His Coldest Winter Book

This is a highly unusual book. I believe this is the sort of material that's usually buried in PhD theses and never reaches a general audience.

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. In 15th century England, there is no title insurance. You can lose your land to claims of others who may be the progeny of previous owners, or may be just better connected. 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. You can also lose this property, and be imprisoned as well, if an ancestor of yours was "unfree" and therefore not able to own the property you claim.

The John Paston Family seems ill equipped to play this game. While the book does not deal with domestic problems, there are some unmistakable facts. William's other sons, who have better and firmer inheritances are in deep background (until one comes around to lay claim) leaving John, the semi-disinherited older son, to fend for himself. He's in this situation because his mother renounced his father's written will in favor of an alleged death bed testimony. This testimony works to the favor of the younger sons which essentially sets John up for failure. This is a mother who beats a daughter, whom she keeps in spinsterhood (withheld dowry), such that her head cracks.

John's wife Margaret raises children and runs the contested manor, which becomes a war zone (she actually fights skirmishs and battles) while her husband networks in London. There is little detail what he does with his time, and he must have a lot of it on his hands. No wonder Margaret becomes cranky in the end. 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 tale is interesting for what it reveals of life at this time, but it is overly long in detail. Descriptions of battles, tangential players and some quotes from letters (some so convoluted they produce more confusion than enhancement) could well be eliminated in favor of a smoother analytical treatment. It isn't until p. 200+ that the author reveals what you seem to think, (but wonder if you've missed) that these people might be creating their own problems.

Also hard to understand is the true fiscal plight of the family. They are always in financial straights, but are ordering clothing (lots of detail on items the modern reader cannot identify), shopping, entertaining and hiring soldiers and servants. They seem to be not only living beyond their means, but reaching well beyond them as well.

I like that the author describes the provenance of the letters at the end, and not the beginning. This is the time the reader can really appreciate their value.