Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices From a Medieval Village

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! is Laura Amy Schlitz’s fourth published book. It was originally written to be performed by fifth-grade students at the Park School of Baltimore; instead of chapters, it consists of loosely interconnected monologues, as well as two dialogues. The book was published in 2007, and was awarded the 2008 Newberry Medal. 

Schlitz has also published a range of other titles, including A Drowned Maiden’s Hair: A Melodrama (2006); The Hero Schliemann: The Dreamer Who Dug for Troy (2006); and Splendors and Glooms (2012), a Newbery Honor winner. When Schlitz was working as a librarian at the elementary school, she wanted to create a resource that would help students to gain a more realistic understanding of the Middle Ages, and to that end, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! features characters whose activities reveal the intricacies of everyday life during this time frame. Schlitz also uses each narrative to explore The Importance of Human Connection, Brutality of Life in the Middle Ages, and Parental Influence on Children’s Development. 

This guide refers to the 2011 Candlewick Press edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, illness, child abuse, animal death, child death, graphic violence, bullying, racism, religious discrimination, and ableism.

Language Note: The source text uses offensive and outdated terms for people with physical and intellectual disabilities. This study guide reproduces this language only in quotations.

Plot Summary

Rather than presenting readers with a linear plot structure, the author organizes the book as 22 loosely interconnected narratives that are primarily monologues, although two are dialogues.

In the first narrative, Hugo, the lord’s nephew, goes hunting for a boar. His uncle has instructed him to hunt like a man; if he cannot, he will be beaten like a child. Hugo manages to kill the boar and is rewarded with its kidneys and the lord’s praise.

Taggot, the blacksmith’s daughter, remembers the events of mayday, a festival that included dancing and flirtation. She stays home because she is considered ugly and is also large for a woman. One day, Hugo comes to the forge with his horse, which has a stone stuck in its hoof. Taggot helps the horse, then runs away, embarrassed. To her surprise, Hugo leaves her a sprig of hawthorn as a romantic gesture.

Will recalls working the fields with his late father and reflects on the fact that the fields’ disparate locations made it difficult for them to be farmed. He recalls a night when their father brought home a hare that he had killed on the lord’s land: a forbidden act. His mother was terrified, but they were never caught. Later, when his father was on his deathbed, Will promised to would work hard and look after the family in his father’s stead.

Alice is close with her sheep, having been suckled by one after her mother died. Her favorite sheep, Jilly, nearly dies while lambing, so Alice sings to her all night. Finally, the sheep recovers.

The doctor’s son, Thomas, considers all the medicinal knowledge that he is learning from his father. He also believes that it is a good practice to overstate the danger any given patient is in so that if the patient does recover, they and their family will be pleasantly surprised.

Constance was born with a physical disability and is now traveling to Saint Winifred’s well in the hopes of being cured. She remembers the story of the saint and remains optimistic that she will be miraculously healed.

Mogg thinks about her father’s death without feeling any grief. She remembers being forced to go to the mill to grind their meal, and she also reflects on her hatred for Otho, the miller’s son. Although the lord has a customary right to claim the best livestock after one of his villeins dies, Mogg and her family tricked the lord into taking their best pig rather than their very valuable cow. (In medieval times, a “villein” was a feudal tenant subject to the lord of the manor, and was also obligated to pay the lord dues and services in return for the land.)

Otho, the miller’s son, wonders at the fact that the others in the village hate him because of his father’s work. He philosophically declares that everyone must cheat each other in order to eat.

Jack, Mogg’s brother, is described by others as a “half-wit.” He reflects on his friendship with Otho. Once, after Otho had been beaten up, Jack helped him by putting snow on his face. After that day, Otho has never joined in the other boys’ habit of taunting Jack.

Simon recalls his past dreams of becoming a knight. The chivalry appealed to him, as did the license to kill Saracens. However, the estate is bankrupt, so he is now forced to become a monk instead.

Edgar, the falconer’s son, plans to free a hawk that belongs to Simon, but which Edgar raised. Because he knows that Simon won’t take care of the bird, he decides to free it despite the potential punishment.

Isobel, the lord’s daughter, remembers walking in the village and being hit with a clod of dung that ruined her dress. She decides not to tell her father about the incident, as she only saw a group of boys and is not sure which one threw the dung. She doesn’t want them all to be punished.

Barbary regrets throwing the dung at Isobel. She remembers preparing to go shopping and her stepmother asking her to take the twins, who are very difficult. She threw the dung on impulse, then immediately regretted it. She reflects on the fact that the brutality and fear of childbirth will apply equally to Isobel and to her.

Jacob and Petronella are both at the river. Jacob, who is Jewish, believes that Petronella is about to throw rocks at him. Instead, she skips the rock across the water, and they both play together for a while—at least until they remember their duty to their respective religions. At that point, they each privately resolve to keep their interaction a secret.

Lowdy is proud of her father’s work of caring for the lord’s hounds, but she reflects that she is unable to cope with the fleas.

Pask, a runaway, escaped life as a villein after his parents died. If he stays in town for a year and a day, he will be free. He remembers the kindness of Lowdy in the stables and plans to go back and give her a ribbon for her hair to thank her.

Piers is a glassblower’s apprentice. After three years doing other tasks, he is finally permitted to make his first attempt to blow glass. He tries twice, and even though the glass comes out lopsided, his master is proud of him.

Marion and Maud are the glassblower’s daughters. Their chapter is told as simultaneous monologues. Mariot thinks she should be kind to Piers and regrets her timidity. Maud is much more assertive and speaks about Piers in a disgusted tone. However, Mariot expresses her willingness to marry him.

Nelly suggests that she is lucky to be alive; her father tried to drown her when she was a baby because she was just one more mouth to feed, but she held onto the edge of the bucket. Her formerly impoverished family found work as snigglers, or eel-catchers. She also suggests that a boy named Drogo always stares at her.

Drogo doesn’t mind his work as a tanner, but he dislikes it when others—like Nelly and the boys in town—are outspoken and accuse him of making the river stink.

Giles describes his begging performance, which begins with pretending to have an injured foot. The performance continues with the arrival of his father, who pretends not to know him and comes along to sell religious relics. His father declares that he will test holy water on Giles to see if it cures him. They playact a scene to convince onlookers that the cure is successful. Later, they meet up to share supper and pray for more fools to dupe.