A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, Barbara Tuchman (3.0)
I’m glad I read this book, but it’s hard to recommend it
unless you are really interested in reading a long, accurate history of the 14th
century. Tuchman is famous for bringing to life the 1300’s in Northern France –
from the royalty down to the serfs. She does it by investigating the life of a
French nobleman who is famous enough to be a part of the big events of the 100
years war, but normal enough not to have a painting done in his time. Oddly, by
the end of 60 pages, you are dying to see what this guy looked like! While I
could have done with a little less detail in describing what the knights took
on crusade, I appreciated the insight around why they went (to be knights and
do knightly things) and the trouble the Kings found to pay for it all. The most
astonishing things to me were the Pope’s move to the south of France, the religious
schism (two popes!), and how political it all was - not very religious at all. Surprising
how much, with regards to that, has not changed.
