Medieval Civilization 400 - 1500 [Paperback]

Jacques Le Goff (Author), Julia Barrow (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0631175660 | ISBN-13: 978-0631175667 | Publication Date: September 3, 1991

This one thousand year history of the civilization of western Europe has already been recognized in France as a scholarly contribution of the highest order and as a popular classic. Jacques Le Goff has written a book which will not only be read by generations of students and historians, but which will delight and inform all those interested in the history of medieval Europe.

Part one, Historical Evolution , is a narrative account of the entire period, from the barbarian settlement of Roman Europe in the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries to the war-torn crises of Christian Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Part two, Medieval Civilization , is analytical, concerned with the origins of early medieval ideas of culture and religion, the constraints of time and space in a pre-industrial world and the reconstruction of the lives and sensibilities of the people during this long period. Medieval Civilization combines the narrative and descriptive power characteristic of Anglo-Saxon scholarship with the sensitivity and insight of the French historical tradition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Jacques Le Goff is one of the most distinguised of the French medieval historians of his generation, a generation in which the French have consistently set the pace for medieval studies.' Maurice Keen, New York Review of Books

"The richness, imaginativeness and sheer learning of Le Goff's work cannot be summarized and demands to be experienced." Times Literary Supplement

'...Stimulating and impressive. It was high time that it should be translated into English' Douglas Johnson, The Observer

"Covering 1000 years of civilazation in Western Europe and illustrated with a wide range of magnificant photographs, this popular and well-established French classic will both delight and inform." Publsihing News

"Combines illuminating generalizations with appealing nuggets of fact." Jasper Griffin

A rich portrait of the medieval world which historians will admire and any general reader can read with enjoyment." The Independent

"Le Goff has taken the whole of Western Europe as a temporal sequence and he has asked what are the conceptual schemes which give it coherence. It is the structuralist scheme which makes this book stimulating and impressive. It was high time that it should be translated into English." The Observer

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Blackwell Publishing (September 3, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631175660
• ISBN-13: 978-0631175667
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #498,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece, August 14, 2000

By 

Tomas Cvrcek "old_chig" (Central, SC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medieval Civilization 400 - 1500 (Paperback)

This is perhaps the most important and influential book on the Middle Ages on the market right now. Written clearly in the good traditions of the Annales school, it is more of a sociological study into the society of the Middle ages. So, if you want the usual narrative about what happened when, then perhaps this is not the book for you. However, as an insight into the culture, social organization and general life throughout the Middle Ages, this is by far the best book one could find. I thought it was very well complemented by "Mediaeval Callings", a book edited by Jacques Le Goff.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating, advanced history, November 29, 2005

By 

Y. Sageev "a garden-variety dude" (Western NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medieval Civilization 400 - 1500 (Paperback)

Medieval Civilization is not an introductory history of the Middle Ages. The author assumes prior knowledge of many details. For those of us who are not up-to-speed, frequent use of an online encyclopedia is a must. Ever hear of the "Chanson de Geste"? How about the "Carolingian dynasty"? Le Goff doesn't tell you what these actually are -- but Wikipedia does.

If you already have a grounding in medieval history, or if you are willing to go the extra mile, Le Goff's work is engaging and quite readable. The author does not proceed chronologically, but rather sweeps up and down the time period, highlighting important trends and big-picture concepts. It is in this erudite generalization that the real strength of the work emerges. For example, Le Goff observes that in medieval epistemology, to understand something was to name it. The symbol itself was the essence of an object or the mechanics of a process. Thus, grammar and language were the most studied of all subjects, the most fundamental tools for knowing creation.

By making chronology subservient to theme, Le Goff is able to provide an illuminating snapshot of the Middle Ages as a whole. The downside of doing this is that the reader is left with more of a gestalt comprehension rather than a precisely located sense of time and place. That the downside is only minor is a testament to the interest and appeal of Le Goff's ideas.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Curse of European Academic Writing - But Still Worth It, October 1, 2002

By 

L. Blue "Blue" (Wheaton, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medieval Civilization 400 - 1500 (Paperback)

If you've ever toiled through a Ferdinand Braudel tome you have an idea of what reading Le Goff is like - so badly structured that you think every page is a non-sequiter - but each of those pages is filled with incredible insight and gems of information. If it wasn't for what I call 'the Curse of European Academic Writing' (don't blame the translator - they're all this bad in their native languages) I'd have given this book five stars. But despite the difficult writing style, if you are interested in the medieval mind and the civilization that grew from it, this book is more than worth your time and effort.

Le Goff takes the reader across that incredable gulf that separates the worldviews of our time and medieval europe. One of the great barriers to understanding medieval europe is that their worldview, or core memes, were so foreign from our's that the actions of kings and peasants appear irrational. Le Goff explains the dark and pessimistic, though still extremely dynamic, thought of the age with precision and empathy.

Le Goff works through the transition from the classical world of Rome and Germanic/Celtic tribalism. He makes heavy use of symbolism of the age to illuminate the transition of thinking, conceptual models and institutions.

The biggest drawback of this book is that the reader has to have a base of knowledge of the region and the period. Le Goff provides very little background but jumps right into the heart of times. If you want to really learn about the medieval age, not just knights and kings, you should definantly read this book -- but this aint no beach reading.