The Paston Letters: Documentary Culture and the Public Space in Fifteenth-Century England
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This paper investigates the historical context of the Paston Letters, one of the largest archives of fifteenth-century English personal correspondence, in order to understand why such documents emerged at this period of history and what their functions were in contemporary society. The interest in letter writing in English was particularly strong in the fifteenth century, when letters became an efficient means of communication for English people from different estates. By historicizing the letters written by three generations of the Paston family, the paper argues that the letters were produced by the convergence of several historical forces such as the hunger for news, the expansion of literacy, the growth of the vernacular, and most importantly, the development of documentary culture. Rather than expressing inner thoughts and emotions of the letter writers, these private vernacular letters of the late medieval period functioned as a medium for circulating news about public affairs before a set of cultural institutions such as newspapers and journals developed as a forum for public discourse. An analysis of the Paston writers’ attitude towards their letters in this paper reveals the family’s investment in documentary culture as well as the literate mentality that had a strong belief in the written word.
Abstract
This paper investigates the historical context of the Paston Letters, one of the largest archives of fifteenth-century English personal correspondence, in order to understand why such documents emerged at this period of history and what their functions were in contemporary society. The interest in letter writing in English was particularly strong in the fifteenth century, when letters became an efficient means of communication for English people from different estates. By historicizing the letters written by three generations of the Paston family, the paper argues that the letters were produced by the convergence of several historical forces such as the hunger for news, the expansion of literacy, the growth of the vernacular, and most importantly, the development of documentary culture. Rather than expressing inner thoughts and emotions of the letter writers, these private vernacular letters of the late medieval period functioned as a medium for circulating news about public affairs before a set of cultural institutions such as newspapers and journals developed as a forum for public discourse. An analysis of the Paston writers’ attitude towards their letters in this paper reveals the family’s investment in documentary culture as well as the literate mentality that had a strong belief in the written word.
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