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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
informative
slow-paced
I cannot recommend this book highly enough to fellow students of the Middle Ages, whether amateur or otherwise. It's one of the most enjoyable, well-researched, and brilliant historical texts I've ever had the pleasure of reading. 10/10 will read again.
Too bad schools don't make use of books like this one to teach history. This historical tale follows a man's life in the 1300s to allow the reader an personal, intimate perspective while providing the undercurrents of local and world events.
The overall important message is that nothing much has changed in politics, in power grabs, in business.
The overall important message is that nothing much has changed in politics, in power grabs, in business.
So BORING. I get why they don’t talk about daily life of the medieval age much
Been slogging through this for months and realized I don't care if I finish it. (Made it to p.270.)
There's no doubt about it, A Distant Mirror is marvelous. If there is anything you want to know about 14th century France and England, you'll find it here. Tuchman covers everything from the chaotic and corrupt state of the Church during the Papal Schism to the 100 Years War in its entirety to the Black Death to persecution of Jews. She uses all of these events and descriptions as a backdrop for the story of Enguerrand VII de Coucy, arguably the most influential French aristocrat of the time period.
While I found this book to be enthralling, well-written and meticulously researched, it is by no means a light read and isn't for everyone. Tuchman takes great care to include every minute detail, but, imo, this doesn't detract from the quality of the text. The subject matter is simply engrossing and Tuchman makes such a distant place and time seem truly tangible to the reader. A Distant Mirror: A Calamitous 14th Century is a masterpiece and Barbara Tuchman deserves enormous amounts of praise and acclaim for her work.
While I found this book to be enthralling, well-written and meticulously researched, it is by no means a light read and isn't for everyone. Tuchman takes great care to include every minute detail, but, imo, this doesn't detract from the quality of the text. The subject matter is simply engrossing and Tuchman makes such a distant place and time seem truly tangible to the reader. A Distant Mirror: A Calamitous 14th Century is a masterpiece and Barbara Tuchman deserves enormous amounts of praise and acclaim for her work.
I started reading this in May, or maybe April; it's been a leisurely meander for three or four months, and a very pleasant one. What led me to this book was, first, an interest in the plague, the Black Death, and second, my curiosity about what Europe was like just before the printing press, the age of exploration, and the insane wealth that flowed into Europe from the pillage of the rest of the world. The book centers on France and England, with frequent references to Italy and very little acknowledgment of anywhere else — until we get a crash course in Eastern Europe in the penultimate chapter, “Nicopolis,” in which we also meet the Sultan Bajazet (Bayezid I), leader of the Ottoman Turks.
I'm not an avid history buff, and I have little patience for reading about battles and military strategy, but Tuchman's writing kept me coming back, chapter after chapter, and even had me admiring her knack for describing military operations. As a teen I had an obsession with King Arthur and associated legends, read The Once and Future King and then Le Morte d'Arthur. In the 14th century we have the debauched reality of chivalry, where marriages are political and love is always extramarital, and sometimes involves kidnaping and rape; where skillful knights and fair ladies attend massive tournaments for fun, with jousting and other battle contests and feasts — with lavish expenditures for pavilions and costumes, etc.; where new crusades are raised just because the noble guys want some glory. Lacking a crusade to join, the bastards roam the countryside raping and pillaging, forming companies of brigands. When they do have a crusade, or just a siege they need to get to (because they have to collect a debt from a Duke, say), they rape and pillage all along the way there as well. It really would have sucked to live in the 14th century.
Meanwhile the plague keeps coming back in waves, people keep dying, and they're got massive labor shortages. That doesn't stop the kings and nobles from taxing the peasants and merchants and everyone else — in fact, they keep raising the taxes because there are fewer people to pay them. Yes, the 14th century truly sucked. It was fascinating to me that somehow the nobles and the kings (so many kings) just kept going, spending and reveling, amassing gigantic debts, bestowing castles and insane quantities of gifts as dowries as they betrothed child cousins to one another to secure dukedoms and territories. For pretty much the whole century, France and England were at war (the Hundred Years’ War, 1337–1453), and although enthusiasm waned, they periodically had to meet and spill blood because they couldn't manage to make a truce. I was not previously aware the kings and nobles were regularly captured and held for ransom — the King of France was in the Tower of London for years — years! — because his people couldn't pony up the price to bring him home!
I haven't even mentioned the papal schism (two Popes, whee!) — which went on and on and on, just like the war — or the various mad kings (all that marrying of cousins, you know). Also the child kings, with their assorted uncle-dukes running around trying to undermine each other. Sometimes it was a bit hard to keep track of who was who; it doesn't help that so many kings have the same name (Charles in particular) or that when the Duke of Burgundy dies, his son then becomes Duke of Burgundy. That's par for the course with European history, of course, but when the book spans a whole century, it's a lot.
Anyway — really glad I read this. I learned many new things, was surprised and appalled, enjoyed the experience.
.
I'm not an avid history buff, and I have little patience for reading about battles and military strategy, but Tuchman's writing kept me coming back, chapter after chapter, and even had me admiring her knack for describing military operations. As a teen I had an obsession with King Arthur and associated legends, read The Once and Future King and then Le Morte d'Arthur. In the 14th century we have the debauched reality of chivalry, where marriages are political and love is always extramarital, and sometimes involves kidnaping and rape; where skillful knights and fair ladies attend massive tournaments for fun, with jousting and other battle contests and feasts — with lavish expenditures for pavilions and costumes, etc.; where new crusades are raised just because the noble guys want some glory. Lacking a crusade to join, the bastards roam the countryside raping and pillaging, forming companies of brigands. When they do have a crusade, or just a siege they need to get to (because they have to collect a debt from a Duke, say), they rape and pillage all along the way there as well. It really would have sucked to live in the 14th century.
Meanwhile the plague keeps coming back in waves, people keep dying, and they're got massive labor shortages. That doesn't stop the kings and nobles from taxing the peasants and merchants and everyone else — in fact, they keep raising the taxes because there are fewer people to pay them. Yes, the 14th century truly sucked. It was fascinating to me that somehow the nobles and the kings (so many kings) just kept going, spending and reveling, amassing gigantic debts, bestowing castles and insane quantities of gifts as dowries as they betrothed child cousins to one another to secure dukedoms and territories. For pretty much the whole century, France and England were at war (the Hundred Years’ War, 1337–1453), and although enthusiasm waned, they periodically had to meet and spill blood because they couldn't manage to make a truce. I was not previously aware the kings and nobles were regularly captured and held for ransom — the King of France was in the Tower of London for years — years! — because his people couldn't pony up the price to bring him home!
I haven't even mentioned the papal schism (two Popes, whee!) — which went on and on and on, just like the war — or the various mad kings (all that marrying of cousins, you know). Also the child kings, with their assorted uncle-dukes running around trying to undermine each other. Sometimes it was a bit hard to keep track of who was who; it doesn't help that so many kings have the same name (Charles in particular) or that when the Duke of Burgundy dies, his son then becomes Duke of Burgundy. That's par for the course with European history, of course, but when the book spans a whole century, it's a lot.
Anyway — really glad I read this. I learned many new things, was surprised and appalled, enjoyed the experience.
.
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
An immense book, an incredible achievement to cover so much and make it gripping and entertaining! Yes, it takes a while, and it takes commitment, but if you decide to plunge in it is hugely worthwhile. I was doing a kind of do-it-yourself project on the 14th century last year and this became part of it. On the lighter, quicker side, I read lots of Susanna Gregory's historical crime novels featuring Matthew Bartholomew and set in 14C Cambridge. And some Chaucer, and some Julian of Norwich. In fact the project got a bit beyond me really, but Tuchman's book is wonderful.