Margaret Paston and the Landed Gentry

This story portrays a clear image about the duties of a wife during the Middle Age. Margaret Paston was only 18 years old when she got married. Her husband John Paston was always traveling because “Husbands of the upper middle class were frequently required to serve the king, acting as his representative in London and abroad and landowners’ business interests often took them away from their country estates to towns, cities and even abroad”( Margaret Paston and the Landed Gentry, p1), for that reason the husbands  had leave their wives in charge of their business. During his absences Margaret was responsible to take control over her husband’s businesses and the house’s administration. Unfortunately, it was not an easy work for Margaret because she had to cooke hand and bacon, preserve fruits and bake bread. She also had to act as her husband’s agent in the country, had to collect the rent, manage the staff and tenants. Margaret found this task so difficult because she was too young, she did not have the experience doing this and giving orders to other men. It was very common that during the Middle Age the wife took care of her husband’s business, sometimes because her husband had to serve the king or because her husband died. During the Middle Age a lot of women did not have husband because they were married old men who died before them, and as a result of this they had to be man and woman in their homes. In one of my post about “ How the Good Wife Taught Her Daughter” I talk about  a mother who advise her daughter about the importance of taking care of her husband’s money, and working together to increase it. I think Margaret Paston is a good example of a good daughter that listen her mother because she was only 18 years old without experience about business, and she was working hard to take care of her husband’s money.