Medieval People [Paperback]

Eileen Power (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0486414353 | ISBN-13: 978-0486414355 | Publication Date: September 18, 2000 | Edition: Reprint

Classic study recreates the lives of 6 ordinary people who lived between the 9th and 16th centuries: a peasant on a country estate in Charlemagne's time, a Venetian traveler of the 13th century; a prioress and a Parisian housewife of the 14th century, and a merchant and a cloth maker from the days of Henry VII.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It possesses a color, a dramatic touch that humanizes." -- --New York Tribune --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; Reprint edition (September 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486414353
• ISBN-13: 978-0486414355
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > History > World > Medieval
  • #60 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > History > Americas > General

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A view of History from the Medieval Kitchens, May 16, 2003

By 

Marc Comtois (Rhode Island, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Medieval People (Paperback)

Eileen Power's Medieval People sets out to study the Middle Ages not from the viewpoint of an Historical abstraction, but rather from that of the people who lived during the age. It is an account of six individuals who lived during the MA's; Bodo, a Frankish Peasant; Marco Polo, the famous Venetian merchant; Madame Eglentyne, prioress of Chaucer; an anonymous middle-class Parisian housewife; and two English merchants, one engaged in the wool trade and the other a clothier in Essex. The author has illustrated various aspects of social life of the era by drawing on such sources as account books, diaries, letters, records, and wills. She starts the work with a previously unpublished essay entitled "The Precursors," which describes the barbarian conquest of Rome. In this, she describes the lives of three men, Ausonius, Sidonius and Fortunatus and uses them to foreshadow the life that would re-emerge in the Middle Ages.
She starts by imagining a day in the life of the Peasant Bodo, in the time of Charlemagne. From her study of primarily economic documents from the Middle Ages of this time, she not only extrapolates but truly brings to life Bodo and his wife Ermentrude. From there, she goes on to the better documented life of Marco Polo, and also describes how he served as an inspiration for Columbus. Madam Eglentyne is next. Here, Power humorously details the inner workings of a gossipy nunnery and how Eglentyne would have gone about her life as an aristocratic women of God. She next details the life of a middle class Parisian housewife by studying the contents of the Menagier's Wife and validating many of it's points by citing other documents. She concludes by detailing the lives of the two Thomases; Betson and Paycocke of Coggeshall. Both are merchants and provide a chance for Power to really show off her grasp of medieval economics as well as an ability to compile disparate correspondences into a story of a life. This is a rare scholarly work that truly entertains while being read. One of the best books I've ever read.

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real taste of real life, October 4, 2001

By 

Jacques COULARDEAU "A soul doctor, so to say" (OLLIERGUES France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medieval People (Paperback)

Eileen Power studies the Middle Ages, not from an abstract historical point of view but from simple and real people and what we can know about them. I particularly like her study of Marco Polo, from his notes and diaries, which gives us a materialistic and realistic vision of what they saw of the world, and not what we want to see of what they saw. I also loved Madame Eglentyne, a prioress taken from Chaucer but at once identified to one particular prioress through real life archives and descriptions. A very interesting and useful book to enable us to capture the density of everyday life in the Middle Ages.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History at its best, up close and personal., July 21, 2002

By 

Anthony Bedford "the O.G." (Modesto, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medieval People (Paperback)

Wonderful scholarship in a most readable written style. Goes beyond institutions to discover real people of the "middle" ages.