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secular romance

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Chapter 6 - What the Paston Women Read
from II - Circles and Communities in England
- By Diane Watt
Edited by Corinne Saunders, Durham University, Diane Watt, University of Surrey
Book:

Women and Medieval Literary Culture

Published online:

28 July 2023

Print publication:

17 August 2023, pp 124-138
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Summary

This essay explores the unique insights into the lives and book ownership of the Paston family offered by its fifteenth-century correspondence. It looks at three Paston women ߝ Agnes Berry Paston, her daughter-in-law Margaret Mautby Paston, and Margaretߣs daughter Elizabeth Paston (Yelverton) ߝ and the books that were in their possession or that they may have read. Putting the evidence concerning book ownership provided by wills, for example, alongside that of letters provides intriguing insights into the spirituality and influence of women, and the value they placed on devotional and moral works. The Paston womenߣs reading also included secular romance, the interest of which may have been as much political as personal. The reading interests of such women, then, extended far beyond the narrowly domestic.