Catherine Called Birdy characters

Also known as Birdy, Little Bird

Appears from the start

The fourteen-year-old daughter of a minor English knight, recording a year of her life in 1290 and 1291 at her brother Edward's request. Sharp-eyed, restless, and resistant to the narrow future prescribed for a nobleman's daughter, she would rather tend animals, listen at doors, or join village life than sew, spin, and prepare for marriage. She meets her father's matchmaking plans with schemes intended to repel every suitor.

Also known as Catherine's father

Appears from the start

Catherine's forceful, quick-tempered father and lord of the manor. He is determined to arrange a profitable marriage for his daughter and treats her objections as disobedience, making him the immediate obstacle to the independent life she imagines.

Also known as Catherine's mother

Appears from the start

Catherine's mother, a capable and compassionate manager of the manor household. Frequently pregnant and often occupied with domestic responsibilities, she tries to guide her daughter toward patience and practical judgment while softening the effects of Sir Rollo's temper.

Appears from the start

Catherine's favorite brother, who is training for religious life away from home. He has asked her to keep the diary that forms her account, hoping that regular writing will encourage reflection. Catherine trusts his kindness and addresses many of her thoughts to him.

Appears from the start

Catherine's eldest brother and his father's heir. Loud, conventional, and frequently insensitive, he shares Sir Rollo's assumption that rank and family advantage should govern marriage.

Appears from the start

One of Catherine's older brothers, serving away from the manor. His greater freedom as a young man contributes to Catherine's anger at the different futures allowed to sons and daughters.

Appears from the start

A resourceful village boy who tends goats and is one of Catherine's closest everyday companions. His work, songs, and practical ambitions give her a view of life beyond the manor's formal expectations.

Appears from the start

Catherine's nurse and attendant, responsible for teaching her the domestic accomplishments expected of a gentlewoman. She endures Catherine's evasions and complaints while continuing to press her toward spinning, sewing, and respectable conduct.

Appears from the start

A young woman who works in the manor dairy and shares news and conversation with Catherine. Her responsibilities and prospects remind Catherine that women outside the gentry face restrictions of their own.

First appears in chapter 2

Catherine's admired uncle, newly returned from years of travel and fighting. Handsome, sociable, and apparently free to choose his direction, he represents the adventurous life Catherine wishes were available to her.

First appears in chapter 3

Catherine's beautiful young friend from a neighboring noble household. Aelis is subject to the same marriage bargaining that Catherine dreads, despite having feelings and preferences her family is prepared to disregard.

First appears in chapter 6

The wealthy older lord whom Catherine privately names for his coarse beard. Once Sir Rollo accepts him as a prospective husband, Catherine's usual efforts to frighten away suitors no longer seem sufficient, and the proposed match becomes the central threat to her freedom.

First appears in chapter 9

A wealthy, unconventional older woman associated with Uncle George. Her lively independence and disregard for ordinary expectations intrigue Catherine, although her circumstances also show that freedom can depend on money and social position.

First appears in chapter 13

Shaggy Beard's son, a young man Catherine finds far less alarming than his father. His courtesy creates a possibility that the future attached to the proposed marriage arrangement may not be the one she has feared.