Margherita Datini and her husband,
Francesco, Crabb exposed the private/public quandary of letter writing. The composition of a medieval
letter, as experienced by the Datini and the Pastons, often included several individuals; often a scribe
transcribed the letter, and employees likely read letters aloud to their recipients. As a merchant, Francesco
was in a similar class position as William and John I; each of these men had access to scribes and literate
employees who could perform such tasks.
55
While very likely censored, the women’s correspondence nevertheless
provides a number of details about the daily lives of a gentry family in fifteenthcentury England. What details are there were likely chosen to create a concerted
image designed to support the Paston’s social ambitions. Combined with the ideal
image of a gentlewoman as established by Geoffroy de La Tour Landry and the
Ménagier, the letters of the Paston women define which female behaviors were
important for the gentry to establish as part of their developing culture. Exhibiting
these behaviors, the Paston women expressed their gentility, illustrating to all in a
quasi-public forum that they were worthy members of the gentry. As previously
noted, Margaret was limited in what she included in one letter to her husband,
carefully choosing her words and conscious of the image those words presented.
Especially in the context of the aspirations of the Paston family, Margaret and
Agnes likely recognized that any public view of the family, regardless of its
degree of publicity, was potentially important to solidifying their social position.
The way in which the Paston women wrote their letters thus shows the image the
family chose to present, while also illustrating their participation in the
construction of a culture shared by families with similar social aspirations. This
shared behavior partly marked the gentry as a group, distinct not only from the
peasantry but also the aristocracy. In this way, the letters of Agnes and Margaret
Paston show how the developing gentry culture impacted women’s lives and the
ways in which they were concurrently able to participate in its establishment.
As discussed in the previous chapter, social and political changes in society
encouraged the development of a unified gentry. Of these changes, the expansion
of national government, which employed professionals of various backgrounds,
was critical to the increase in social mobility. This need for professional workers
enabled families like the Pastons, whose male heads were involved in professions
56
such as the law, to find positions serving the government and subsequently
increase their fortunes and social standing.21 For these families, this avenue for
advancement provided such a great opportunity that they were willing to endure
any attendant hardships that resulted from their new appointments. As
professionals serving in royal government, William and John Paston I, and many
of their contemporaries, were often required to spend time away from their
localities, in the major governmental outposts, particularly London. In their
absence, wives such as Agnes and Margaret were expected to fill the void by
maintaining the family holdings. During such times, Agnes and Margaret were
valuable assets to their respective husbands, and were given the task of
maintaining stability and the familial assets, while also performing the traditional
duties of a good wife and mother. Indeed, a large part of both women’s extant
correspondence result from their husbands’ absences; each wrote detailed letters
on the state of family affairs, recounting also any local news which might be of
interest to their husbands.22 However, without such absences, husband and wife
would not need to communicate through a written format. These letters thus
provided Agnes and Margaret with an avenue to inform their husbands of
information while enabling them to show how they were adhering to gentle ideals
while their husbands were away.
Agnes and Margaret each brought physical wealth and status to the Paston
men whom they married.23 In this way, Agnes and Margaret each contributed to
21 Peter Coss, The Origins of the English Gentry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003),
15.
22 Of Agnes’ 22 extant letters, only one is addressed to her husband William. However, of
Margaret’s 107 remaining letters, 69 are addressed to John I.
23 Colin Richmond, The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: The First Phase (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996), 117.
57
the efforts of the Paston family through their marriages. However, both women
physically contributed more to the Paston family than this initial infusion of
wealth and prestige. As both wives and widows, Agnes and Margaret were
concerned with maintaining and increasing the Paston family holdings and status.
Their lives as wives and widows presented completely different opportunities to
these women, forcing each to adapt to the current needs of the family. In the
absence of their respective husbands, due to business or death, Agnes and
Margaret worked to further the gentle status of the family and solidify its position
in the ranks of the gentry.
In letters to her husband, Margaret Paston expressed a true concern for the
affairs of the family. Margaret did not confine herself to the domestic
maintenance of the family holdings; instead, she often took the initiative to handle
the family’s business dealings when her husband was away. In 1465, John I was
imprisoned at the Fleet in London; although the exact reason is unknown, it is
possible that the question of the Paston family’s servile origins was publicly
raised, leading to the seizure of some of their property in the city.24 Isolated from
the family, John relied on Margaret to handle the family affairs. Writing to her
husband while he was in prison, Margaret spoke of her commitment to the family
and her husband’s wishes, noting, “I wolde fayn doo well yf I cowed, and as I
canne I wol doo to youre pleasure and profet.”25 Through the remainder of the
letter, Margaret recounted the ways in which she obeyed John’s instructions to
handle business. For example, Margaret wrote, “I haue spoke wyth John Strange
24 Frances and Joseph Gies, A Medieval Family: The Pastons of Fifteenth-Century England (New
York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1998), 175.
25 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 184.
58
of the matere that ye wrote to me of.”26 Telling John I of her actions was one way
in which Margaret demonstrated both her obedience to him and her ability to take
care of family affairs. She clearly wanted John to understand that the family was
being taken care of during his time in prison, and recounting her activities was
likely one way to assuage any fears he might have had. In this instance, Margaret
was committed to the economic maintenance of the Paston family. She
competently performed the business dealings of the family, all the while
demonstrating her loyalty to her husband and to the Paston’s rise into the gentry.
As wives, Agnes and Margaret often completed tasks regarding familial
affairs in their husbands’ names. However, upon the deaths of their husbands,
both women achieved a position of authority in the family, giving them more
freedom to direct the family’s affairs. Due to their longer lives, Agnes and
Margaret were able to continue the ambitious plans of their husbands. As widows,
these women guided their children on the path to achieving their husbands’ goals
by securing the family lands and continuing to exhibit gentle behavior to solidify
their position amongst the gentry. As evidenced by the lives of Agnes and
Margaret, the marriage cycle of the gentry often included young brides marrying
older grooms, making widowhood a fairly common occurrence in Late Medieval
society.27 Since widows, especially wealthy ones, were not unusual in society,
authors of courtesy manuals included instructions on how these women should
conduct themselves. Seemingly individuals who were outside of the natural order
of society, widows needed advice particularly on their acquired position of
prominence in the family. In a basic structuring of women’s positions, the
26 Ibid.
27 Peter Fleming, Family and Household in Medieval England (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 21.
59
Ménagier placed wives in a position of superiority, noting “that after your
husband, you should be mistress of the house, the giver of orders, visitor, ruler and
sovereign administrator, and it is for you to keep your maidservants in subjection
and obedience to you, teaching, correcting and chastising them.”28 For the
Ménagier, a wife was clearly second only to her husband; in his absence, she
should be the supreme authority of the family. Besides making decisions on the
management of family assets, a wife’s, or widow’s, duties included instructing
those within her household, ensuring their behavior was consistent with the overall
image of the family.
Following the deaths of their respective husbands, Agnes and Margaret
became the ruling elders of the Pastons, largely assuming the family roles which
their husbands had fulfilled during their lives. As de-facto heads of the family,
Agnes and Margaret often advised and directed the actions of their family, as
evidenced in many of their letters addressed to their children. In these missives,
Agnes and Margaret seem to push the boundaries of appropriate female behavior;
however, they primarily adhered to actions that would further advance their
overall familial interests. In directing the affairs of the family, Agnes and
Margaret first adhered to gentry ideals, setting aside some of the behaviors
expected of women. As someone outside the immediate Paston family circle
examining the actions of Agnes, cousin Elisabeth Clere detailed to John I the
brusque manner in which his mother was treating his sister. In this letter,
Elisabeth describes the steps Agnes took to convince her daughter Elizabeth to
marry Stephen Scrope.29 According to Elisabeth, Elizabeth Paston “hath son
28 The Goodman of Paris, 209.
29 Davis, ed., Paston Letters II, no. 446.
60
Esterne þe most part be betyn onys in þe weke or twyes, and some tyme twyes on
o day, and hir hed broken in to or thre places.”30 If Elisabeth Clere’s account is
true, Agnes Paston utilized violence to persuade her daughter that she did indeed
want to marry Scrope. Although participating in seemingly inappropriate behavior
for a gentlewoman, Agnes was thinking first of the family’s larger interests. As
the established head of the Pastons, Agnes tried to convince her daughter
Elizabeth to agree to a marriage which would benefit the overall position of the
family. In this sense, Agnes exhibited above all a concern for her family’s social
gain, a characteristic strongly encouraged by the developing gentry culture. Land
and status were vital to the claims of rising individuals, and these elements needed
to be obtained, regardless of the cost. It is likely that Agnes realized that such a
propitious marriage match for her daughter could not be found elsewhere, which
in her mind warranted coercing her daughter. Elisabeth Clere was not
immediately involved with the situation between Agnes and Elizabeth Paston. As
an outsider, Clere presents an alternate image of Agnes, one that is not carefully
formulated to express gentility. Instead, we have an image of Agnes that does not
directly adhere to the ideal woman as presented in contemporary conduct
literature. Rather, Elisabeth described Agnes as a cruel mother, injuring her
daughter in order to coerce her to enter into an undesired marriage. In spite of this
harsh treatment, Agnes’ actions demonstrate her commitment to the overall social
standing of the family. A marriage with Scrope would have been both politically
and economically beneficial to the Pastons. Thus, in this instance, Agnes
exhibited the larger behaviors of the gentry, although in her actions she did eschew
her commitment to always behaving like a proper gentlewoman.
30 Ibid.
61
As evidenced by the situation above, being head of the family and making
important decisions was not always an easy, or desirable, thing. In regards to the
Pastons, marriage arrangements in succeeding generations often created tension
between matriarchs Agnes and Margaret and their respective children. Dealing,
like Agnes, with an uncooperative daughter, Margaret was faced with her daughter
Margery’s secret betrothal to a family employee, Richard Calle.31 Following the
death of John I, Margaret was charged with arranging appropriate, and beneficial,
marriages for her children. However, Margery’s actions represented a lost
opportunity in securing such a marriage. Faced with actions seemingly treasonous
to the overall advancement of the Pastons, Margaret chose to challenge the
betrothal by seeking a Bishop to examine whether Margery and Calle had actually
exchanged vows of commitment. Describing the situation, Margaret noted that “I
was wyth my moder at here plase wan sche was exameynd, and wan I hard sey
wat here demenyng was I schargyd my seruantys þat sche xuld not be reseyued in
myn hows. I had ȝeuen here warnyng, sche mythe a be ware afore yf sche had a
be grasyows. And I sent to on ore ij more þat they xuld not reseyue here yf sche
cam.”32 During her trial, Margery steadfastly adhered to the fact that she had
exchanged words of betrothal with Calle, ignoring the wishes of her mother and
the interest of her family. Because of her betrayal of her family’s honor, Margery
was isolated not only from her family but also their lands. Margaret thus handled
the situation in a manner similar to Agnes; both disobedient daughters were duly
punished for not placing first the interests of the Pastons as a whole. Through
their actions, Agnes and Margaret adhered to the advice of the Ménagier; as heads
31 Gies, A Medieval Family, 207-210.
32 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 203.
62
of the household, each worked to ensure the obedience of their daughters, while
correcting them when they went astray. In this way, Agnes and Margaret were
instructing their daughters both on how to behave properly and on the danger that
disobedient behavior posed for the family’s position in society.
Protecting the interests of the family was extremely important for those
who only recently acquired a higher social status and those aspiring to progress
even further. Recognizing the often-immediate benefits of the marriage market,
Agnes and Margaret tried to control their daughters’ choices in order to arrange a
match that would further the goals of the family. Besides securing strategic
marriage matches, the acquisition and maintenance of land was also vital to the
image of a family; money could be earned, but it was the possession of land that
signified a family’s arrival to the upper echelons of society. As such a vital
commodity, the Pastons were accustomed to protecting, sometimes through armed
struggles, their land. Margaret was especially aware of the need to protect the
family’s land, violently if need be; while John I was alive, she was attacked and
expelled from their home in Gresham.33 Having learned from this experience,
Margaret appeared determined to ensure that the Paston family continued to
possess their house at Caister, which was attacked in September 1469.34 Showing
her concern, Margaret encouraged John II to aid his brother in protecting Caister,
noting that they “stond in grete joparté” with “the place sore brokyn wyth gonnes
of þe toder parte.”35 As a member of the Paston family, and as a gentleman in his
own right, John II needed to help protect Caister from outsiders. In fact, without
33 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 131.
34 Helen Castor, Blood and Roses: One Family’s Struggle and Triumph During England’s
Tumultuous Wars of the Roses (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006), 254-263.
35 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no 204.
63
his help, “thei be like to lese bothe there lyfes and the place, to the grettest rebuke
to you that euer came to any jentilman, for euery man in this countré marvaylleth
gretly that ye suffer them to be so longe in so gret joparté wyth-ought help or
othere remedy.”36 Margaret’s focus was clearly on saving the life of her son at
Caister and maintaining the family’s possession of the land. However, she
reminded John II that his unwillingness to aid his kin would result in a loss of
honor, injuring his established image as a gentleman. Protecting familial holdings
demonstrated an individual’s dedication to his family and also his worth as a
member of the gentry. In giving such advice to John II, Margaret was thinking of
her family and their possession of Caister, while also encouraging her son to
participate in the behavior expected of gentlemen.
The Pastons were not the only family rising into the gentry which
experienced problems in maintaining their acquired land. One such family was
the Armburghs. Writing primarily in the 1420s and 1430s, the Armburgh family
left a collection of letters smaller than that of the Pastons; however, their extant
letters provide a concentrated view of an individual’s interaction with the law, as
the letters largely focus on the family’s disputed inheritances in Hertfordshire,
Essex, and Warwickshire.37 Involved in legal disputes concerning their
inheritance, the Armburghs showed a strong determination not only to maintain
their family holdings, but also to preserve their image. Similarly to Margaret
Paston’s desire, Joan Armburgh, matriarch of the family, demonstrated her
personal dedication to protecting the Armburgh family lands. In one letter, Joan
confronted John Horell, a former employee, about his betrayal of the Armburghs
36 Ibid.
37 Christine Carpenter, ed., The Armburgh Papers: The Brokholes Inheritance in Warwickshire,
Hertfordshire and Essex, c. 1417- c. 1453 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1998), 1, 4-6.
64
by aligning himself with a rival family.38 Speaking harshly to Horell, Joan
chastised him for his actions. Not pretending to adhere to civility, Joan ended with
“I can no more at this tyme but I pray God send the that thu hast deseruyd, that is
to say a rope and a ladder.”39 In this letter, Joan avoided convention by writing
frankly to Horell. Rather than using phrases of gentility and courtesy in her
missive to Horell, Joan believed it was necessary to inform him harshly that he
had made an enemy of the Armburghs. In this instance, protecting the family’s
image as landowners and as members of the gentry was far more important than
verbally adhering to social convention. Although Joan Armburgh here eschewed
ideal gentility, she did adhere to the developing gentry culture through her desire
to protect the possessions and status that her family had earned.
Through the actions described in their letters, Agnes and Margaret Paston
worked to maintain and expand the interests of the family. These actions thus
elucidate the ways that these women concretely adhered to the ideals of the gentry.
In this way, the actions of Agnes and Margaret are consistent with the findings of
Gary Schneider in his discussion of the developing epistolary culture in Late
Medieval and Early Modern England.40 As Schneider argues, individuals created
representations of themselves through their letters, even in seemingly intimate
correspondence between husband and wife.41 Specifically, individuals
incorporated social conventions, like polite conversation and proper behavior, to
confirm their position in society to the letter’s recipient.42 Further, the public
38 Ibid., 120-123.
39 Ibid., 123.
40 Gary Schneider, The Culture of Epistolarity: Vernacular Letters and Letter Writing in Early
Modern England, 1500-1700 (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2005).
41 Ibid., 115-116.
42 Ibid.
65
exhibition of proper behavior encouraged individuals to group together with others
who participated in similar types of behavior. In this way, proper behavior and
shared morals became important to the solidification of the gentry largely due to
the fact that “in a society such as medieval Europe, in which external qualities
were believed to reflect internal qualities, people would no doubt consider a
person’s behavior toward others as an indicator of that person’s morality or
goodness.”43 To the public, outward behavior reflected the true nature and worth
of an individual. Thus, to be recognized as a member of the gentry, one needed to
behave like a gentleman or gentlewoman.
Agnes and Margaret must have recognized the importance of public
appearance to the efforts of the Paston family. It is likely that these women chose
to exhibit proper behavior in their letters to prove that they were worthy members
of the gentry. By imitating the ideal images found in contemporary conduct
manuals, these women created a picture of their gentility to benefit the rising
status of the Paston family. They found such images of the ideal gentlewoman
largely in contemporary conduct literature, texts used primarily by the upper
classes as a way to define themselves and their purpose in life.44 Members of the
gentry, or those aspiring to its ranks, used these manuals to learn behavior
appropriate to their station, a fact confirmed by the wide circulation of courtesy
texts and the large number of extant conduct manuals.45 The wide circulation of
such manuals suggests that they were widely read and that they were used as
43 Anna Dronzek, “Gendered Theories of Education in Fifteenth-Century Conduct Books,” in
Medieval Conduct, ed. Kathleen Ashley and Robert L.A. Clark (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, 2001), 137.
44 Kate Mertes, “Aristocracy,” in Fifteenth-century attitudes: Perceptions of Society in Late
Medieval England, ed. Rosemary Horrox (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 43.
45 Raluca Radulescu, “Literature,” in Gentry Culture in Late Medieval England, ed. Raluca
Radulescu and Alison Truelove (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), 101.
66
instructive tools for both children and adults. The Pastons specifically collected
such material, as evidenced by the commission of John II of a “Grete Booke,”
which contained instructions on knighthood and proper behavior.46 Conduct
manuals instructed people on how to behave properly and according to their
station; further, they granted rising professional families, such as the Pastons,
common parameters around which to coalesce as a group and define what it meant
to be a part of the gentry.
Conduct manuals generally tailored their advice around one specific sector
of the population. Many of these conduct manuals especially targeted women;
such texts primarily focused on the proper behavior of women as wives and
mothers, largely stressing the relationship between husband and wife.47 Texts like
The Knight of the Tower and The Goodman of Paris discuss the behavior expected
of upper class women, stressing particularly obedience and submission. Courtesy
literature thus presented the ideal image of wifely behavior as defined largely by
male authors such as La Tour Landry and the Ménagier. Women such as Agnes
and Margaret Paston likely read these authors’ works or other similar
contemporary manuals, emulating an image of idealized female behavior
presented therein. Further, I argue Margaret and Agnes consciously did so as part
of their exercise to prove their gentility.
Geoffroy de La Tour Landry and the Ménagier provide detailed instructions
on proper behavior which women like Agnes and Margaret Paston included in
their letters to illustrate the status of the family. In one example, giving instruction
to his daughters, La Tour Landry stresses the nature of a proper relationship
46 Davis, ed., Paston Letters II, no. 755.
47 Nancy Armstrong and Leonard Tennenhouse, ed., The Ideology of Conduct: Essays in
Literature and the History of Sexuality (New York: Methuen & Co., 1987), 5-6.
67
between husband and wife. He recounts the story of two disobedient wives, which
he compares to an obedient wife, who obeys her husband’s wishes no matter how
foolish he seems.48 As their punishment, the two disobedient women were beaten
after they refused to perform their husbands’ wishes, while the obedient woman
was greatly praised. From this example, medieval women learn that “it is a moche
fayre thynge a man to haue a wif obeysaunt in alle thynges to her husbond.”49
Specifically, the obedient wife “was more preised than the other two that wold not
do the commaundement of theyr husbondes. For moyen peple chastysen theyr
wynes by buffettys and strokes / but gentyl wymmen ought to be chastised by
fayre semblaunt and by curtosye.”50 In La Tour Landry’s example not only was
obedience to one’s husband extremely important, but those choosing to disobey
were likely to be physically corrected by their husbands for their defiance.
Conversely, a primarily obedient woman did not need physical correction when in
error; instead, she only required instruction through courtesy. In this example, La
Tour Landry praised the obedience of a wife, regardless of what was asked of her,
while also establishing the traits, like obedience, that were essential for a
gentlewoman to emulate.
Similarly, the Ménagier believed in the virtue of an obedient wife.
Devoting an entire section to humility and obedience, the Ménagier advises “that
it behoves you to be obedient to him that shall be your husband, and that by good
obedience a wise woman gains her husband’s love.”51 Obedience was a way for a
woman to gain affection from her husband, in addition to fulfilling her wifely
48 La Tour Landry, The Knight of the Tower, 18.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid.
51 The Goodman of Paris, 138.
68
duties. However, it is the consequences of disobedience that ultimately
encourages a wife to obey. According to the Ménagier, “by default of obedience,
or by arrogance if you anger him, you destroy yourself and your husband and your
household.”52 Disobedient behavior risked not only the disapproval of one’s
husband; it could ultimately result in the destruction of a family and its honor. For
a family aspiring to the gentry, a loss of honor due to a woman’s disobedient
actions would be a fatal blow. Wifely obedience was of such importance to the
station of a family that its absence could not only alter the relationship of husband
and wife, but also the family’s position in society.
As the dominant voices in medieval society, men such as La Tour Landry
and the Ménagier provided the majority of opinions on behavior considered
appropriate for the female population, primarily because books composed during
the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods were mostly written from a male
perspective, regardless of the intended audience.53 However, in examining the
encouraged behavior of women, it is important to consider the opinions of female
authors regarding the types of behavior women should exhibit. Even the few
female authors writing in the Middle Ages stressed the importance of wifely
obedience as a woman’s crowning trait. Christine de Pizan was a recognized
female author during the Middle Ages, writing texts which were so widely
distributed that she was able to make her living solely as a writer.54 In her works,
de Pizan wrote primarily to women, providing instructional advice from a female
perspective – that is, from the viewpoint of an individual who would also be
52 Ibid.
53 Suzanne Hull, Women According to Men: The World of Tudor-Stuart Women (Walnut Creek:
AltaMira Press, 1996), 9.
54 Sandra L. Hindman, “With Ink and Mortar: Christine de Pizan’s ‘Cite des Dames,’” Feminist
Studies 10, no. 3 (Autumn, 1984): 458.
69
expected to follow the behaviors she prescribed. For example, in The Book of the
City of Ladies, first published in 1405, de Pizan encouraged women to be obedient
to their husbands.55 Speaking directly to married women, de Pizan advised “do
not scorn being subject to your husbands, for sometimes it is not the best thing for
a creature to be independent.”56 Recognizing the structure of society at the time,
and largely speaking from experience, de Pizan recognized that women sometimes
experienced a better life in the confines of marriage than they would if they
remained single. However, de Pizan discussed the realities of marriage and noted
that such a relationship may not always be pleasant. Providing practical
instruction, de Pizan gave advice to women in a number of marriage situations those who had pleasant husbands, those whose husbands were neither good nor
bad, and those whose husbands were cruel. Rather than assuming the infallibility
of husbands, as male authors such as La Tour Landry and the Ménagier did, de
Pizan provided further advice for women who may not have been content in their
marriages. Women possessing good husbands should “praise God” and “be
diligent in serving, loving, and cherishing their husbands in the loyalty of their
heart.”57 Obedience was clearly a trait these women should exhibit, and in this
instance, attention to a husband’s desires should be an easy task. Women who had
mediocre husbands “should still praise God for not having the worst and should
strive to moderate their vices and pacify them.”58 Wives whose husbands were
cruel “should strive to endure them while trying to overcome their vices and lead
55 Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, trans. Earl Jeffrey Richards (New York:
Persea Books, 1998), xvi, 255.
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid.
70
them back, if they can, to a reasonable and seemly life.”59 No matter the worth or
desirability of one’s husband, de Pizan advised that as wives women should
remain obedient and loyal. Those in undesirable situations should try to correct
the attitude and actions of their husbands, all the while understanding the man’s
position of authority as husband. De Pizan’s instructions are similar in this aspect
to those of her male counterparts, prescribing that in all situations women should
be loyal and subservient to their husbands.
The Pastons must have recognized that the behavior of the female members
of the family was just as important, if not more so, than that of its males. Since
the emulation of obedience, a trait strongly encouraged in conduct literature such
as the above, was vital to the image of a family, men and women like the Pastons
participated in proper behavior to confirm that they were worthy members of a
social group, in their case, worthy members of the gentry. Recognizing this
emphasis on proper behavior, through their letters the Paston women
demonstrated, often to their husbands, the ways in which they exhibited such traits
during their absences. A topic in many of their missives, obedience to their
husbands’ wishes was seemingly a priority for both Agnes and Margaret. Of
Agnes’ remaining letters, only one is addressed to William, making it difficult to
determine how she demonstrated obedience directly to her husband. However, her
obedience to William’s wishes is clear in letters addressed to her children. Many
of these were written after William’s death, illustrating her strong commitment to
fulfilling not only his individual requests but also his larger social aspirations for
the family. In one instance, writing to her son Edmond I not long after his father’s
death, Agnes reminded him “to thynkke onis of the daie of yowre fadris counseyle
59 Ibid.
71
to lerne the lawe; for he seyde manie tymis that ho so euer schuld dwelle at Paston
schulde have nede to conne defende hymselfe.”60 Agnes was concerned that her
son should fulfill William’s request. Yet the advice also possessed a degree of
practicality regarding the family’s ambitions. Agnes was likely aware that the
rapid social advancement of the family, particularly regarding its acquisition of
land, would cause problems with those who viewed the Pastons as usurpers
trespassing beyond their proper station in life. In this sense, Edmond needed to
study the law not only to fulfill his father’s request, but also to have the skills to
defend the efforts of the family legally. Even after his death, Agnes perpetuated
the wishes of William, in this case by encouraging Edmond to participate in the
legal profession. In this way, Agnes illustrated her commitment to both William’s
immediate concern of who would legally protect the family and also his larger
goal of firmly establishing the family amongst the ranks of the gentry.
In like manner to her mother-in-law, Margaret Paston, in letters to both her
children and her husband, also illustrated her adherence to proper behavior. In a
letter to John I, Margaret focused on updating him on the social and political
happenings in the region. However, before writing this letter, Margaret completed
one of her husband’s errands by visiting a Lady Morley to deliver a message from
her husband regarding a business dispute. Concerned that the matter would be
resolved in a way that would injure the Pastons, Margaret asked Lady Morley to
“teryn tyl ȝe kom hom.”61 It appears that Margaret wanted to allow for the return
of John I, possibly requesting more time so that he could gather any necessary
legal documents to support the Paston’s position. Although likely receiving no
60 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 14.
61 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 128.
72
formal education, Margaret’s business acumen was a strength in such situations;
she knew how to manipulate others in order to produce a result that was desirable
for the Pastons or, as in this case, avoid a decision that could hurt the standing and
image of the family. Furthermore, Margaret was clearly concerned with keeping
her husband informed of local events, a thought she confirmed later in her missive.
Before ending her letter, Margaret noted, “if I here any strawnge tydyngys in þis
contré I xall send ȝw wurd.”62 Details she provided to John I in his absence not
only kept him informed of local politics; often the information Margaret relayed
could be beneficial in performing business transactions regarding the family’s
locality. In this way, Margaret exhibited obedience to her husband by visiting
Lady Morley and also by providing John I with local information that could
impact his business dealings while away.
Concerned with describing the ways in which she was obedient to John’s
wishes, Margaret concurrently demonstrated her adherence to the gentry ideal of
an obedient wife. However, it is likely that Margaret’s highlighting her obedience
also served a second purpose; for instance, she may have described her completion
of John’s errands to avoid disappointing, or even angering, him. Despite this
immediate concern, the frequency with which Margaret wrote of such events
suggests that they held a deeper significance than the avoidance of her husband’s
anger. Phrases such as “I haue do yowre herrrendys to myn modyr and myn
hunckyl … And also I hauwe delyuyrit þe todyr thyng þat ye sent me inselyd in þe
boxe as ye comaundit me,” appear repeatedly throughout Margaret’s
correspondence with John I.63 The repetition of this information suggests that
62 Ibid.
63 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 127.
73
Margaret was concerned primarily with stressing obliquely her adherence to the
idealized image of an obedient wife.
Agnes and Margaret Paston were not alone in their adherence to wifely
obedience. Elizabeth Stonor, a contemporary in social status with comparable
aspirations, similarly detailed her obedience to her husband, William, even while
he was away. Like the Paston men, William Stonor was often required to spend
time away, leaving his wife Elizabeth in charge of the family land. Elizabeth
frequently detailed the Stonor family affairs to her husband during his absences,
just as Agnes and Margaret kept their respective husbands informed of local
events affecting their family. In her letters, Elizabeth often noted the errands
which she had completed for her husband. For example, in one letter she
explained, “as for þe vj cowpull of haberndens, the which ye wryte ffore, they
shall be bought and sente yow right shortly. And as ffor your gownys of chamlet
and dublettes of sylke, I have bought hem: the which shall plese yow right well.”64
It appears that Elizabeth was not only concerned with providing her husband with
the items he requested, but also with stressing her commitment to completing his
errands. Furthermore, she recognized his material needs and took steps to ensure
his comfort. On a practical level, such letters detailing obedience informed absent
husbands of the attention to detail which their wives gave to the family and its
material needs. Yet, the thought to include the fact that such errands were
completed, often noting that it was done as the husband wished, reveals a
commitment not only to one’s husband, but also to social convention, particularly
proper behavior.
64 Carpenter, ed., Stonor Letters, no. 176.
74
Wifely obedience was clearly a trait encouraged by both male and female
authors of courtesy literature, and one to which aspiring gentlewomen ascribed.
Still, wifely obedience was a trait largely seen only by close relatives or others
with whom a woman had repeated interactions. More visible, and therefore
crucial to a woman’s public image was her participation in religious benefaction.
Giving to the Church and providing for the remembrance of deceased family
members constituted a very public commitment to religion which illustrated and
buttressed, by their very ability to monetarily give to the Church, a family’s
status.65 Since religious giving was public in nature, and thus seen by many, those
aspiring to the gentry made various types of charitable contributions to
demonstrate their rising status. Of these contributions, the provision for masses or
prayers for the dead was one of the most common activities in which the gentry
participated.66 Such an act demonstrated, generally for years following the death
of an individual, both the status that the deceased had gained throughout his or her
life and the ability of surviving family members to provide for this service. This
outward manifestation of wealth clearly illustrated the rise in status of an
individual family, further confirming their rightful place in the upper echelons of
society.
Medieval authors of conduct literature recognized the importance that
religion had both in society at large and individual lives. With the significance of
religion, conduct manuals often included instructions on all aspects of religious
65 Christine Carpenter, “Religion,” in Gentry Culture in Late Medieval England, ed. Raluca
Radulescu and Alison Truelove (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), 136-137. For a more
detailed discussion of the commitment which individuals had to the Church and their religion during the
Late Middle Ages see Part I of Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England
c.1400-c.1580 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005).
66 Richard Britnell, The Closing of the Middle Ages?: England, 1471-1529 (Malden: Blackwell
Publishers, 1997), 157.
75
behavior, including items such as the frequency with which prayers should be said
and the manner in which masses should be attended. In his instructions to his
daughters, La Tour Landry detailed the value of praying for those who were
deceased. To explain the need to perform such an act, La Tour Landry told a story
of a girl who prayed for the souls of the dead while hiding from a man who she
believed wanted to injure her.67 After finding her, the man decided to leave her
unharmed because he believed he saw a large group of people surrounding her.
By praying for the dead, the girl was protected from harm. For La Tour Landry
this story was “a fayre example to praye for them that ben departed oute of this
world at al tymes.”68 In his advice, a commitment to praying for the souls of the
dead guaranteed that they would protect the living in return. This story illustrated
the importance of remembering on a regular basis those who had died and not only
in the moments when it was convenient for the living. Such prayers were
mutually beneficial; they provided a benefit for the living while easing the
suffering of departed souls.
The deaths of both William and John I left Agnes and Margaret with the
task of providing for the remembrance of their souls. As a family with a recent
rise in status, it was important for the Paston women to demonstrate their gentility.
One way these women exhibited their gentility was through their provision of
religious gifts in memory of deceased family members. Beginning in 1466, Agnes
composed a series of draft wills, detailing her last wishes. In one of these
documents, dated 16 September, Agnes left instructions that a monk should
receive compensation for singing “the masse of the Holy Goste in Our Lady
67 La Tour Landry, The Knight of the Tower, 4.
68 Ibid.
76
chapel in Norwiche, where he [William] purposed to leye his body, euery day iiij
d. to sing and pray for his sowle and myn and al the sowles that he and I haue hade
any goode of or be beholdyn to pray for.”69 In this draft, Agnes reiterated
William’s desire that an individual should pray for the souls of the dead on behalf
of the Paston family. Further, in her final will, Agnes confirmed that she desired
to have a perpetual mass said for both her and her husband, leaving also funds for
“the mending of the chappell of Our Ladie within the said place [Norwich],
wheras Sir Thomas Gerbredge my grandfather and Clement Paston my sonn.”70
Thus she provided not only for remembrance but also for repairs needed at the
chapel of Our Lady, where members of her family had been buried. This
demonstrated Agnes’ commitment to giving to the Church and to her desire to
participate in the gentry ideal of religious benefaction.
Giving to the Church, whether in the form of money for perpetual masses
or in providing funds to build or repair a section of the Church building, illustrated
to the larger population the social status of a family or individual. In the case of
the Pastons, their religious giving in Norwich was likely meant to confirm to their
neighbors that they had firmly established themselves as members of the gentry
and that they were able to participate in activities reserved for the upper echelons
of society. After the death of John I in 1466, Margaret realized the importance
that providing for his memory had to the image of the remaining family members.
Writing to her son John III in 1471, several years after the death of his father,
Margaret complained of the wasteful spending of his brother John II.71 For
Margaret, John II’s spendthrift ways resulted in the neglect of his father’s grave,
69 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 31.
70 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 34.
71 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, no. 212.
77
an egregious consequence in her mind. Noting the severity of these actions,
Margaret wrote that “yt is a schame, and a thyng þat is myche spokyn of in thys
contré, þat ȝowr faders graue ston is not mad.”72 Clearly Margaret was concerned
that John I’s gravestone was still not built five years after his death; however, her
main concern appeared to be what those around her thought of the situation. The
absence of a gravestone for John I caused the Paston’s neighbors to discuss the
social position of the family. John II’s lavish spending did not leave money
enough to provide for the memory of his father, an action strongly encouraged by
the developing gentry culture. His inability to commission a gravestone for his
father, due to his financial situation, brought negative attention to the Pastons.
Considering the efforts that John I had put toward furthering the Paston family,
likely the last thing Margaret wanted was for the family’s neighbors to begin to
question their gentility. For Margaret, the provision for the dead was not solely a
matter of religious devotion; perhaps more importantly, it also confirmed to others
that the Paston family belonged in the gentry.
Like the Pastons, other families aspiring to the gentry were concerned with
maintaining their family image through providing remembrances for the dead.
The Armburghs, although largely focusing on the family’s legal disputes, provide
in their letters glimpses of the daily lives and experiences of individual family
members. In one such example, Robert Armburgh discussed his role in the
execution of his wife Joan’s will. Leaving instructions on how her affairs should
be handled, Joan wrote that Robert “schulde dispose the money coming of the seid
lyflode for her soule, her husbondis soulys, her aunceters soulys, her frendis
soulys and for all cristin soulys.”73 Joan was clearly concerned with providing for
72 Ibid.
73 Carpenter, ed., Armburgh Papers, 173.
78
her own soul, however, she did demonstrate in her instructions to Robert a
commitment to those who had already passed, including her first husband, her
ancestors, and her friends. Robert appeared to take Joan’s instructions about the
care of her soul seriously. Writing to his mother Sybil Palmer, John Palmer wrote
that she should postpone her visit due to his grandfather Robert Armburgh’s
financial situation. John noted that Robert was burdened by “what in gode doen
for my granddame is [Joan’s] sovle sith the tyme of her deth.”74 According to
John, his grandfather adhered to one of his grandmother’s last wishes in spite of
the financial difficulty it placed on the Armburgh family. It is likely that Robert
was not only fulfilling his late wife’s desires, but he was also providing for her
soul to demonstrate to those around him that he was a member of the gentry who
was dedicated to the maintenance of the souls of the dead. In a set of letters
focused primarily on legal proceedings, the inclusion of Joan’s desire for the
provision of her soul demonstrated the family’s commitment to the dead and likely
its goal of strengthening the Armburgh family image. Religious giving was thus
one way that families like the Pastons and Armburghs illustrated their social status
to others.
As I have discussed above, the letters of the Paston women demonstrate the
concrete and representative ways that Agnes and Margaret exercised gentility. In
their correspondence, Agnes and Margaret utilized proper behavior, as established
in contemporary conduct literature, to define themselves in such a way as to
confirm that they were not peasants reaching beyond their social station but
instead that they belonged to the gentry. The Paston women were not alone in
choosing to present a positive image through their missives; others, such as Joan
74 Ibid., 185.
79
Armburgh and Elizabeth Stonor, similarly emulated gentility, highlighting it in
their correspondence. In their extant letters, each of these women constructed an
image of herself that conformed to the ideal gentlewoman as defined by the
developing gentry culture. In a sense, these women participated in proper
behavior because it “was a flexible code by which the civil man could define and
redefine his relationships within civil society.”75 Women in the gentry, or those
aspiring to the gentry, used their polite behavior to demonstrate that they belonged
to a distinct social group, interacting with others who shared their economic
position and value system. The way in which these women presented themselves
reflects a conscious effort to prove to others – family and neighbors – that they did
indeed belong within the ranks of the gentry.
Agnes and Margaret Paston recognized the importance of using polite
behavior to further their familial interests. Their outward actions and appearance
were particularly important, since the Paston family was attempting to rise above
their initial professional status to join the ranks of the landowning gentry. Since
the gentry was beginning to formally coalesce during the fifteenth century in
England, to learn of the behaviors which the developing group considered
acceptable, the Pastons examined literature, specifically conduct manuals, such as
The Knight of the Tower and The Goodman of Paris. These manuals provided
women such as Agnes and Margaret with the guidance they needed to enact and
demonstrate their gentle status. In this way, conduct manuals greatly contributed
to the development of the gentry culture, establishing a uniform image of the ideal
gentlewoman. By promoting like values of behavior, those aspiring to the gentry
subscribed to similar ideals to create a standardized reflection of gentility.
75 Anna Bryson, From Courtesy to Civility: Changing Codes of Conduct in Early Modern
England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), 96.
80
The relationship between individuals and conduct literature demonstrates
the societal pressure to adhere to certain types of behavior in order to create an
acceptable image of the self and the family. Conduct manuals presented the rising
professional class with an ideal image of the upper echelons of society, providing
individuals with a standard which they could emulate to prove their own gentility.
Yet this was not a static relationship where courtesy literature dictated the types of
behavior which individuals such as Agnes and Margaret Paston could or could not
present. Instead, individuals embraced some of the ideals presented in conduct
literature, creating an image that was acceptable to society while still exhibiting
their individual personalities and agency. Letter writing was one venue in which
women like Agnes and Margaret Paston could demonstrate their commitment to
gentry ideals. Subscription to the ideals given in courtesy literature, as seen in the
extant letters of gentry families, concurrently allowed for a development of a
group of individuals who participated in like behavior to form their own culture.
Conduct literature was thus supremely important in the instruction of the
developing gentry culture of Late Medieval England. Women – and men – used
such ideals as a guideline for their own lives, while adapting these traits to their
individual needs. The unification of individuals who had adapted these ideals in a
similar way encouraged the formation of groups such as the gentry. In this way,
conduct literature provided more than casual advice to the reader; instead, it
enabled individuals to come together and define themselves as a distinct group,
separate from the rest of society.
CONCLUSION
Through their letters in which they embraced and enacted traits such as
wifely obedience and religious benefaction, Agnes and Margaret Paston each
created for themselves an image of gentility. To learn which characteristics were
most desirable for an aspiring gentlewoman to possess, these women turned to
conduct literature such as The Knight of the Tower and The Goodman of Paris,
which provided detailed instructions on what it meant to be a member of the upper
classes in society, knowledge useful for families that desired to increase their
social status. Although beneficial to individuals, the advice found in conduct
literature was similarly useful in the formation of the English gentry and its
culture.1 Courtesy manuals provided a guide for proper behavior for the upper
echelons of society; as more professionals increased their wealth and standing,
they desired to gain the status previously reserved for the established nobility.2
One way of gaining such status, and distancing an individual from the peasantry,
was by adopting and exhibiting the behavior of the nobility. This seemingly
simple, but very public, act demonstrated that the individual understood what
being a member of the gentry entailed. Furthermore, this behavior could be used
as a marker for membership in a group – greater than peasant yet less than noble:
the gentry.
Women played a unique role in the development of the English gentry.
Exhibiting proper behavior was a public manifestation that an individual had
gained a raised status; however, an adherence to “good manners” was particularly
1 Raluca Radulescu, “Literature,” in Gentry Culture in Late Medieval England, ed. Raluca
Radulescu and Alison Truelove (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), 101.
2 Philippa Maddern, “Gentility,” in Gentry Culture in Late Medieval England, ed. Raluca
Radulescu and Alison Truelove (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), 21-25.
82
expected of women. By outwardly manifesting the comportment of the gentry,
women were able to demonstrate not only their acquired gentility but also by
association the gentility of their family. As evidenced by the content of their
letters, Agnes and Margaret Paston enacted proper modes of behavior to affirm
their status as members of the gentry. By embracing society’s expectations that
women should behave differently from men, Agnes and Margaret Paston were
able not only to demonstrate that their family behaved like worthy members of the
gentry, they were also able to impact the formation of the group’s culture. Good
behavior was one element of gentility, a public trait which women were
encouraged to present and one which they often embraced to gain social influence.
All too often in the study of the history of women, females are grouped
together solely because of their sex, largely ignoring differentiating factors such as
class or race. As a result, the experiences of women are often homogenized,
creating the mirage of a single “female” experience. For example, generalizing
the situation of women in Early Modern Europe, Merry Wiesner noted that
“women were outside of the social order because they were not as clearly
demarcated into social groups as men. Unless they were members of a religious
order or guild, women had no corporate identity at a time when society was
conceived of as a hierarchy of groups rather than a collection of individuals.”3 As
a whole, Wiesner recognized that women were generally not divided into specific
groups or guilds, and this impacted their ability to influence the social order of
Europe. However, in the case of the Paston women, Agnes and Margaret were
clearly members of a developing and distinct social class, a fact which greatly
impacted their lives and experiences. By embracing ideal gentle behaviors, Agnes
3 Merry E. Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006), 306.
83
and Margaret were able to contribute to the development of the gentry as a distinct
entity. By making a conscious choice to embody such ideal traits, these women
helped the gentry self-define, thus establishing a gentry “culture” in the fifteenth
century. Thus in the example of Agnes and Margaret Paston, their association
with the gentry played as influential a role in their lives as their sex. Contrary to
Wiesner’s generalizations, the Paston women were a part of the social order and
had an impact on the creation of the identity and image of the gentry as a class.
Agnes and Margaret embraced female social convention, and used it to create a
representation of themselves that was consistent with the overall image of the
gentry.
Gender and class were two realms in which women operated during the
Late Middle Ages. However, it was a combination of these two elements which
determined the experiences, and subsequent actions, of individuals. Women of the
upper classes felt this conflict acutely. Susan Dwyer Amussen has argued that “as
parents, mistresses and even as wealthy neighbours women might have authority
over men – a contradiction which made gender a problem in the class system, just
as class became a problem in the gender system.”4 All women were impacted by
more than their sex; a woman’s social status affected her available opportunities
and also her ability to influence those around her. As an heiress, Margaret Mautby
brought coveted land and wealth to her husband John Paston I.5 Coming from a
family with a higher status than the Pastons, Margaret also brought an expertise to
her husband’s family in regards to how the upper classes operated in society.
4 Susan Dwyer Amussen, An Ordered Society: Gender and Class in Early Modern England (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1993), 3.
5 H.S. Bennett, The Pastons and their England: Studies in an Age of Transition (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1951), 2.
84
Margaret understood the relations and mannerisms needed to be genuine members
of the gentry. She was accustomed to a position of power, and her insights would
prove invaluable to the efforts of her new family. Margaret knew her position as a
gentry woman, and knew how to manipulate society to achieve her desired goals,
and those of her family. It was this knowledge that allowed women such as
Margaret Paston to transcend the limitations of their sex, and participate in the
development of English gentry culture.
The Paston women thus exhibited gentility in two distinct ways, each of
which impacted the position and status of the family. First, Agnes and Margaret
exercised gentility by protecting the assets of the family. During the absences of
their husbands, and following their deaths, these women actively maintained the
family’s various affairs. As leaders of the family, Agnes and Margaret remained
committed to their husbands’ desires to solidify the gentle status of the family and
protect it from outsiders. In this way, they adhered to the gentry ideal of
maintaining family lands, status, and wealth.
The Paston women also utilized gentility in a representational manner,
specifically to establish the status of the family. This representational manner of
gentility included exercising proper behavior to demonstrate that they belonged to
a higher social status than the peasants or yeomen. To learn of the behaviors
encouraged by the gentry, Agnes and Margaret turned to the advice of conduct
literature. These manuals directed the Paston women and others in a similar social
position on the behaviors that were expected of the upper classes. By emulating
the behavior encouraged in these manuals, the Paston women demonstrated their
commitment to gentle behavior. In their letters, Agnes and Margaret consciously
structured their thoughts in such a way as to present the idealized image of a
gentlewoman. The semi-public nature of letters enabled these women to present
85
an image of gentility that would likely be seen by others than the letter’s intended
recipient. By representing gentility in such a way, Agnes and Margaret
demonstrated that they chose to adhere to the standards being adopted by the
gentry as a group in the fifteenth century.
The advice of authors like Geoffroy de La Tour Landry and the Ménagier
clearly influenced the immediate actions of the Paston women. But the question
remains, how did these conduct manuals contribute to the developing gentry
culture of the Late Middle Ages in England? Examining one such instructional
text, Felicity Riddy explained the ways the poem “What the Goodwife Taught Her
Daughter,” shaped the identity of medieval families. Specifically, this poem
encouraged self-definition, allowing groups, such as the gentry, to establish
uniform values for its members.6 As a printed text, such advice was more easily
spread to others. Similar to how medieval families utilized the advice present in
“What the Goodwife Taught Her Daughter,” gentlewomen such as Agnes and
Margaret Paston used conduct manuals like The Goodman of Paris and The Knight
of the Tower to create a unified image of what it meant to be a part of the gentry.
The decision of the Paston women to subscribe to the ideals presented in these
manuals demonstrated their desire to solidify their position amongst the elite.
Their decision alone did not mark the beginning of the gentry culture in England.
It was the concurrent decisions of women in similar positions, like Elizabeth
Stonor and Joan Armburgh that demonstrated the group formation qualities of
conduct literature. The choice of numerous women in a similar class position to
emulate the same behavioral traits encouraged the unification of the gentry as a
group.
6 Felicity Riddy, “Mother Knows Best: Reading Social Change in a Courtesy Text,” Speculum 71,
no. 1 (Jan., 1996): 69.
86
The Paston family lived at a point in history that enabled them to
participate in the development of a new social class in England. The expansion of
English government encouraged individuals such as William Paston to better their
social position by entering a professional position, like the legal profession which
the early Pastons pursued. This allowed for the economic advancement of
families like the Pastons. However, there were parallel elements that promoted
both social movement and the formation of groups of similar individuals. One
such factor was the rise of the family as a social and political unit. Religion and
the Church no longer defined the groupings of individuals; instead, individuals
increasingly associated primarily with their families, a process finished by the
accession of Elizabeth I.7 This decline in religion impacted more than the
structure of the Church, it also altered the structure of society, causing a change in
the way people thought about the traditions of England. The family was a natural
element to focus on after the decline in religion. This emphasis on the family was
especially relevant to the aspiring gentry as they needed to unify first the thoughts
and actions of their close relations before attempting to join with other families in
a similar position. As evidenced by the extant words of the Pastons, both male
and female members of the family were concerned with the overall image of the
family but also with the behavior of their close relatives. For example, in one
instance, writing of her errands, Agnes Paston noted that “the sey Elyzabet Paston
that che must vse hyr-selfe to werke redyly as other jentylwomen don, and
sumwhat to helpe hyr-selfe ther-wyth.”8 Agnes was undoubtedly concerned about
7 A.L. Rowse, The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of the Society (New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1971), 85.
8 Norman Davis, ed., Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century, vol. I (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1971), no. 28.
87
the actions of her daughter and felt it necessary to write a reminder that Elizabeth
should behave in the same manner as other gentlewomen.
Aligning the interests of the family was one of the first unifying factors in
the development of a cohesive gentry. The family’s rise in prominence influenced
the way that individuals thought about society and its traditions. Similarly, other
factors impacted the structure and organization of English society. The fifteenth
century is often identified as an era in which a new sense of Englishness
developed, a fact important not only for nation-building but also in promoting
group formation. Growing lay vernacular literacy, particularly among rising
professionals and the nobility, furthered a feeling of what it meant to be English.9
Yet the fact that more individuals could read did not define this Englishness;
instead, it was what these individuals read that created a unified image. The
growth of the vernacular encouraged the formation of an English national identity.
A standard written English developed around London, the commercial center of
the country, first adopted by the printer William Caxton for the translation of
continental works and other texts printed and distributed throughout England.10
This use of the English language first, over French or Latin, separated the English
from the continent and further defined them. This standardized English was
necessary in shaping the identities of individual social groups that sought to
expand their position within the larger populace. Printers like Caxton not only
9 Rosemary O’Day, The Professions in Early Modern England, 1450-1800 (Pearson Education
Limited: Essex, 2000), 26-33, and Richard Britnell, The Closing of the Middle Ages?: England, 1471-1529
(Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 1997), 132-134. O’Day discussed the development of the professions in
England, including the legal profession, and the impact that choosing an occupation had on an individual.
One important element of her argument included the formation of professional groups who identified with
one another not only because of their jobs but also their similar interests. Britnell takes group formation a
step further, recognizing how individual groups organized during the fifteenth century, creating a sense of
Englishness in the process.
10 Britnell, The Closing of the Middle Ages?, 133.
88
introduced standardized English through his press, but by printing a number of
conduct manuals during the Later Middle Ages, including The Knight of the
Tower, he perpetuated the types of behavior considered acceptable for various
sectors of society, including the gentry. The unified English voice subsequently
produced an English image that could be adopted and adapted by each of the
separate sectors of society. In this way, a common language allowed individuals
to come together, creating group identities that were intimately linked to England
and its culture.
The rise in importance of the family and the increase of printed works in a
standardized vernacular provided the developing gentry with the framework to
create a coherent class. Further, a concurrent change occurred in the evolution of
the code of chivalry emulated by the elite. The concept of honor and worth of an
individual was increasingly seen through social works rather than military feats.11
This change in emphasis was extremely beneficial to the efforts of rising families
such as the Pastons. Achievements through the professions, like the legal
occupation of William Paston, began to be recognized as honorable pursuits.12 No
longer did an individual have to participate in war to achieve honor for himself
and his family. Medieval authors like Dante, Boccaccio, and Chaucer increasingly
associated nobility with noble deed rather than birth; in fact, their words
encouraged a nobility defined by wealth and learning, a concept which further
enabled social mobility.13 The Late Middle Ages encouraged a change in the
meaning of personal honor; no longer was it reserved for the military prowess of
the knights. Honor became something that those of humble birth, such as the
11 Diane Bornstein, Mirrors of Courtesy (Hamden: Archon Books, 1975), 59.
12 O’Day, The Professions in Early Modern England, 179.
13 Bornstein, Mirrors of Courtesy, 60.
89
Pastons, could gain for themselves through economic achievement and learning.
However, wealth and literacy did not instantly provide an individual with status
and honor, rather, one needed to behave like the nobility to enter its ranks.14 The
Pastons took advantage of these changing definitions of honor and nobility during
the Late Middle Ages and skillfully manipulated these concepts to their advantage.
It is likely that women such as Agnes and Margaret Paston knew of the need to
properly present oneself to the public, and this focus permeated the images seen in
their letters.
The Paston family represents one manifestation of the varied forces which
encouraged social mobility for the professional class in England. We have
knowledge of their experiences and activities based on the sheer volume of extant
documents left by the family. However, the individual experiences set the Pastons
apart from others aspiring to the gentry; they are one example of those rising to the
gentry, but they are likely not representative of the experiences of the gentry as a
whole. Clearly the Pastons participated in events which were common amongst
the ranks of the gentry. For example, William and Agnes Paston arranged for a
propitious marriage for their son John I, an act which was common, even
expected, for gentry families.15 Furthermore, William utilized his position as a
legal professional to gain wealth and land.16 Particularly the acquisition of land,
after gaining wealth, was a natural step for the gentry to take, for it truly
established their increased position in society. Such activities largely
characterized the development of the gentry class in fifteenth-century England.
14 Ibid., 61.
15 Colin Richmond, The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: The First Phase (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996), 121.
16 Ibid., 23.
90
By participating in such events, the Pastons contributed to the development of the
gentry as a class of like-minded persons. Individual experiences of aspiring
gentlemen and gentlewomen may have varied, but their shared experiences
encouraged them to form a distinct social entity in the gentry.
Studies of the gentry as a separate social entity have only recently begun to
examine the intricacies of the group and its foundation. Furthermore, the lives and
experiences of gentlewomen have only superficially been examined, largely due to
the limited amount of information left by women.17 With this limited information,
the opinions recorded by Agnes and Margaret Paston in their letters become more
important to the study of gentlewomen. In spite of the substantial insight provided
through the letters of Agnes and Margaret, we cannot assume that their
experiences were representative of all gentlewomen. For example, Agnes and
Margaret had a significant influence on the lives of their children and in the
direction of the Paston family largely due to the length of their lives spent as
dowagers after the deaths of their respective husbands.18 Not all gentlewomen
outlived their husbands, eliminating their chances to have an expanded influence
in their family like the Paston women did as widows. One contradicting
experience was in the life of Joan Armburgh, who died before her husband
Robert.19 Joan’s shorter life prevented her from asserting influence and guiding
her family as dowager, an experience well documented by the Pastons. Similarly,
Elizabeth Stonor was outlived by her husband William, who eventually remarried
17 Only a number of studies on gentlewomen of the Late Middle Ages in England exist. For
examples of this scholarship, see: Peter Coss, The Lady in Medieval England (Mechanicsburg, PA:
Stackpole Books, 2000), and Ffiona Swabey, Medieval Gentlewomen: Life in a Gentry Household in the
later Middle Ages (New York: Routledge, 1999).
18 Davis, ed., Paston Letters I, liii, liv, lv, lvi.
19 Christine Carpenter, ed., The Armburgh Papers: The Brokholes Inheritance in Warwickshire,
Hertfordshire and Essex, c. 1417- c. 1453 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1998), 173.
91
after her death.20 The long lives of Margaret and Agnes Paston obviously created
more opportunities for them to impact not only their family, but also the
developing gentry culture. As widows, they had more active roles in the public
affairs of the family and their actions ultimately impacted the status of the Pastons.
Agnes and Margaret Paston may not have been typical gentlewomen during
the fifteenth-century in England. Yet an examination of the manner in which they
used the advice in courtesy literature to learn and exhibit proper behavior in their
letters demonstrates the forces at work in the development of the gentry. The
gentry was clearly a social and political group that consisted largely of those with
professional positions that participated in the governance of England. Yet the
members of the gentry were not solely concerned with politics and their
professions; social factors, such as the way in which an individual behaved, further
defined one’s class position in an England where the upper classes were expected
to act in a more “civilized” manner than the peasantry. In this way, the exhibition
of proper behavior demonstrated to the public the social standing of an individual
and their family. Regardless of wealth, the absence of such behaviors encouraged
criticism from peers which could lead to the alienation of an individual from their
adopted social group. Rising individuals, like the Pastons, particularly needed to
transcend the position of a parvenu to become established members of the gentry.
The most obvious demonstration of their gentle status was their exhibition of
behavior deemed appropriate for members of the gentry. Agnes and Margaret
Paston likely understood the importance of distancing oneself from the peasantry,
and the family’s humble origins, and each of these women desired to create an
image of gentility through their correspondence.
20 Christine Carpenter, ed., Kingsford’s Stonor Letters and Papers 1290-1483, Camden Classic
Reprints (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), xxviii.
92
In their letters, the Pastons detail the social, economic, and political
changes occurring in England. The Paston Letters provide insight into the daily
lives of a family during the Late Middle Ages, making the collection important to
the research of historians. However, it is in going past the basic details of the
letters that we truly discover the wealth of information the Pastons left in these
extant documents. As two of a limited number of medieval women leaving
written documents, Agnes and Margaret Paston are especially important to
examinations of not only the lives of women but the ways that they were impacted
by the social and political transformations of the fifteenth century. Through their
correspondence, both of these women demonstrate the ways that they exercised
gentility to increase not only their own social standing but that of their family.
Gentility was not based solely on land and wealth; additionally, the exhibition of
proper behavior proved to society that individuals like the Pastons belonged in the
gentry. Participation in such behavior was one venue in which women contributed
to their families’ rise in status. In this way, the letters of Agnes and Margaret
Paston specifically illustrate the ways that women engaged in the founding of a
gentry culture in fifteenth-century England.
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