Carpenter, Christine, ed., Kingsford's Stonor Letters and Papers 1290-1483 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.)
Text name(s): Stonor Letters and Papers 1290-1483
Number of pages of primary source text: 330
Author(s):
Dates: 1290 - 1483
Archival Reference:
Original Language(s):
- Anglo-Norman
- English - Middle English
- Latin
Translation:
- Original language included.
Translation Comments:
Geopolitical Region(s):
- England
County/Region: Oxfordshire; Stonor; London
Record Types:
- Account Roll
- Account Roll - Household
- Charters, Deeds
- Contract
- Inventory
- Letter
- Petition
- Will
Subject Headings:
- Family / Children
- Material Culture: Food, Clothing, Household
- Nobility / Gentry
Apparatus:
- Index
- Appendix
- Introduction
Comments:
This is a reissue of Charles Lethbridge Kingsford’s edition of the Stonor letters and papers, first published in 1919. There is a new preface, an introduction to the new edition, and Kingsford’s introduction with its appendix. The first forty texts are in Latin or Anglo-Norman, with English becoming more prevalent after. Most of the documents begin with a modern note about their content or condition. Other materials include a map of area around Stonor, family trees, a facsimile of a letter by William Goldwyn, an index of persons and another of places, a general index, and supplementary papers.
Introduction Summary:
The Stonors are described in the introduction as a “typical” family, especially when compared with the Pastons, the most famous letter-writing family in medieval England. Christine Carpenter’s introduction to the new edition describes the family’s background and the survival of letters from the Middle Ages, as well as how they fit in with fifteenth-century historiography and their role as sources. Her introduction responds to Kingsford’s work. Kingsford writes further of the Stonors’ history and of that of their documents, and concludes with a note on the printing of Middle English spelling.
Cataloger: RLL
