[Omah]

Sir John Paston ( knighted at the battle of Stoke in 1487) tried until he was 33 to find the "right" wife: she had to be of a good family, reasonably good-looking, and above all, rich.

However, in later letters to his elder brother his standards have dropped - he would settle for "some old thrifty draff wife" (ale wife) if she had enough money.

But this all changed when he met 17-year-old Margery, daughter of Sir Thomas Brews. Although from a good county family, she was not an heiress and her father had other daughters, so her dowry would be small.

However, despite John's emotions being engaged, the Paston family demanded a higher dowry.

In 1477 Margery Brews wrote a letter to John Paston pleading with him not to give her up, despite her parents' refusal to increase her dowry.

Addressing her "ryght welebeloued Voluntyne" (right well-beloved Valentine), she promised to be a good wife, adding: "Yf that ye loffe me as Itryste verely that ye do ye will not leffe me" (If you love me, I trust.. you will not leave me).

She promises her undying love: "Myne herte me bydds ever more to love yowe truly" (My heart me bids ever more to love you truly), and speaks of her ailing body and heart over her fiance's continuing silence.

Despite her father's stubbornness over her dowry, a dispute which appeared to have reached stalemate, the couple's mothers intervened and the marriage went ahead some time in 1477 and Margery did marry her knight.

The couple had a son, William, in 1479. Margery died in 1495, John in 1503.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12419712

See also :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paston_Letters

The perturbed state of affairs revealed by the Paston Letters reflects the general condition of England during the period. It was a time of trouble. The weakness of the government had disorganized every branch of the administration; the succession to the crown itself was contested; the great nobles lived in a state of civil war; and the prevailing discontent found expression in the rising of Jack Cade and in the Wars of the Roses. The correspondence reveals the Pastons in a great variety of relations to their neighbours, friendly or hostile; and abounds with illustrations of the course of public events, as well as of the manners and morals of the time. Nothing is more remarkable than the habitual acquaintance of educated persons, both men and women, with the law, which was evidently indispensable to persons of substance.

Local history writ large .....