Nature and Scope
Nature and Scope
Summary
Only five major letter collections exist from fifteenth-century England, and they are all available here in Medieval Family Life.
These letter collections and associated manuscripts take the user into the world of medieval families, businesses, relationships, trade, politics and communities.
A plethora of topics are covered in these collections, from arranging advantageous marriages and inheritances, through estate management and financial dealings to women and their role in the family. Arguments between parents and children, births, deaths, acts of violence, lawsuits and incidents from everyday social and domestic life are all present.
Medieval Family Life presents full-colour images of the original medieval manuscripts of which these letter collections are constituted, alongside fully searchable transcriptions drawn from available printed editions.
Summary
Only five major letter collections exist from fifteenth-century England, and they are all available here in Medieval Family Life.
These letter collections and associated manuscripts take the user into the world of medieval families, businesses, relationships, trade, politics and communities.
A plethora of topics are covered in these collections, from arranging advantageous marriages and inheritances, through estate management and financial dealings to women and their role in the family. Arguments between parents and children, births, deaths, acts of violence, lawsuits and incidents from everyday social and domestic life are all present.
Medieval Family Life presents full-colour images of the original medieval manuscripts of which these letter collections are constituted, alongside fully searchable transcriptions drawn from available printed editions.
User's guide
This resource is primarily a collection of medieval correspondence, but it also includes much supporting material, such as wills, deeds, account books, etc., that help to round out the picture of life in a medieval family. Often they have not been included in the printed editions, or if they have been, they are referenced but not fully transcribed, unlike the letters. Such items will therefore not have a corresponding transcript.
There are two routes into the letters: to either browse the list of manuscripts or look through the much smaller number of printed editions of transcriptions. These are cross-referenced throughout, so it is possible to look at both the manuscript and printed edition(s) of a letter no matter which route into the material is followed.
Where a transcription of a manuscript is available, it will be displayed on the manuscript document's details page. In addition, there will be a link to the volume from which the transcription is taken in the accompanying metadata. Where multiple transcriptions have been published in multiple volumes, links to all these transcriptions will be available.
The printed editions themselves have been divided into sections, allowing users to navigate straight to a particular letter's transcription from the edition's document-details page. In the printed volumes transcriptions often run over more than one page, so for ease of use these have been reformatted here such that the whole transcription is provided in a single image.
Each collection of family papers in Medieval Family Life presents different problems and has required different treatment. Outlined below is the editorial method that has been followed for each family collection.
User's guide
This resource is primarily a collection of medieval correspondence, but it also includes much supporting material, such as wills, deeds, account books, etc., that help to round out the picture of life in a medieval family. Often they have not been included in the printed editions, or if they have been, they are referenced but not fully transcribed, unlike the letters. Such items will therefore not have a corresponding transcript.
There are two routes into the letters: to either browse the list of manuscripts or look through the much smaller number of printed editions of transcriptions. These are cross-referenced throughout, so it is possible to look at both the manuscript and printed edition(s) of a letter no matter which route into the material is followed.
Where a transcription of a manuscript is available, it will be displayed on the manuscript document's details page. In addition, there will be a link to the volume from which the transcription is taken in the accompanying metadata. Where multiple transcriptions have been published in multiple volumes, links to all these transcriptions will be available.
The printed editions themselves have been divided into sections, allowing users to navigate straight to a particular letter's transcription from the edition's document-details page. In the printed volumes transcriptions often run over more than one page, so for ease of use these have been reformatted here such that the whole transcription is provided in a single image.
Each collection of family papers in Medieval Family Life presents different problems and has required different treatment. Outlined below is the editorial method that has been followed for each family collection.
The letter collections
Stonor
The Stonors were a well-established gentry family in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. These documents cover the longest time period of any of the collections and throw light on both business and domestic issues.
The Stonor manuscripts, from the National Archives at Kew, have over the years been re-catalogued and re-housed for preservation, with the result that there are often several identifying numbers on one letter. Additional metadata from the National Archives’ catalogue has been added during preparation of this resource, and alternative spellings recorded in the notes field.
Plumpton
The Plumptons were a dominant northern family. Their documents, which continue right through to the early sixteenth century, reveal a family entangled in the social and economic affairs of the region.
The Plumpton papers are slightly different to the other collections in that they are actually seventeenth-century copies of the original medieval manuscripts, which no longer exist. The bulk of the correspondence is contained in Sir Edward Plumpton’s letterbook, which means that it is more difficult to present the letters as individual documents as the other collections have been. The whole letterbook has been presented as a single document so that the integrity of the book as an object is preserved, but the letters in the book are also presented individually, along with transcriptions where they are available.
The reference of each letter document will act as a guide to the letter’s location in the letterbook, so for example letter WYL655/2 No. 9, p. 154 is item number 9 on page 154 of the letterbook. Using these references will help to locate a letter in the volume if there is more than one letter on a page.
Paston
The Paston letters have long been a subject of both literary and historical interest and are the largest of the collections, totalling 1,018 separate items, and by the best known of the five families. The letters document the life of a gentry family during the Wars of the Roses. Hundreds of documents and letters exchanged between members of the family cover in microcosm the dilemmas of a nation beset by war, disease and legal disputes.
All held at the British Library, the Paston manuscripts have been bound into large volumes and the only existing metadata refers to these whole volumes; however, this resource presents the letters as individual documents in order to reflect how they would have originally been written and read.
Each manuscript has been matched to its reference using Norman Davis’s Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century. There are, however, a small number of transcripts which could not be matched with their original manuscript. In these cases the title has been given as ‘Unidentified manuscript’.
Any contemporary or modern copies found within the British Library’s Paston manuscripts have been included with the relevant original manuscript and cross-referenced in the notes field. Any re-referencing of manuscripts carried out since James Gairdner compiled his printed edition in 1904 have been given their new references: for example, Gairdner’s MS. Phillipps, 9735 is now Add. 39848.
Cely
The Celys were a merchant family and crucial players in the wool trade between England and the Channel ports. This collection, which covers every aspect of their commercial dealings, will prove particularly useful for the economic and social historian.
Like the Stonor manuscripts, the Cely papers are from the National Archives, Kew and have over the years been re-housed and reordered in various ways, and so are sometimes very difficult to identify with total confidence. Many of the letters have several identifying numbers and others no numbers at all.
Armburgh
The Armburgh family’s material is primarily concerned with a dispute over an inheritance.
It has not proved possible to match up the entries in the printed edition of the Armburgh papers to the single manuscript roll on which all the correspondence is written, but the printed edition is provided as a tool for research.
The letter collections
Stonor
The Stonors were a well-established gentry family in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. These documents cover the longest time period of any of the collections and throw light on both business and domestic issues.
The Stonor manuscripts, from the National Archives at Kew, have over the years been re-catalogued and re-housed for preservation, with the result that there are often several identifying numbers on one letter. Additional metadata from the National Archives’ catalogue has been added during preparation of this resource, and alternative spellings recorded in the notes field.
Plumpton
The Plumptons were a dominant northern family. Their documents, which continue right through to the early sixteenth century, reveal a family entangled in the social and economic affairs of the region.
The Plumpton papers are slightly different to the other collections in that they are actually seventeenth-century copies of the original medieval manuscripts, which no longer exist. The bulk of the correspondence is contained in Sir Edward Plumpton’s letterbook, which means that it is more difficult to present the letters as individual documents as the other collections have been. The whole letterbook has been presented as a single document so that the integrity of the book as an object is preserved, but the letters in the book are also presented individually, along with transcriptions where they are available.
The reference of each letter document will act as a guide to the letter’s location in the letterbook, so for example letter WYL655/2 No. 9, p. 154 is item number 9 on page 154 of the letterbook. Using these references will help to locate a letter in the volume if there is more than one letter on a page.
Paston
The Paston letters have long been a subject of both literary and historical interest and are the largest of the collections, totalling 1,018 separate items, and by the best known of the five families. The letters document the life of a gentry family during the Wars of the Roses. Hundreds of documents and letters exchanged between members of the family cover in microcosm the dilemmas of a nation beset by war, disease and legal disputes.
All held at the British Library, the Paston manuscripts have been bound into large volumes and the only existing metadata refers to these whole volumes; however, this resource presents the letters as individual documents in order to reflect how they would have originally been written and read.
Each manuscript has been matched to its reference using Norman Davis’s Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century. There are, however, a small number of transcripts which could not be matched with their original manuscript. In these cases the title has been given as ‘Unidentified manuscript’.
Any contemporary or modern copies found within the British Library’s Paston manuscripts have been included with the relevant original manuscript and cross-referenced in the notes field. Any re-referencing of manuscripts carried out since James Gairdner compiled his printed edition in 1904 have been given their new references: for example, Gairdner’s MS. Phillipps, 9735 is now Add. 39848.
Cely
The Celys were a merchant family and crucial players in the wool trade between England and the Channel ports. This collection, which covers every aspect of their commercial dealings, will prove particularly useful for the economic and social historian.
Like the Stonor manuscripts, the Cely papers are from the National Archives, Kew and have over the years been re-housed and reordered in various ways, and so are sometimes very difficult to identify with total confidence. Many of the letters have several identifying numbers and others no numbers at all.
Armburgh
The Armburgh family’s material is primarily concerned with a dispute over an inheritance.
It has not proved possible to match up the entries in the printed edition of the Armburgh papers to the single manuscript roll on which all the correspondence is written, but the printed edition is provided as a tool for research.
Further resources
Several ancillary features of Medieval Family Life allow users to explore the letters and the families who wrote them within the wider context of medieval England and Europe.
The gallery consists of a selection of images chosen to illustrate both everyday life and some of the political developments of the time, and include pages from the Luttrell Psalter and the Queen Mary Psalter, among many other lushly illustrated works.
Four family trees, of the Cely, Paston, Plumpton and Stonor families, illustrate the links between the various writers and recipients of the letters, many of whom have the same names.
The glossary explains hundreds of unusual or specialist terms occurring in the Medieval Family Life letters and includes many variant spellings. A search can be performed for a term by clicking on it.
The chronology contextualises the activities of the Celys, Pastons, Plumptons and Stonors within the major events of the time.
Finally, the tutorial presents thematic questions and topics to consider for use in teaching, each accompanied by links to relevant letters.
Further resources
Several ancillary features of Medieval Family Life allow users to explore the letters and the families who wrote them within the wider context of medieval England and Europe.
The gallery consists of a selection of images chosen to illustrate both everyday life and some of the political developments of the time, and include pages from the Luttrell Psalter and the Queen Mary Psalter, among many other lushly illustrated works.
Four family trees, of the Cely, Paston, Plumpton and Stonor families, illustrate the links between the various writers and recipients of the letters, many of whom have the same names.
The glossary explains hundreds of unusual or specialist terms occurring in the Medieval Family Life letters and includes many variant spellings. A search can be performed for a term by clicking on it.
The chronology contextualises the activities of the Celys, Pastons, Plumptons and Stonors within the major events of the time.
Finally, the tutorial presents thematic questions and topics to consider for use in teaching, each accompanied by links to relevant letters.