Le Ménagier de Paris

Le Ménagier de Paris (French: [lə menaʒje də paʁi]; often abbreviated as Le Ménagier; English: "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.

The work survives in three 15th-century manuscripts, plus one 16th-century one, from well after printing became common. But it was never printed until the 19th century, suggesting a relatively limited popularity.

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. But the book's section of horticulture (some ten pages in printed editions) is also an exceptionally rare glimpse into the medieval gardens of those below the castle-owning class. The other sections give insight into other aspects of French medieval life.