Tag: Medieval

A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman

Fourteenth century France seems to encapsulate medieval Europe in all its grandeur and folly. The Middle Ages seem to have been a time when everybody believed in Christianity and nobody practiced it. Likewise, they seem to have been a time when men were most warlike yet waged war with the greatest incompetence. After reading this …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/04/21/a-distant-mirror-by-barbara-tuchman/

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

This book is quite simply the most enthralling work of fiction that I have read in the last twenty years. The building of a cathedral in itself is not terribly interesting; what is interesting is the way in which individuals thrown upon their own resources struggle to survive in a harsh medieval world. And the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2013/03/11/the-pillars-of-the-earth-by-ken-follett/

The Middle Ages by Morris Bishop

This was a marvellous book, a concise introduction to a vast subject. There are many fascinating aspects to this period, all of which receive their due in this work. Yet I have to say that overall the Middle Ages were a low point in the history of Western Civilization, and I think the tendency to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2009/01/11/the-middle-ages-by-morris-bishop/