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Blood & Roses: the Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century

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Blood & Roses: the Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century BLOOD & ROSES: THE PASTON FAMILY IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Helen Castor | 384 pages | 02 Jun 2005 | FABER & FABER | 9780571216710 | English | London, United Kingdom Blood & Roses: The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century PDF Book You can lose your land to claims of others who may be the progeny of previous owners, or may be just better connected. While the book does not deal with domestic problems, there are some unmistakable facts. This is a highly unusual book. This book is also good in the way that you find out where some of the upper nobility fit into the story of the civil wars at a more local level. You can also lose it in a siege and hope that your connections are good enough to have a hearing in a court where you hope that you can to get better connected people than the insurgents on your side. On his death in some letters passed into the hands of John Ives, while many others were purchased by John Worth, a chemist at Diss , whose executors sold them in to Sir John Fenn of East Dereham. I believe this is the sort of material that's usually buried in PhD theses and never reaches a general audience. Far from the popular stereotype of the food of the wider medieval population consisting of dull cabbages and pottage, her purchasing of exotic spices, nuts and dried fruit give life and colour to the diet of the mercantile elite and aspiring gentry of East Anglia in the Middle Ages. In , Norman Davis published a new edition, which was revised and expanded by Richard Beadle and Colin Richmond in The writing is excellent and the fact the book is about a private family and their everyday lives against the backdrop of the War of the Roses intriguing. Definitely a worthwhile read if interested in 15th century England, or socio-political history. Castor has done a beautiful job bringing to life the personalities from the family, the nobility, and the numerous and reappearing kings of the 15th century. Elizabeth I : A Study in Insecurity. It is a tour de force in helping us to understand what life was like for landowners vying for power locally in deadly times. What was more interesting than the court arguments: the women had more agency than their husbands and sons. Helen Castor's writing style is impeccable. The large collection of letters and papers was acquired in from the executors of the estate of William Paston, 2nd Earl of Yarmouth , the last in the Paston line, by the antiquary Francis Blomefield. Watt, Diane, editor. The eldest, Sir John Paston — , had been knighted during his father's lifetime. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Meanwhile, the struggle over Paston's estates continued, although in the king and council had declared that Paston's ancestors were not bondmen, and consequently that his title to his father's lands was valid. Highly compelling, and hard to put down. Amid the relentless attention to landed property, Castor tries to make the most of the lighter scenes, as when John II, in trying to enlist the support over Caister of the pregnant Duchess of Norfolk at a chance meeting in Yarmouth, pays a leaden gallantry that goes hopelessly awry. BBC News. This is the Pastons. It abounds with illustrations of public events, as well as of the manners and morals of the time, and some valuable examples of colloquial English, such as Agnes Paston's quarrel with her neighbour, Warren Harman, c. BUT the legal details became so tedious I started skipping sections, particularly in the 2nd half of the book. Ever want to know what it was like to live during the Wars of the Roses? Paston died in May , with the suit concerning Fastolf's will still proceeding in the church courts. Unfortunately she takes it out on her two sons, both of whom, also set up for failure by parental decisions, risk their lives for this family enterprise. The book begins with a list of illustrations, family trees, a discussion of the rulers of England during this time, a map of their East Anglia, as well as an author's note and some acknowledgements. I found this alternating between incredibly interesting and ploddingly dull. London: Macmillan, The Paston Letters are a collection of correspondence between members of the Paston family of Norfolk gentry and others connected with them in England between the years and Want to Read saving…. But -- for all that the book purports to be about the Pastons, it's really about the Wars of the Roses, the series of wars for the throne after the death of Henry V and the reign of "Henry VI. No wonder Margaret becomes cranky in the end. They capitalize upon the absence of husbands and sons, making the most of the wider access to commercial markets and opportunity to obtain the best value for money. Also interesting is: the combination of warring magnates, weak kings and up and coming courtiers determined to rise their status possible in a society convulsed first by the Black Death - leading to a rise in the power of the lower social classes - and then by political upheaval and revolutions in the true original sense so that loyalty and fidelity could be rewarded or backfire or often both in alternating succession ; the contemporary nature of the letters written demonstrating what people in the Paston's strata really thought; the combination of tortuous legal processes, complex inheritance law and practice with people often torn between giving all their estate to the eldest or splitting it and the willingness of powerful individuals to take possession by force and then aim for delaying tactics in the court aided by intimidation of their opponents. In , Diane Watt published The Paston Women: Selected Letters , which situates the letters in the context of medieval women's writing and medieval letter writing. It also shows the precariousness of position and property when powerful men and women decided they wanted what was not theirs, and the difficulty in withstanding those with more power and influence. Nov 01, Susan Ronald rated it it was amazing. I remember I read about pages in one go because it was very absorbing and you end up kind of rooting for the Paston family to retain their rights as you would if the story were told as fiction. Christopher Dyer notes that London was known to offer high-quality goods and products and to have a greater selection of choice p. It is writing history a Ever want to know what it was like to live during the Wars of the Roses? Margaret specifies the quantities she wishes John to obtain: he is to purchase three or four pounds of sugar and spend the change of his five shillings on the dates. Blood & Roses: The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century Writer It is a tour de force in helping us to understand what life was like for landowners vying for power locally in deadly times. William IV c. In 15th century England, there is no title insurance. Amid the relentless attention to landed property, Castor tries to make the most of the lighter scenes, as when John II, in trying to enlist the support over Caister of the pregnant Duchess of Norfolk at a chance meeting in Yarmouth, pays a leaden gallantry that goes hopelessly awry. There are many layers to discover here! He was frequently at the court of Edward IV , but afterwards favoured the Lancastrian party, and, with his younger brother, also named John, fought for Henry VI at the Battle of Barnet. Read more I started the book hoping a lot and ended up by forcing myself to finish it. It is writing history at its best. I liked the author before reading this from seeing her two television series. Retrieved 9 June Also interesting is: the combination of warring magnates, weak kings and up and coming courtiers determined to rise their status possible in a society convulsed first by the Black Death - leading to a rise in the power of the lower social classes - and then by political upheaval and revolutions in the true original sense so that loyalty and fidelity could be rewarded or backfire or often both in alternating succession ; the contemporary nature of the letters written demonstrating what people in the Paston's strata really thought; the combination of tortuous legal processes, complex inheritance law and practice with people often torn between giving all their estate to the eldest or splitting it and the willingness of powerful individuals to take possession by force and then aim for delaying tactics in the court aided by intimidation of their opponents. At times I got confused and wearied by the incessant ups and downs of the family's fortune--but this book brought the period to life for m Wow!!! A great deal of the middle part of the book drags because John I Paston is such a self-righteous prig that he manages to screw up his family's acquisitions by getting himself jailed on multiple occasions and alienating a lot of potential allies by being unwilling to see things from any perspective of his own. Castor's exhaustive research shows as she reconstructs the history of the Paston family and its attempts to climb the social ladder of the landed gentry. Robert's son William — , who married a natural daughter of Charles II , was the second earl, and, like his father, was in high favour with the Stuarts. Although John Paston, whose correspondence with his wife Margaret is the best-known element in the Paston story, is not a particularly sympathetic character, several members of his family behave quite heroically.
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