An Orchard, a Love Letter and Three Bastards: The Formation of Adult Male Identity in a Fifteenth-Century Family

Abstract

In the summer of 1481 Richard Cely, a young wool merchant, wrote to his brother George. He reported that he had met with the sister of a family friend, and judged that she was an appropriate marital prospect for George. Richard discussed the matter with his father, Richard senior, as they walked together in their new orchard, and Richard senior instructed his son to write to George to encourage him to pursue the opportunity. However, these men were not just talking about respectable marriage prospects, but also the death of a child. The child in question was George’s illegitimate baby by a woman who lived in Calais, and not only was Richard senior aware of the relationship, he was sympathetic to his son’s loss. Richard Cely junior’s letter neatly provides examples of why the Cely correspondence is so interesting: here we have evidence of familial affection and paternal authority, courtship patterns, and attitudes toward extramarital relationships. George and Richard junior, both in their early twenties, in this letter appear to be both in friendly confidence with their father and under his paternal authority. At this point in their lives the Cely sons are in a transitional life phase as they begin to move from adolescence into manhood, their sexual behaviour and obedience to their father reflecting their place in the adolescent life stage, whilst their attempts to find wives indicate a shift toward attaining manhood. The Cely letters thus provide an invaluable resource for studying late medieval adolescence and male sexuality.