Like I said, there are lots of things to love about this book – and I should have loved it much more than I did, I really should have, and really wanted to – but there was something missing that I just can’t put my finger on and which just kept me at arm’s length. Stories of Jews poisoning wells and killing Christian children for their blood (blood libel) became firmly established. Nadia May or Donada Peters) has narrated well over six hundred titles for major audiobook publishers, has earned numerous Earphones Awards, and was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine. Here, Barbara Tuchman masterfully reveals the two contradictory images of the age, examining the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic life as it was lived: what childhood was like; what marriage meant; how money, taxes and war dominated the lives of serf, noble and clergy alike.

And this he did when the two Kingdoms were at war; a war that would last for over one hundred years. Thomas Ohlgren agreed with many of Bachrach's criticisms, and further took issue with many perceived anachronisms in Tuchman's characterization of the medieval world and a lack of scholarly rigor. A Distant Mirror is actually a biography of a nobleman named Enguerrand de Coucy VII (pronounced On-geh-hon-de-koo-see). Repeated spasms of the Hundred Years War, a war in Italy, then more Papal wars, then war against the Berbers, and finally a last bloody Crusade would provide employment and plunder for these rapacious bands--and for some a fitting end. Barbara Wertheim Tuchman was an American self-trained historian and author and double Pulitzer Prize winner.There was the aforementioned Black Death – the bubonic plague – that caused pus-and-blood-filled buboes (inflamed lymph nodes) to appear on the groin, neck, and armpit. But now in the second half of the 14th century it went to extremes as if to defy the increased uncertainty of life. In using book covers or other images on this site, no copyright infringement is intended by the site author. It’s the same with Barbara Tuchman’s terrific idea of approaching the war and politics of 14th century Europe, through just one man - Enguerrand de Coucy - whose lifetime fits so perfectly with the story she wants to relate. The Middle Ages present a fascinating conundrum in the history of mankind since it was the period of immense losses, violence and stagnation while, at the same time, there reigned in the land the idea of the chivalric behaviour worthy of every admiration, and religious devotion and loyalty to masters like few periods have seen before or since.

Chivalry and romance, with the knights who were mostly hypocrites and brigands, and women who had minimal say in life. From the high and mighty to the low and overworked, Tuchman touches on all the social, economic, and military changes, and disasters, of the time. But before I present the quote, I would like to draw attention to how shrewd Tuchman has been in the choice of her subject.I hadn’t read anything before this that had made History seem so weird, nor had any history book made me want to read much deeper into the subject. On a personal note, my primary interests are literature and philosophy; I usually do not read history.

She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1963 for The Guns of August and in 1972 for Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45 . Here is King Charles the VI of France being followed through the forest of Mans by a strange, ragged man saying, “Ride no further, noble King! I personally found the review of the plague to be fascinating and macabre in equal measure, and the tale of devastation is well told. I think it helped her that she was not talking about the whole of the Middle Ages but just a century, and focused in particular on the life of Enguerrand VII de Coucy.I was rather less interested personally in the later political intrigues and the tales of the two popes, but the author is a very deft story teller, and this part of the book may be of more interest to others. This was a historical period that was deeply paradoxical and chaotic, in which famine, peasant revolts, foreign wars, the bubonic plague and religious struggles were all taking place in a non-stop succession amidst the existence and the proclamation of the high moral code of chivalry among the nobility, and where magic and superstition reigned inexplicably alongside one strict religious canon. Though I’m a bit wary that Tuchman is not a historian… I love books about Medieval times by Jacques le Goff, I’d argue that to date there was no better historian of Middle Ages than him – and Annales school of history, i.

Then there is Wendy, another friend here, whose opinion I also respect, value and seek out and who has introduced me to many excellent books. Although we follow the French history and the Coucy in Tuchman’s book, the text often makes excursions onto general topics of interests, commenting on this or that fascinating aspect of medieval history. Barbara Tuchmann's review of the 14th Century in Europe was first published over 30 years ago but it is still much more readable than most books on the subject. It does not make sense to be so cautious, and, in fact, one should be fairly fearless and relaxed in the face of death and ever-present danger so as to simply live a relatively normal life, which is never expected to be a long one anyway. Even though challenges to papal supremacy were coming and going throughout the century, the Church occupied such a central part in everyone’s life, that there was always high respect/obedience with regards to all religious matters, especially since the Church was the “only institution” to offer salvation, and it also “affirmed the man’s life on earth” [1978: 34].In theory, the nobility was tasked with the protection against tyranny and had a goal to fight against the oppressor, as well as cultivate virtues.