Particularize Epithetical Books A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
| Title | : | A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century |
| Author | : | Barbara W. Tuchman |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 677 pages |
| Published | : | July 12th 1987 by Random House Trade (first published September 21st 1978) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Historical. Medieval. European History. Medieval History |
Barbara W. Tuchman
Paperback | Pages: 677 pages Rating: 4.08 | 29760 Users | 1283 Reviews
Rendition During Books A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
What an extraordinary read it is when one book is as action packed as thirty riveting novels. And if it also contains rich and erudite disquisitions and is narrated in a language as clear and flowing as water from a spring, then the volume must be given a preferential place in one’s library.
I am not too keen of including quotes in my reviews. But given the amount of material that marshals in front of one’s eyes, as colorful as overwhelming pageants and breathtaking jousts, and as dense as the tightly woven wefts and warps of a tapestry, there is no way I could attempt to give a glimpse with my own words of what Barbara Tuchman has achieved with this book.
But before I present the quote, I would like to draw attention to how shrewd Tuchman has been in the choice of her subject. As she explains in her early pages, she set herself to follow one particular character as he lived during a period in history when the actors were on the count of hundreds, and thereby keep one's focus and walk through the maze and the turmoil without getting lost.
Enguerrand de Coucy VII was a member of the French nobility at a time when ‘French’ could also mean ‘English’. Enguerrand in fact acted as both French and English as he had acquired double allegiance: to his own King and to the King and father of his wife. And this he did when the two Kingdoms were at war; a war that would last for over one hundred years. Opportunely Enguerrrand is well documented by one of the most striking chroniclers of the time, Jean Froissart. As nothing had been written about him in English before Tuchman, she had found a gold vein for her research and pen to exploit.
Here stops my explanation. It is time now for the quote. This passage is better than an the Index to offer a glimpse to that Distant Mirror that Tuchman has approached to us for our close examination.
Since he (Enguerrad de Coucy) had first marched at fifteen against the English, and at eighteen hunted down the Jacquerie, the range of Coucy’s experience had extended over an extraordinary variety of combat, diplomacy, government, and social and political relationships. As son-in-law of Edward III, holding double allegiance to two kings at war, his position had been unique. 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. As diplomat he had negotiated with Pope Clement VII, the Duke of Brittany, the Count of Flanders, the Queen of Aragon, with the English at peace parleys, and the rebels of Paris. He had had one temperamental and extravagant wife eight years his senior, and a second approximately thirty years his junior. He had served as adviser and agent of the two royal Dukes, Anjou and Orléans, as Lieutenant–General of Picardy and later of Guienne, as member of the Royal Council, as Grand Bouteiller of France, and had wtice been the preferred choice for a Constable. He had known and dealt with every kind of character from the ultra-wicked Charles of Navarre to the ultra-saintly Pierre de Luxemburg.
If to the above adventures, narrated ever so smoothly, one is to add the excellent studies of various chapters of Material Life in late Medieval Europe, that help us to shorten the Distance of the Mirror and make reflections become what is reflected, then one can begin to imagine the sheer pleasure that this book offers to whoever decides to open up its pages and read it.
As it is often claimed, Tuchman may not be a historian of the academic breed, but in this account she has demonstrated her excellent narrative abilities that many historians and novelists would just love to command as well as she.
Brilliant.
Declare Books As A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
| Original Title: | A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century |
| ISBN: | 0345349571 (ISBN13: 9780345349576) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | France |
| Literary Awards: | National Book Award for History (Paperback) (1980), ASJA Outstanding Book Award (1980), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for General Nonfiction (1978) |
Rating Epithetical Books A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
Ratings: 4.08 From 29760 Users | 1283 ReviewsWrite Up Epithetical Books A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
Just started. Looks interesting ...Well, it IS interesting, but kind of dry, as at least one other reviewer has noted. It's going to take a while!Continuing to enjoy this book as the author is doing a fine job of combining the informative with reading pleasure. So far it's a bit like reading a sci-fi account of a far-away alien planet and it's weird but familiar culture! Jack Vance-like indeed ...The Black Plague - why can't we have one of those, only more virulent and untreatable? Steve KingI was a little worried at the start that 600 pages of 14th century history might be, shall we say, a bit too much. There is no denying the book is long and very detailed and at times it was a struggle, but every time I was about to give up after yet another pointless battle Tuchman would come up with a telling detail or surprising insight. Example: the invention of chimneys in the 14th century made separate bedrooms possible and introduced notions of privacy that had never before been possible
The Calamitous 14th Century: a time of war, class struggle, taxation, endless litigation, ravaging disease, religious intolerance, Christian versus Moslem, feckless leaders, plenty of lust, torture, self-interest -- 'a distant mirror' indeed. We are not so different. Look back or just look around.And that is the point, I think, of this wonderful work of history and literature. Tuchman's wit and erudition are on full display.Sometimes the reading went very slow, but only because it all seemed so
If Time Travel becomes possible I will not be signing up for tours of the 14th century.The fourteenth century was a step back in the flow of history. Europe was slowly rising up from the dark ages only to descend into confusion.Many things disrupted this time such as;the Bubonic plague, which overturned the feudal system,the Hundred Year's War,the many petty wars against neighbors,antisemitism,the Papal Schism,the Jacquerie revolts,peasant uprisings,and the start of a mini Ice Age.Interesting
The Four Horsemen had their way in the fourteenth century. Tuchman portrays a brutal decadent European society terrorized and demoralized by the plague, war, violence and deprivation. She focuses on France, England and the Italian city-states from 1350 to 1400. The religious leaders were hypocritical and profane; the aristocracy was arrogant and venal. Kings, nobles, popes and prelates accumulated fantastic wealth at the expense of everyone else for whom it was the worst of times. The century
Tuchman published this book in 1978. In her preface she makes clear that she is interested in comparing the 14th century in Europe - a time of war, disease, social and economic dislocation, and general demoralization - with the two 20th century decades before the books publication. One could legitimately argue that the same issues apply during the first eleven years of the 21st century. Tuchmans method is to use an actual French nobleman, Enguerrand de Coucy VII, as an exemplar whom she then
I'm not quite sure how I came to read this strange and unwieldy book. It just kept popping up in my sights. For a while now, I've had a boyish fascination with the Middle Ages, intensified by a couple of years spent studying Old English in grad school, and nursed along since then with occasional books about the Black Death, the Crusades, castle building, and whatever else seemed interesting to me. Most of what I've read has been deeply thought-provoking, on the one hand, if somewhat tiresome to
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