Scan barcode
venturecrapitalism's review against another edition
5.0
A masterpiece of a book! A Distant Mirror is a history of the 14th century as well as a reflection on the nature of man in society, written by an extraordinarily lyrical writer. The 14th century is completely alien in a number of ways, yet it's also our very recent history. The beginning of the end of the Middle Ages is obviously an enormous topic and thus Tuchman necessarily takes a more narrative approach. I found myself getting confused by various titles and dynasties where everyone has the same name, but once I achieved a more removed perspective and stopped trying to nail down everyone involved in an entire century, it became much more readable. I've been dabbling in Middle Ages history recently, particularly regarding the Great Mortality, and this book provided an incredibly rich context and much food for thought. Highly recommend for anyone willing to take on the challenge.
victoremartin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
4.75
Incredibly insightful and wildly interesting personal history of the Middle Ages. Tuchman does an effective job building a world that seems foreign to the modern reader. Although it takes a while to build Enguerrand’s story, it becomes compelling to see this lifetime of adventure and misadventure guided by forces much larger than the self.
ahanyok's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.5
Not as much about the plague as I'd have liked
sam2085's review
4.0
A fantastic read that paints a nearly complete picture of life in the time of plague. Tuchman delves deep into the society, including religious, political, cultural, and military aspects, of Fourteenth Century Europe, especially France. The reader learns the motivations of people at every class. Particularly illuminating are the passages that provide rare peaks into the minds of the peasants, working class, lower middle class, and bourgeoise. At least some individuals attempted to rectify the problems posed by a warrior class that robbed the people.
A Distant Mirror is an excellent mixture of chronology, history, and lessons applicable to humanity regardless of time and place.
A Distant Mirror is an excellent mixture of chronology, history, and lessons applicable to humanity regardless of time and place.
takumo_n's review against another edition
5.0
An unbelievably readable overview of the 14th century, focusing on The Hundred Year War between France and England, and putting the remakable life of a noble Enguerrand de Coucy who lived for most of the century and was involved in the most important events.
The first two chapters gives you a look at the political, economical and cultural dichotomy between the first and second state and the commons.
From ownership of land and revenues the noble derived the right to excercise authority over all non-nobles of his territory except the clergy and except merchants who were citizens of a free town.
Explains the excesses and corruption of the church, having the element of fear,
What the Church offered was salvation, which could be reached only through the rituals of the established Church and by permission and aid of its ordained priests. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus. (No salvation outside the Church) was the rule.
High taxation to pay for war, or noble's marriages and parties and having to pay the Church for pardons ended a lot of people in poverty, creating one of the first glimpses of what was to come.
The poverty movements grew out of essence of Christian doctrine: renunciation of the material world - the idea that made the great break with the classical age.
And when there was too much protest and the nobility or the Church didn't want to admit how much they were exploiting the people there is always the Jews to blame, being seen as enemies of their religion and way of life, owning the debt of some nobles and burgeois and not wanting to pay those loans they put the desperation of the commons against them.
If the Jews were unholy, then killing and looting them was holy work.
A psichological hypothesis of why people were the way they were. Argumenting the lack of connection in the first six years of a child, because their mortality was so high and it was seen as a waste to create a loving connection in such uncertainties. From iconographic evidence, where mothers are seen bored and looking anywhere else but their child, and poems filled with nihilism, Tuchman came to this conclusion.
Possibly the relative emotional blankness of a medieval infancy may account for the casual attitude toward life and suffering of the medieval man.
Explains how nobles were educated.
Education, so far as it would have reached Enguerrand, was based on the seven "liberal arts": Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, and Music. Medicine, though not one of the liberal arts, was analogous to Music because its object was the harmony of the human body.
From the fourth chapter onward starts the ascend of Enguerrand and shows you how misery ridden was this century, from endless wars, corruption of the Church and nobility, incompetent Monarchs and generals in battle, the always interesting Black Death, different rebellions from the commons, the ransom of important people that were kidnapped, the married of some monarch to another to create a false sense of peace (almost never worked, or the marriage was never concluded), the unbelievable Schism were a Pope was chosen by Council in Rome and the other just claimed to be the Pope from France creating more problems and corruption, companies of unemployed soldiers that pillaged villages and raped women, sometimes they were compatriots disenchanted with their country.
"A Distant Mirror" for the author was a reflection of the 60s in the United States, and is even more clear-cut seeing it from these last few year that we had and are having.
The first two chapters gives you a look at the political, economical and cultural dichotomy between the first and second state and the commons.
From ownership of land and revenues the noble derived the right to excercise authority over all non-nobles of his territory except the clergy and except merchants who were citizens of a free town.
Explains the excesses and corruption of the church, having the element of fear,
What the Church offered was salvation, which could be reached only through the rituals of the established Church and by permission and aid of its ordained priests. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus. (No salvation outside the Church) was the rule.
High taxation to pay for war, or noble's marriages and parties and having to pay the Church for pardons ended a lot of people in poverty, creating one of the first glimpses of what was to come.
The poverty movements grew out of essence of Christian doctrine: renunciation of the material world - the idea that made the great break with the classical age.
And when there was too much protest and the nobility or the Church didn't want to admit how much they were exploiting the people there is always the Jews to blame, being seen as enemies of their religion and way of life, owning the debt of some nobles and burgeois and not wanting to pay those loans they put the desperation of the commons against them.
If the Jews were unholy, then killing and looting them was holy work.
A psichological hypothesis of why people were the way they were. Argumenting the lack of connection in the first six years of a child, because their mortality was so high and it was seen as a waste to create a loving connection in such uncertainties. From iconographic evidence, where mothers are seen bored and looking anywhere else but their child, and poems filled with nihilism, Tuchman came to this conclusion.
Possibly the relative emotional blankness of a medieval infancy may account for the casual attitude toward life and suffering of the medieval man.
Explains how nobles were educated.
Education, so far as it would have reached Enguerrand, was based on the seven "liberal arts": Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, and Music. Medicine, though not one of the liberal arts, was analogous to Music because its object was the harmony of the human body.
From the fourth chapter onward starts the ascend of Enguerrand and shows you how misery ridden was this century, from endless wars, corruption of the Church and nobility, incompetent Monarchs and generals in battle, the always interesting Black Death, different rebellions from the commons, the ransom of important people that were kidnapped, the married of some monarch to another to create a false sense of peace (almost never worked, or the marriage was never concluded), the unbelievable Schism were a Pope was chosen by Council in Rome and the other just claimed to be the Pope from France creating more problems and corruption, companies of unemployed soldiers that pillaged villages and raped women, sometimes they were compatriots disenchanted with their country.
"A Distant Mirror" for the author was a reflection of the 60s in the United States, and is even more clear-cut seeing it from these last few year that we had and are having.