08-11-2024, 08:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-11-2024, 08:31 PM by Paul Ferguson.)
(09-28-2023, 08:39 PM)Paul Ferguson Wrote: Some more information about Margaret Paston from Dr Francesca Vanke's blog:
"Her grandfather, William Paston, who probably commissioned this painting, left her £4000 in his will as a dowry. This was a vast sum for the time. At a period when most girls’ marriages were arranged entirely by their parents, this financial independence allowed Margaret to do something very unusual indeed: to choose her own husband. She chose a high-ranking Venetian diplomat, Girolamo Alberti di Conti. Her parents, Robert and Rebecca Paston, disapproved: Girolamo was an Italian Catholic, and they wanted an English nobleman for their daughter, the kind of man who would elevate the family’s social status. But Margaret married Girolamo in London in 1673, leaving England for good in 1675. Her parents seem never truly to have forgiven her, nor to have seen her again."
https://norwichcastle.wordpress.com/2021...alchemist/
Margaret’s dowry of £4000 in around 1670 would seem to be equivalent to about half a million in today’s money, according to https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/#
"In 2017, this is worth approximately:
£454,886.44
In 1670, you could buy one of the following with £3,998:
Horses: 627
Cows: 741
Wool: 4997 stones
Wheat: 1043 quarters
Wages: 57114 days (skilled tradesman)"