God's Own Gentlewoman - The Life of Margaret Paston

The remarkable story of Margaret Paston, whose letters form the most extensive collection of personal writings by a medieval English woman. Drawing on the largest archive of medieval correspondence relating to a single family in the UK, God's Own Gentlewoman explores what everyday life was like during the turbulent decades at the height of the Wars of the Roses. Covering topics including political conflicts and familial in-fighting, forbidden love affairs and clandestine marriages, bloody battles and sieges, fear of plague and sudden death, friendships and animosity, and childbirth and child mortality, Margaret's letters provide us with unparalleled insight into all aspects of life in late medieval England. Diane Watt, a world expert on medieval women's writing, offers insight into Margaret's activities, experiences, emotions and relationships, presenting the life of a medieval woman who was at times absorbed by the mundane and domestic, but who found herself caught up in the most extraordinary situations and events.

About the author

Diane Watt is an award-winning academic and writer. She is the author of Secretaries of God, Medieval Women's Writing, and Women, Writing and Religion. Diane was born and brought up on the west coast of Scotland, and as a child spent her holidays visiting her grandmother in County Durham and aunts and cousins in North Yorkshire. More recently, during the university vacations, she has enjoyed travelling around Norfolk with her wife and their three dogs in search of Margaret Paston.

Product details

• Authors: Diane Watt, Watt Diane
• Publisher: Icon Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 15.08.2024
• EAN: 9781837731640
• ISBN: 978-1-83773-164-0
• No. of pages: 288
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; England, Diaries, letters & journals, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Letters, Medieval History, British & Irish history, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, Diaries, letters and journals, c 1500 to c 1600, European history: medieval period, middle ages, HISTORY / Europe / Medieval, 1485–1603 (Tudor period)