When you say the word family different people think of different things. I believe there are two different types of family, the blood family and the real one. Blood family is one that shares the same blood and into which you were born or married. Real family is the family you choose to be part of your family. That said, what I will be looking at are blood families from the medieval period. No family is completely the same, but there is common ground. By looking at the personal written material of people in that time period, I hope to see what common ground there is between the families of the English and the Italians. Wives of the time were thought to be responsible for managing everything from food supplies to managing accounts and organizing staff (Moriatry 223). On the same page, the author continues to state that children are expected to “revere and obey their parents.” This suggests that the relationships between parents and children were not emotional at all. Many children were also sent away from their parents to be cared for by other people (Moriatry 223). By examining four letters, from “The Voice of the Middle Ages”, you can see the bond between families because they are personal letters written between family members. In the letter between Eleanor and her son, Eleanor continues to call her son “the sweetest son” and “the dearest son” (Moriatry 224). This shows how important her son was to her. In the next letter, Robert Lovell writes to his mother-in-law why he wants her to be happy (Moriatry 225). He holds her high calling her “most honored lady”. This man is not even her blood son, yet he holds her in the position of a mother. Lovell wants to give her something to be happy about. This is the link between… middle of paper… if one cheats outside of the family, they are expected to fix things and be a part of the child's life. Family is important to the English and Italians, but they show it in different ways. Both English and Italians use other people to help them raise their children. Children also show honor towards their parents. Family will always be important and will always be the common ground with everyone. Works Cited Jansen, Katherine L. et al. Medieval Italy: texts in translation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2009. Pressure: DG 501 .M535 2009Moriatry, Catherine. The Voice of the Middle Ages: In Personal Letters 1100 – 1500. New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1989. Shelf number: CB 351 .V59 1989Wiesner, Merry E. et al. Discovering the medieval past: a look at the evidence. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. Shelfmark: D 113 .D57 2003