Mothers at Home, Writing Letters: Alessandra Strozzi and Margaret Paston

Alessandra Strozzi of Florence and Margaret Paston of Norfolk were near fifteenth-century contemporaries. They were stay-at-home mothers who served as the touchstone for family affairs, a process we can follow in detail because each was the author of about 100 letters, mostly to the absent men of their families. The letters – with Alessandra’s now available, thanks to a recent scholarly translation – open a window into women’s literacy, styles of expression, interest in matters of daily life, such as the plague, the purchase of household goods, and the marital prospects of children whose marital choices worried their mothers.