The Paston Story
The Pastons, one of Norfolk’s most prominent families from the Middle Ages, have a fascinating journey on the Wheel of Fortune. Their story has survived in their letters and is about the rise from medieval farmers to the dizzy heights of the inner circles of Tudor and Stuart royal courts, only to then fall, in their own words, into 'whirlpools of misadventure'.
Using education, good business sense and an entrepreneurial spirit, the Paston family broke through the social barriers of the day during a time of social upheaval, with the collapse of the feudal system, Wars of the Roses and impact of the Black Death. The Pastons were not very different from other up-and-coming families of the later Middle Ages, struggling to establish their growing social position. They were, though, particularly successful in the pursuit of power. Managing lands, local produce and tenants, taking on boisterous villagers, politically outwitting neighbours, taking up arms against the powerful Dukes, and pursuing rights through the emerging powers of the law courts, they were also patrons of literature, benefactors of local institutions and devotional souls. But most of all, they were a family. A family full of love, nurture, gossip, rivalry, arguments, strife and also resilience. And a family that wrote letters.
Filmed on location, at the Pastons' manor home, Oxnead Hall
The Paston Letters
What makes this family truly unique is that we hear the story in their own voices, through the serendipitous survival of their correspondence. The Paston Letters, dating back to 1418, is the earliest and largest surviving family letter collection, preserving lived experience insights (that would otherwise have been lost) into what people did and felt in everyday life in the late Middle Ages. The archive includes the world's earliest known Valentine's letter.
However, little known is the fact that there are more than just the medieval letters. The family kept writing for another couple of centuries. Over 600 years later, today we are telling the full story for the first time, using the 2,000 letters and documents from across the late Middle Ages, Tudor and Stuart periods, by walking in their footprints on the heritage trails. On each heritage walk, discover a different chapter of the Paston story. A Paston character acts as your tour guide, bringing to life the stories from the archives where they took place in outstanding landscapes of natural beauty.
You can read the fifteenth to seventeenth century Paston letters collated on our companion site. This database has been developed by, and for, heritage lovers to dig deep into the story: ThisIsPaston.co.uk A small sample below gives you a taste of the stories ...
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Paston Places
Paston manors by 1610
Map created by Peter Stibbons, David Viner, and David Yaxley.
Read more about the Paston story by travelling across Norfolk, including and going beyond the walking trail sites. With over 50 places in the county featuring in the medieval letters alone and by the seventeenth century, Paston owned land throughout Norfolk as we have mapped above, there are lots of site-specific stories. Download the free 20 page booklet, to explore more of Paston Country.
350 years of stories in 35 minutes
Want to know who's who?
(There are a lot of Johns, Williams, Margarets and Elizabeths!), explore the Paston family tree.
Women's History
Discover the tales of the gutsy Paston women and participate in our 'Rebel Women' campaign to write them back into history.
Children
A short introduction to the Pastons for children is available.
“Making the Paston letters more accessible is the reason for this project. The claim to fame about the letters is that they are the non-official voice of the Middle Ages, the history beyond kings and queens. It was time to return this history of the people to the people.”
- Dr Karen Smyth, Paston Footprints Director and Associate Professor in Literature, UEA.
Pictured are the Youth Heritage Collective
making Rosie's Blue Plaques to celebrate Paston Women.
Experience the story by walking in Paston Footprints via heritage trails