Late medieval English society placed great weight on the practices of primogeniture, patrilineal descent, and patriarchal government, and the significance of the father had cultural resonance beyond the rule of law. Yet despite a burgeoning interest in both the family and gender, "the father" has to date received little attention from medievalists. This book takes an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of the "fictions" of fatherhood, the ideological constructs that underpinned late medieval conceptions of fathers and patriarchy. Its focus on gentry and mercantile readers and writers...