This richly detailed account provides an important addition to current work on women in late medieval England, taking as its starting point the household diary of Alice de Bryene, a Suffolk noblewoman of the late 14th and early 15th century. Like Christine de Pizan, de Bryene enjoyed greater status and influence as a widow and owner of several large estates than most married women of her time, allowing her a remarkable degree of social and financial independence. Moving outward from de Bryene's own life, this illuminating work provides a vivid picture of the medieval household , examining marriage, education, patronage, and the private and public roles of the medieval woman of privilege.