The Paston Letters ~ Money Worries [audio 15min]

John III Paston is badly wounded in the battle of Barnet. John II Paston nurses him back to health, bringing the two brothers closer. Meanwhile, plague ravages the country. This is Part 7 of a dramatisation by Vanessa Rosenthal, in ten 15-minute programmes, of the lives and loves of three women spanning three generations of a medieval family, based on the Paston Letters. This extraordinary collection of personal letters, written roughly between 1430 and 1495, is the first record of a private correspondence to survive in Britain and so offers a unique glimpse into the concerns and fears of a very upwardly mobile family (see family tree from Wikipedia) at a time of huge social upheaval. This period covers exciting and dramatic times -- the reign of four kings, culminating in Richard III; several battles, including Bosworth; the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower; and the reconciliation of the Houses of Lancaster and York. Each episode is available for 7 days after broadcast. ~Hear Helen Castor discussing her history of the Pastons during the Wars of the Roses, Blood and Roses (recently issued in an American hardback edition), on BBC Radio 4's"Woman's Hour" from Sept. 2004 (10min). ~Etexts of the Paston Letters are available from the Etext Center at the University of Virginia Library.