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yayjill's review against another edition
2.0
It could have used some aggressive editing. If she had stuck to her theme of following one man's life through the century, it would have been great, but there were so many tangents that the book felt disorganized and rambling.
randomprogrammer's review against another edition
I slogged 300 pages into this miserable mishmash of facts and dates before jumping ship. With every new page, I cradled the dying flame of my hope that this might somehow make for an interesting rendition of the middle ages. It did not.
Tuchman somehow manages to overwhelm the reader with information while simultaneously telling you nothing at all. She does this by endlessly shifting context and persistently lacking depth.
For example, she gives overviews of economic, clerical, and societal changes, but she'll constantly jump backwards and forwards in time, making it impossible to keep track of which economic events coincided with which clerical habits, and preventing the easy formation of broad understanding.
She'll gleefully inform the reader of the well-known predominance of the English longbow, but will rob you of any deeper understanding by neglecting to speak on why the French couldn't just use longbows themselves.
When speaking of a continent composed of a dozen varied countries, she will make gross generalizations on behavior or culture, without ever bothering to distinguish between region or social class.
I think this is a work that tries to tackle too much, and does so at the expense of the reader's understanding. Perhaps I will look for another, more focused book.
Tuchman somehow manages to overwhelm the reader with information while simultaneously telling you nothing at all. She does this by endlessly shifting context and persistently lacking depth.
For example, she gives overviews of economic, clerical, and societal changes, but she'll constantly jump backwards and forwards in time, making it impossible to keep track of which economic events coincided with which clerical habits, and preventing the easy formation of broad understanding.
She'll gleefully inform the reader of the well-known predominance of the English longbow, but will rob you of any deeper understanding by neglecting to speak on why the French couldn't just use longbows themselves.
When speaking of a continent composed of a dozen varied countries, she will make gross generalizations on behavior or culture, without ever bothering to distinguish between region or social class.
I think this is a work that tries to tackle too much, and does so at the expense of the reader's understanding. Perhaps I will look for another, more focused book.
eline_leest_een_boek's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
2.75
I had a very hard time with this book. The writing style didn't work for me and was very dense. There was a lack of structure and it was difficult to follow and retain any information. It made me think of my rambling history teacher in highschool unfortunately. The author knows a lot about the 14th century but is not very good at conveying that knowledge to the reader in an engaging way
passifloraincarnata's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
5.0
Exhaustive history of fourteenth century France, centered on the person of Enguerrand de Coucy.
gingerjane's review against another edition
3.0
A little hard to listen to for long periods of time. On a re-listen now!
jay_sy's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman is about life in the 14th century following a nobleman who lived in France. I had heard good things about Tuchman's writing, and love reading about this time period.
Thoughts while reading:
-I didn't realize that the calendar we had now was established so late and that Chronicles determine the new year as being after Easter and dates were determined by religious holidays
-it's so horrible that the Nobles' single method of fighting each other involved maiming and killing peasants and destroying buildings and property.
-Society at the time was divided into three arms: the clergy which was supposed to pray for all people, the peasants who were supposed to provide labor, and the Nobles who were supposed to protect both of the other arms. But as most people know the nobility exploited their position and believed themselves superior over others
-depression existed at the time but it was considered the sin of sloth
-it's interesting how knights are defined as owning horses and that horseback was seen as their seat. I had no idea that the war byhorses were only ridden during battle and the rest of the time the knights rode on their destriers while their squires led the war horses. I also didn't know that the coat of arms indicated the right to bear arms and that Nobles had been discouraged from any form of trade to encourage them to take up arms
-it's both amusing and depressing that as the church gradually lost power, it turned towards money to the point where every aspect of the church was ‘for sale’ (eg being able to buy positions, or pay off sins, dispensations such as legitimizing children). On top of that Friars were especially reviled because the Franciscan orders were supposed to be the most pious, forgoing the ownership of land but as a result many Nobles donated to them and many Friars lived lives of dissolution. Then when new Franciscan orders a rose that tried to live lives of poverty, the church was so threatened that some of these Franciscans were tried by the Inquisition
-it's really interesting how the lower classes could protect their own interests by joining trade associations which not only gave them a group to belong to but also did things like collectively patronize the arts like commissioning stained glass windows which the members could take pride in
-the wars at the time weren't based on a strategy or tactics but because there was such a deep belief in ancestry and bloodlines, they attacked areas that they thought would bring down certain bloodlines
-in table top role playing games, clerics are only supposed to use blunt weapons and I had no idea that in history, martial Bishops weren't supposed to ‘smite with the edge of a sword’ so they favored maces
-I've read so many stories about the plague but I had no idea that the Black Death had two forms, affecting the bloodstream and/or the respiratory system. It was also fascinating to hear the various speculations as to what caused the death at the time, such as the belief in the movement of planets, or through sight, or through light, and of course the prevalent idea that it was a punishment from God
-it was really disturbing to learn about the entrenchment of anti-semitism and how the Christian belief in the sin of usury basically forced the Jewish population into being money lenders since they were believed to be going to hell anyways. Then, because of this role they were hated
-I was aware that after the black plague, conditions and wages arose for peasants, but I didn't realize that the ruling class made so much effort to suppress the rise in wages such as trying to cap prices and wages with laws to the point that over the years they kept trying to increase the consequences because their efforts failed
-medieval people were accustomed to violence but sometimes hearing about their entertainment is extremely disturbing such as how they would mail a cat to a tree and try and batter it to death with their heads, or how one town bought a condemned criminal from a neighboring town so they could have the pleasure of seeing him quartered
-I feel so bad for the villagers who had to deal with the groups of brigands who are basically on the loose after the wars since they had served as former mercenaries and consisted of people from England, Wales, and Gascony who liked the easy life of plunder, burning down poor villages and ransoming the rich. Some of these companies became so powerful that the pope even bribed and forgave the sins of one of them for safe passage through the land
-it was really fascinating to learn about the peasant uprising of the Jacques. It was so violent and chaotic in both sides, with both sides demonizing each other and when the Nobles rallied, they killed off tens of thousands of peasants with no thought as to the consequences such as who would perform their labors and till their fields
-during this time period, French was spoken in England and lessons were taught in French but after the Black Death, so many teachers died that lessons started to be taught in the language of the common people, English
-it's interesting that the Bandit companies like the Condotierro, despite their lawlessness, still craved Absolution to the point where they would make it a condition of release from those they captured even if they beat and tortured them. There seem to be no way to get rid of these companies other than to pay them off and Crusades were conceived so they could be sent off to other lands
-I like to learning about the early stirrings of English protestantism and since I read Anya’s Seton's book about Katherine Swynford, it was interesting to hear about the actual history and about John of Gaunt
-it was interesting to hear about the history of the theater and how it began from religious liturgical plays. It's also interesting how the medieval people loved scenes of violence and torture and enjoyed toilet humor like when the actors in donkey suits lifted their tails and pooped
-it's almost funny how there are several instances of cardinals who elect a pope that they assume will be tractable only to find that when that Pope is in power, he asserts his will whether driven by a new sense of purpose or something else. But if I ever learned about the schism of the church in school, I must have completely forgotten about it and it was really interesting to hear about its effect on Europe since people were never sure whether they were paying their respects to the right Pope and whether the Bishops they appointed for the right bishops. It was also interesting how it backfired and with the church split in two, more money was needed than ever, and simony increased so that there was more corruption
-it's interesting how the idea of chivalry caused the French to lose so many wars since the nobles cared more about their status and glory than making use of tactics
-I like to hear about the perception that medieval people had about life and how it had 12 Seasons just like a year had 12 seasons. Even if the average lifespan was shorter, it didn't mean that people perceived younger ages as old age (eg. The 50s were considered the ‘September’ of a person's life)
There were some points when Tuchman was talking about events that I zoned out while listening but other details were utterly compelling. Overall, I would give this a 4 out of 5
Thoughts while reading:
-I didn't realize that the calendar we had now was established so late and that Chronicles determine the new year as being after Easter and dates were determined by religious holidays
-it's so horrible that the Nobles' single method of fighting each other involved maiming and killing peasants and destroying buildings and property.
-Society at the time was divided into three arms: the clergy which was supposed to pray for all people, the peasants who were supposed to provide labor, and the Nobles who were supposed to protect both of the other arms. But as most people know the nobility exploited their position and believed themselves superior over others
-depression existed at the time but it was considered the sin of sloth
-it's interesting how knights are defined as owning horses and that horseback was seen as their seat. I had no idea that the war byhorses were only ridden during battle and the rest of the time the knights rode on their destriers while their squires led the war horses. I also didn't know that the coat of arms indicated the right to bear arms and that Nobles had been discouraged from any form of trade to encourage them to take up arms
-it's both amusing and depressing that as the church gradually lost power, it turned towards money to the point where every aspect of the church was ‘for sale’ (eg being able to buy positions, or pay off sins, dispensations such as legitimizing children). On top of that Friars were especially reviled because the Franciscan orders were supposed to be the most pious, forgoing the ownership of land but as a result many Nobles donated to them and many Friars lived lives of dissolution. Then when new Franciscan orders a rose that tried to live lives of poverty, the church was so threatened that some of these Franciscans were tried by the Inquisition
-it's really interesting how the lower classes could protect their own interests by joining trade associations which not only gave them a group to belong to but also did things like collectively patronize the arts like commissioning stained glass windows which the members could take pride in
-the wars at the time weren't based on a strategy or tactics but because there was such a deep belief in ancestry and bloodlines, they attacked areas that they thought would bring down certain bloodlines
-in table top role playing games, clerics are only supposed to use blunt weapons and I had no idea that in history, martial Bishops weren't supposed to ‘smite with the edge of a sword’ so they favored maces
-I've read so many stories about the plague but I had no idea that the Black Death had two forms, affecting the bloodstream and/or the respiratory system. It was also fascinating to hear the various speculations as to what caused the death at the time, such as the belief in the movement of planets, or through sight, or through light, and of course the prevalent idea that it was a punishment from God
-it was really disturbing to learn about the entrenchment of anti-semitism and how the Christian belief in the sin of usury basically forced the Jewish population into being money lenders since they were believed to be going to hell anyways. Then, because of this role they were hated
-I was aware that after the black plague, conditions and wages arose for peasants, but I didn't realize that the ruling class made so much effort to suppress the rise in wages such as trying to cap prices and wages with laws to the point that over the years they kept trying to increase the consequences because their efforts failed
-medieval people were accustomed to violence but sometimes hearing about their entertainment is extremely disturbing such as how they would mail a cat to a tree and try and batter it to death with their heads, or how one town bought a condemned criminal from a neighboring town so they could have the pleasure of seeing him quartered
-I feel so bad for the villagers who had to deal with the groups of brigands who are basically on the loose after the wars since they had served as former mercenaries and consisted of people from England, Wales, and Gascony who liked the easy life of plunder, burning down poor villages and ransoming the rich. Some of these companies became so powerful that the pope even bribed and forgave the sins of one of them for safe passage through the land
-it was really fascinating to learn about the peasant uprising of the Jacques. It was so violent and chaotic in both sides, with both sides demonizing each other and when the Nobles rallied, they killed off tens of thousands of peasants with no thought as to the consequences such as who would perform their labors and till their fields
-during this time period, French was spoken in England and lessons were taught in French but after the Black Death, so many teachers died that lessons started to be taught in the language of the common people, English
-it's interesting that the Bandit companies like the Condotierro, despite their lawlessness, still craved Absolution to the point where they would make it a condition of release from those they captured even if they beat and tortured them. There seem to be no way to get rid of these companies other than to pay them off and Crusades were conceived so they could be sent off to other lands
-I like to learning about the early stirrings of English protestantism and since I read Anya’s Seton's book about Katherine Swynford, it was interesting to hear about the actual history and about John of Gaunt
-it was interesting to hear about the history of the theater and how it began from religious liturgical plays. It's also interesting how the medieval people loved scenes of violence and torture and enjoyed toilet humor like when the actors in donkey suits lifted their tails and pooped
-it's almost funny how there are several instances of cardinals who elect a pope that they assume will be tractable only to find that when that Pope is in power, he asserts his will whether driven by a new sense of purpose or something else. But if I ever learned about the schism of the church in school, I must have completely forgotten about it and it was really interesting to hear about its effect on Europe since people were never sure whether they were paying their respects to the right Pope and whether the Bishops they appointed for the right bishops. It was also interesting how it backfired and with the church split in two, more money was needed than ever, and simony increased so that there was more corruption
-it's interesting how the idea of chivalry caused the French to lose so many wars since the nobles cared more about their status and glory than making use of tactics
-I like to hear about the perception that medieval people had about life and how it had 12 Seasons just like a year had 12 seasons. Even if the average lifespan was shorter, it didn't mean that people perceived younger ages as old age (eg. The 50s were considered the ‘September’ of a person's life)
There were some points when Tuchman was talking about events that I zoned out while listening but other details were utterly compelling. Overall, I would give this a 4 out of 5
sjgrodsky's review against another edition
1.0
I am quitting. I've read about a third of the book and have had enough of European barbarity. Pleasanter reading experiences are waiting.
ifyouhappentoremember's review against another edition
4.0
A very solid, if at times long, introduction to the 14th century.