Le Menagier

Le Ménagier de Paris (often abbreviated as Le Ménagier, and meaning "The Parisian Household Book") is a French medieval guidebook from 1393 on a woman's proper behaviour in marriage and running a household. It includes sexual advice, recipes, and gardening tips. Written in the (fictional) voice of an elderly husband addressing his younger wife, the text offers a rare insight into late medieval ideas of gender, household, and marriage. Important for its language and for its combination of prose and poetry, the book's central theme is wifely obedience.

Le Ménagier de Paris was first edited and published in print form as "traité de morale et d'économie domestique" by Baron Jérôme Pichon in 1846. The book was made available in English translation in its entirety only in 2009, translated and edited by Gina L. Greco & Christine M. Rose and published by Cornell University Press; until that publication, the most complete translation in English was Eileen Power's 1928 The Goodman of Paris. The fact that the "translation was out of print and permission to photocopy it ... could not be obtained" inspired the 2009 publication. Since earlier translations and editions have focused mainly on the recipes, the book is often incorrectly referred to as a medieval cookbook or an "advice and household hints book," and mined for the history of medieval cuisine.

The book contains three main sections: how to attain the love of God and husband; how to "increase the prosperity of the household"; and how to amuse, socialize, and make conversation. Like many medieval texts, the argument relies heavily on exempla and authoritative texts to make its point; included are selections from and references to such tales and characters as Griselda and the tale of Melibee (known in English from Chaucer's "The Clerk's Prologue and Tale" and "The Tale of Melibee"), Lucretia, and Susanna.

The Cornell University Press edition divides the actual text into 21 sections, starting with "The Good Wife's Guide: The English Text of Le Ménagier de Paris," "Prologue," and "Introductory Note to Articles 1.1-1.3", then followed by the rest of the articles translated from the original source.

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