ABSTRACT
Late medieval England was a notoriously litigious society, at least among the land-owning classes. This chapter talks about the non-adversarial approach also suited collegial bodies such as guilds, which preferred the internal resolution of disputes between members and saw a conflict fought out in the courts as an admission of failure. Jane's own story begins with her marriage but, as is usual in family histories, this had roots further back. Since their arrival in Norfolk, the Stapletons had mainly sought their marriage partners among the East Anglian gentry, tying them into a complex network of local relationships. By the mid-fifteenth century they had been drawn into the orbit of William de la Pole, Earl and later Duke of Suffolk, whose influence at court had given him a significant role in the region until his murder in 1450, and from whom they held their Suffolk manor of Weybread.
