Europe during the later Middle Ages was a scene of unparalleled chaos. At no time in history did so much misery, in the form of war, famine, plague and death, descend upon the earth - at times it must have seemed like the end of the world people constantly feared was truly at hand. Taking his themes from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the author describes how the Great Famine and Black Death swept away nearly half of Europe's population, while the royal houses of England and France were engaged in a Hundred Years War that meant constant political strife. Yet, as is revealed in this work, a firm belief in the ways of providence and the first stirrings of greater political freedom allowed communities to endure. Far from conventional notions of the "waning" of the Middle Ages, John Aberth reveals a world that we can recognize as very similar to our own.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
The material is interesting and Aberth is a compelling storyteller...Readers may appreciate it for its wide scope, unadorned style, and colorful anecdotes... -- Frans van Liere, Calvin College, for The Historian
Thorough, balanced, and courteous in tone, this survey of the social, political, and moral landscape of the late Middle Ages inspires confidence even when it invites disagreement. Aberth is especially good on the literature of the period. His wide-ranging and well-illustrated chapter on death in particular is offers a splendidly comprehensive overview of a subject which has lately attracted a great deal of first-rate research and writing.--Eamon Duffy, The New York Review of Books.
The author's own enthusiasm for plague and associate calamities in late medieval England and France should prove highly contagious. -- Barrie Dobson, Honorary Professor of History, University of York
Aberths' informative and orignally shaped volume is well tailored to bring out the dynamic of man's struggle with his environment in the last two medieval centuries. -- Maurice Keen, Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford
Well written and lively, the book will give general and undergraduate students of British history plenty to think about. -- Choice, October 2001
A wonderfully written book with numerous black and white images. -- Biblical Worldview, August 2001
Thorough, balanced, and courteous in tone, this survey of the social, political, and moral landscape of the late Middle Ages inspires confidence even when it invites disagreement. Aberth is especially good on the literature of the period. His wide-ranging and well-illustrated chapter on death in particular is offers a splendidly comprehensive overview of a subject which has lately attracted a great deal of first-rate research and writing.--Eamon Duffy, The New York Review of Books.
The author's own enthusiasm for plague and associate calamities in late medieval England and France should prove highly contagious. -- Barrie Dobson, Honorary Professor of History, University of York
Aberths' informative and orignally shaped volume is well tailored to bring out the dynamic of man's struggle with his environment in the last two medieval centuries. -- Maurice Keen, Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford
Well written and lively, the book will give general and undergraduate students of British history plenty to think about. -- Choice, October 2001
A wonderfully written book with numerous black and white images. -- Biblical Worldview, August 2001
About the Author
John Aberth is Associate Professor of History at the University of Nebraska and is the author of Criminal Churchmen in the Age of Edward III(1996). He lives in Omaha, Nebraska.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very thorough!!,
By rmbeast "Primus Sucks!!!" (VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: From the Brink of the Apocalypse : Confronting Famine, War, Plague, and Death in the Later Middle Ages (Hardcover)
This book is great!! I used it to write my final for my Western civilizations class in college. It was on the Black Death, and the Hundred Year's war. It had lots of great info on those subjects. I recommend this book highly for school, or fun.
10 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
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This review is from: From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War, Plague, and Death in the Later Middle Ages (Paperback)
The book is not an ornate description of the late middle ages. Rather it attempts to seive data into an outline of what life might have been at the time. At times the data, which should have taken the form of footnotes, becomes the body of the text. Fortunately, this does not happen often. The "Plague" section is a bit amiss with outstreached consequences of the plague, but is nonetheless revealing: I, for one, learned that there were 3 kinds of plagues, the bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic rather than a single sweeping disease. Aberth contends that the Plague claimed more victims than the standard 1/3 demographic decline figure. All in all there is plenty here for a medievalist to keep themselves entertained. I would also recomend, perhaps, reading this in conjunction w/ the video series written and hosted by Simon Schama "A History of Britain".
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Famine, our first apocalyptic horseman, connives to wreak its misery repeatedly upon mankind while its victims stand by, seemingly powerless to act. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
medieval psyche, transi tombs, national outbreak, episcopal register, manorial records, medieval men, three living Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Black Death, Middle Ages, Hundred Years War, Great Famine, Dance of Death, Fourth Rider, Christ Church, Black Prince, Les Innocents, World War, Courtesy Royal Commission, Evil Times of Edward, Ars Moriendi, Danse Macabre, East Anglia, Henry Chichele, Old Testament, Simon Sudbury, William Langland, Catherine de Medici, Eustache Deschamps, Henry Knighton, King Arthur, Low Countries, Piers Plowman New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Famine, our first apocalyptic horseman, connives to wreak its misery repeatedly upon mankind while its victims stand by, seemingly powerless to act. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
medieval psyche, transi tombs, national outbreak, episcopal register, manorial records, medieval men, three living Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Black Death, Middle Ages, Hundred Years War, Great Famine, Dance of Death, Fourth Rider, Christ Church, Black Prince, Les Innocents, World War, Courtesy Royal Commission, Evil Times of Edward, Ars Moriendi, Danse Macabre, East Anglia, Henry Chichele, Old Testament, Simon Sudbury, William Langland, Catherine de Medici, Eustache Deschamps, Henry Knighton, King Arthur, Low Countries, Piers Plowman New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
4
books
cite this book:
- The Waning of the Middle Ages by Johan Huizinga on 5 pages
- Canterbury Tales (Barron's Book Notes) by Chaucer on page 118, page 162, and page 214
- History of Britain 03 Middle by Tim Wood in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- The Black Death (Manchester Medieval Sources Series) by Rosemary Horrox in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer on page 118, page 162, and page 214
See all 100 books this book cites
- The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford Series in History & Culture) by John Aberth on page 97, page 172, and Back Matter
- A History of Medicine, Second Edition by Lois N. Magner on page 194
- Power, Violence and Mass Death in Pre-Modern and Modern Times by Joseph Canning on page 33
- The Word Made Flesh: A History of Christian Thought with CD-ROM by Margaret R. Miles on page 400
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