Margaret Paston

The Pastons were a wealthy farming family in Norfolk, England, whose correspondence (1422–1509) illuminates the everyday life of the medieval English gentry. Margaret Paston inherited her father’s land when he died in 1440 and also managed the properties of her husband, John Paston, when he was away on business. Her duties and accomplishments are recorded in the letters that she wrote, mostly to her husband, throughout her life.