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A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

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For some, the century was a time of plenty—a time when the arts were reborn and new secular themes were suddenly and surprisingly in vogue. On a personal note, my primary interests are literature and philosophy; I usually do not read history. A wonderful, beautiful book painting a brilliant and detailed picture of France and Europe in the disastrous 14th century. Peasant women could hold tenancies and in that capacity rendered the same kinds of service for their holdings as men.

Alongside him in the fields the peasant woman binds sheaves wearing a skirt caught up at the belt to free her legs and a cloth head-covering instead of a hat. That slight attention is evidenced in the arts and literature of that time from which children are almost absent. Chivalry denotes an informal code of conduct that was associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood, and was meant to govern knights’ behaviour and social etiquette.The desperation of kings for more money to fight their wars and the extent of political manoeuvring and corruption suggest that they could match anything we witness in the modern world.

So while the Edwardian Era War and the Caroline War are depicted in complete detail as well as related battles with the Bretons, battles in Italy, in Spain, in Belgium and finally in Bulgaria (contemporary country names used), only a quick summary of the Lancastrian War is given.The disease (advanced by the Yersinia pestis bacteria) spread faster than fire across Europe from 1347, with victims displaying surprising symptoms that only confused and bewildered those who wanted to ascertain the cause and progress of the mysterious disease. He had seen war as captain or one of the to command in eleven campaigns—in Piedmont, Lombardy, Switzerland, Normandy, Languedoc, Tuscany, northern France, Flanders, Guelders, Tunisia, Genoa; he had commanded mercenaries, and fought as ally or antagonist of the Count of Savoy, Gregory XI, Hawkwood, the Visconti, the Hapsburgs, the Swiss, Navarrese, Gascons, English, Berbers, the Republic of Florence, and nobles of Genoa. Afterwards, the French populace was horrified by this ghastly tragedy, a perverse playing on the edge of madness and death nearly killing their King. N]ot a king or queen, because everything about such persons is ipso facto exceptional, and besides, they are overused; nor a commoner, because commoners’ lives in most cases did not take in the wide range that I wanted; nor a cleric or saint, because they are outside the limits of my comprehension; nor a woman, because any medieval woman whose life was adequately documented would be atypical.

The towering, imperious Enguerrand is her path to a sweeping review of international power struggle, intrigue and bloody conflict; the persecutions and plagues, dynastic marriages, petty bickering and shattering squabbles of a bare-knuckle century. Barbara Tuchman anatomizes the century, revealing both the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic life as it was lived. I’ve known since I was a child that there were differences between the Eastern European and Western European calendars – but I had no idea that for a long time the year started at Easter. The killing, dislocation and destruction combined with recurring plague epidemics reduced the population of Europe to half its 1347 count by the end of the century. A Distant Mirror is actually a biography of a nobleman named Enguerrand de Coucy VII (pronounced On-geh-hon-de-koo-see).While A Distant Mirror certainly isn’t a dry academic textbook on the period, it does cover most bases in describing a period that not many at school have studied before. In using book covers or other images on this site, no copyright infringement is intended by the site author. One of the finest examples of top-notch historical writing and one that ought to be read by anyone interested in this calamitous time. He had known and dealt with every kind of character from the ultra-wicked Charles of Navarre to the ultra-saintly Pierre de Luxemburg.

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