A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (1987) - Plot & Excerpts
I was a little worried at the start that 600 pages of 14th century history might be, shall we say, a bit too much. There is no denying the book is long and very detailed and at times it was a struggle, but every time I was about to give up after yet another pointless battle Tuchman would come up with a telling detail or surprising insight. Example: the invention of chimneys in the 14th century made separate bedrooms possible and introduced notions of privacy that had never before been possible in Northern Europe and so she wove her web again, catching me for another hundred pages. There are so many wonderful reviews of this book on Goodreads that I’ll just highlight a few things that struck me as I was reading this masterpiece.The Black DeathAbout only thing I knew about the 14th century when I started this book was that this was when the bubonic plague spread across Europe from Asia and I only knew this because I’ve read Connie Willis’ superb Doomsday Book in which a time-traveling historian gets stuck in 1348.One of the surprises for me was that the plague died down and recurred more than once throughout the terrible century “The Black Death returned for the fourth time in 1388-90. Earlier recurrences had affected chiefly children who had not acquired immunity, but in the fourth round a new adult generation fell under the swift contagion. By this time Europe’s population was reduced to between 40 and 50 percent of what it had been when the century opened.”If you want to know what happened during the plague and why, and what it meant read A Distant Mirror. If you want to know what it felt like read the Doomsday Book. Better yet, read them both.The Hundred Years WarCould there be anything more horrifying than the Black Death? Well, yes, actually. Chapter 6 tells the story of the start of the war between France and England that would last for a hundred years. There were more than a few idiots, but no heroes, no chivalrous knights, just ugly opportunists laying waste to their own countryside, killing for no reason, looting, and burning towns to the ground.In fact, death in every form (famine, war, disease) stalked the 14th century and death personified as a pale horseman or as a hawk-like old hag, was a recurrent image in the art and literature of the era.Mercenary BandsEngland and France were not always fighting. So what was an unemployed knight to do? “Left unemployed by the truce the [mercenary] companies reverted to plundering the people they lately liberated." One truce with England was immediately followed by six weeks of plunder. Forty villages were robbed and wrecked, inhabitants killed or raped, monasteries and convents burned to the ground. One French nobleman, the Sire de Coucy who plays a central role in the book, tried to rein them in, hanging culprits daily, but against “men habituated to lawless force punishment failed to bring the violence under control.”Charles V who succeeded to the throne of France in 1364 developed a fairly effective strategy for dealing with the mercenaries, the tarde venus--pack them off to fight still more foreign wars! Repeated spasms of the Hundred Years War, a war in Italy, then more Papal wars, then war against the Berbers, and finally a last bloody Crusade would provide employment and plunder for these rapacious bands--and for some a fitting end. Knights in ArmorThis aspect of medieval times fascinated me as a child; at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art my favorite exhibit was the knights on their great chargers.But by the 14th century the international code of chivalry was breaking down and the armor and horses were proving surprisingly vulnerable to such innovations as the long bow. Not to mention the fact that many of the knights were far from chivalrous. New strategies were called for. Slowly, novel approaches towards war were developed. For the aborted 1348 French invasion of England, the French packed a vast prefab camp with numbered panels. “For belligerent purposes, the 14th century, like the 20th, commanded a technology more sophisticated than the mental and moral capacity that guided its use.” There were a handful of sensible strategists and innovators: "It was in truth the non-chivalric qualities of two hard-headed characters, Du Guescline and Charles V, that brought France back from ruin.” But old ways and old knights die hard. The final Crusade against the Turks at the end of the 14th century was on balance a catastrophe. "The crusaders of 1396 started out with a strategic purpose in the expulsion of the Turks from Europe, but their minds were on something else. The young men...born since the Black Death and Poitiers and the nadir of French fortunes, harked back to the pursuit of those strange bewitchment, honor and glory. They thought only of being in the vanguard, to the exclusion of tactical plan and common sense...." Pageantry and the ArtstNot all was grim. For some, the century was a time of plenty—a time when the arts were reborn and new secular themes were suddenly and surprisingly in vogue.“Ostentation and pageantry...was traditionally the habit of princes. But now in the second half of the 14th century it went to extremes as if to defy the increased uncertainty of life. Conspicuous consumption became a frenzied excess, a gilded shroud over the Black Death and lost battles, a desperate desire to show oneself fortunate in a time of advancing misfortune." "Charles V's three brothers were all compulsively acquisitive...Each put his own interests above the kingdom's each was given to conspicuous consumption...and each was to produce unsurpassed works of art: The Apocalypse series of tapestries for Anjou; the Tres Riches Heures and Belles Heures illuminated for Berry; and the statues of the Well of Moses and the Mourners for Burgundy.""Men and women hawked and hunted and carried a favorite falcon, hooded, on the wrist wherever they went, indoors or out--to church, to the assizes, to meals. On occasion huge pastries were served from which live birds were released to be caught by hawks unleashed in the banquet hall.""In the evening minstrels played with lutes and harps, reed pipes, bagpipes, trumpets, kettle drums, and cymbals. “ Poetry, story-telling and drama were all wildly popular. Literature, written for the first time in the vernacular by masters from Dante to Chaucer, flowered; all was ready for the great leap to print in the next century.The Papal Schism and Religious ReformationThe 14th century was a time of innovative and sometimes bizarre religious practices, prompted in part by the horrors of plague and wars but also by the Papal schism.t"Of all the strange evils and adversities of the 14th century the effect of the Papal schism on the public mind was among the most damaging. When each Pope excommunicated the followers of the other, who could be sure of salvation? Every Christian found himself under penalty of damnation by one or the other Pope, with no way of being sure that the sacraments of their priest were valid or a sacrilege."Mystical sects thrived (some of them seriously weird). On the more practical front some, including a notable number of women, banded together to form communities—lay religious orders like the Beguines that provided not only spiritual solace and a chance to do good but also a not inconsiderable degree of protection and autonomy. Left without solace, without guidance, it must have seemed to far too many ordinary people that there was nowhere sacred to turn. Scientific knowledge was growing, but “could not dispel the sense of a malign influence upon the times. As the century entered its last quarter, the reality and power of demons and witches became a common belief….Women turned to sorcery for the [some of the] same reasons they turned to mysticism. In Paris in 1390 a woman whose lover had jilted her was tried for taking revenge by employing the magical powers of another woman to render him impotent. Both were burned at the stake.” Among the clergy there were those who became obsessed with witchcraft, demonology and heresy—fueling the fires of the Inquisition. Yet at the same time a novel view of religion was emerging; a vision that empowered the individual’s search for God and meaning. The Bible was translated into the vernacular for the first time. Wyclif and others were challenging the power of the clerics. The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was a natural consequence of default by the Church in the 14th—and the desperate searching of those who felt abandoned by both divine and earthly powers.Peasant and Middle Class UprisingsCharles V of France succeeded for a time in his war aims against England, but at the cost of a ravaged and exhausted country. Punishing taxes and mercenary bands oppressed the ordinary peasants and the growing middle class. The stage was set for rebellion. Tuchman always knows how to give a nuanced view. In the chapter entitled 'The Worms of the Earth Against the Lions' I was just about to cheer wholeheartedly for the weavers of Ghent until I read of the way they in turn oppressed the lower class fullers; and my sympathy was with commoners of Anjou demanding tax relief until "In a frenzy of triumph and unspent wrath, the people rushed to rob and assault the Jews, the one section of society upon whom the poor could safely vent their aggression.”By the late 1380s defeats in battle, widespread economic malaise, and disenchantment with government had seized Europe. Both England and France were ruled by minors and prey to factions, but the seeds of effective rebellion and reform would lie dormant for many decades more. Ordinary LifeTuchman’s ability to paint vivid pictures of a far-away time and place is astonishing. Often, I felt that, like Connie Willis’ time traveler, I had suddenly arrived, transported through the distant mirror….In a dangerous world night was not a time to be abroad. Even in Paris in the 14th century, “At sundown the curfew bell rang for closing time, work ceased, shops were shuttered, silence succeeded bustle. At eight o'clock, when the Angelus bell signaled bedtime, the city was in darkness. Only the crossroads were lit by flickering candle or lamp placed in a niche holding a stature of Notre Dame or the patron saint of the quarter.”There were also fascinating bits of social history like these:"In everyday life women of noble as well as non-noble class found equality of function, if not of status, thrust on them by circumstances. Peasant women could hold tenancies and in that capacity rendered the same kinds of service for their holdings as men. In the guilds, women had monopolies of certain trades....The chatelaine of a castle more often than not had to manage alone when her husband was away."Although marriage was a sacrament, divorce was frequent and, given the right strings to pull, easily obtained...”lawyers are said to 'make and unmake matrimony to money' and a man might get rid of his wife by giving the judge a fur coat....marriage litigation filled the courts of the Middle Ages.”Who knew? Certainly not me!But above all Tuchman’s gifts are her sweeping vision and the poetry of her writing through which we glimpse the wheel of time and human fortunes slowly turning:"Yet change as always was taking place….Monarchy, centralized government, the national state gained in strength...Seaborne enterprise liberated by the compass was reaching toward the voyages of discovery that were to burst the confines of Europe….Times were to grow worse over the next fifty odd-years until at some imperceptible moment, by some mysterious chemistry, energies were refreshed, ideas broke out of the mold of the Middle Ages into new realms, and humanity found itself redirected."Four and a half stars, with a half star off because all the battles and political machinations really were a bore, at least for me. Content rating, PG for all the death, destruction, blood and disease.
I have been recommended this book by many of my good reads friends, and so I’ve read it. My friend Eric’s review says simply, “Normally, I have always enjoyed Barbara Tuchman's books, but this one, while very interesting, I felt I had to struggle a bit”.This is a very uncharacteristic review by Eric. I think Eric is one of the most thoughtful and best reviewers on this site. His reviews generally give valuable insights into a book and unfortunately far too often have me adding books to my ‘to read’ list that I really will probably never get around to reading – but if I ever do read any of them I will read purely due to Eric’s recommendations.Then there is Wendy, another friend here, whose opinion I also respect, value and seek out and who has introduced me to many excellent books. She told me she had read this one three times – now, if that isn’t high praise it is hard to know what is.Then there is Richard who although enjoyed this said that it didn’t feel as historically relevant to him as Tuckman’s WW1 books.So, what to do? I tried to read this one ignoring the advice of friends and plunged in. And my reactions are as mixed as those of my friends. I’ve ended up having to agree with virtually all of them.Like Eric, I find it hard to explain just what my problem with this book is. Really, this should be a book I rave about. I didn’t know very much about the 14th Century before I read this – although I did know enough to know that it was one of those ‘cusp’ centuries – where things that had stayed pretty much the same for a very long time were about to come up against innovations that would make their continuing virtually impossible. In many ways this is the doormat century that welcomes in the modern world. This is very much the last century of the Middle Ages in which (to mix my metaphors appallingly) the birth cries of the modern world are virtually drowned out by the death rattle of the old one. This is the century in which Europe is first confronted with the plague (the black death). It is also the century in which that most lethal of inventions (the long bow) makes its entrance and makes the entire notion of knights and the type of warfare they preferred obsolete overnight (at least, it would have if people knew what was good for them – which, of course, they generally don’t). It was a century in which the undisputed power and unity of the church and the strict boundaries between royalty and peasants was beginning to be usurped by the rising merchant and capitalist classes. It was a century in which peasants revolted shaking the existing order to its core.This book is called ‘A Distant Mirror’ and in some ways that is the problem I had with this book. A mirror reflects an image of the viewer back onto themselves – but this mirror was placed so far away that it was hard to make out any of the images in a way that felt satisfying. As I was reading this one I found myself wondering why I was quite so dissatisfied with it. At first I thought it was because this book lacked a central thesis – her March of Folly, for example, has just such a thesis and it bridges with ease stories from diverse centuries, giving a dreadful perspective on self-destructive foolishness that is all-to-human. So, for a long time I thought this one lacked something like that – a central idea to drive the book forward. But I’ve read other histories that don’t have such a thesis and haven’t felt it necessary. Then I thought perhaps there was just too much focus on wars during the century – but even so, her other books focus solely on wars and I had no problem with them. Maybe Richard is right and the concerns of the 14th Century just seem too far away, too long ago. But then, I’ve read quite a few books on Ancient Greece and Rome and have never felt they are receding too far into the distance (although, admittedly, there is a sense in which Classical Societies do seem closer to us than those in the Middle Ages).The most interesting bits of this book were when she gives a glimpse into the odd lives of people and how they viewed their world. I’ve known since I was a child that there were differences between the Eastern European and Western European calendars – but I had no idea that for a long time the year started at Easter. Think about that for a second and you will understand how hard it would be to know what year you are talking about. Easter isn’t a fixed date – so using that to beginning the year is a deeply strange thing to do.Then there were discussions on religious life. Look, if you are going to have trouble with the idea of people putting their lips to pus filled sores, then you are going to find this part of the book challenging. This was a time when one in three (and perhaps even as many as two in three) children did not make it out of childhood. It was a time when people were dying in droves even without the endless and senseless wars being waged to hurry them along to their graves. The Turks decapitating the French soldiers in front of their masters towards the end of this book – their masters being spared as they could be used to provide ransom – is a disturbing image of the first order. In fact, it is the stuff of nightmares, to be quite frank.The treatment of Jews throughout this century is also something that is designed to induce nightmares. As a case in point – I had heard of the flagellants before, those fun guys who would whip themselves until they were a bleeding mess as their way to seek God’s forgiveness and thereby stop the plague. Now, as a way of stopping plague this is probably not the most obvious or the most effective treatment, and I guess we all know without reading this book that it actually helped to spread the disease. But what I didn’t know was that after their little parades (where people would come over to them and either drink or use their blood as some odd form of ‘protection’ or treatment) they would then generally head around to the local Jewish quarter and kill as many people as they could get their hands on. In fact, killing Jews seems to have been the century’s recreation of choice.Favourite line in the book? Probably the young man who was ‘very religious’ who chastised his brother by telling him off for laughing – as the Bible doesn’t record Jesus every laughing but does say, “Jesus wept”. The increasingly bizarre machinations involving the split in the Catholic Church and the damage this did to both the church and society at large makes for fascinating reading in that it confirms yet again that people are often the last people you can rely on to act in any way that might be in accordance with their own best interests.Like I said, there are lots of things to love about this book – and I should have loved it much more than I did, I really should have, and really wanted to – but there was something missing that I just can’t put my finger on and which just kept me at arm’s length.
What do You think about A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (1987)?
Let me be clear: this is an amazingly well researched book. However, as a lay person with a strong but passing interest in world history, it was more detail than I could slog through.I made it just past the chapter on the Black Plague and had to stop (about 100 pages in). Tuchman clearly knows almost everything there is to know about 14th century Europe. Unfortunately for this reader, she imparts way too much in the text. I am a fairly fast reader, but was slowed down considerably by the rich (tedious) detail. I came away from each segment wondering just what was the point of all that information.To be fair, the writing is easy to read and she clearly has a passion for the subject. I would be very interested in a revision of this book, with about 50% of the information cut out.If you are a history buff and seek a complex, detailed, and rich survey of the 14th century, look no further than this book. If you are a regular "Joe", like me, I would pass for a more streamlined narrative.
—Sunsprout
I have been a Tuchman fan for years but put off reading this book because it concerned a period of history of which I was not particularly interested. Wrong!!! Chock full of details, it fills in all the details of a bloody, unenlightened time in history where war for no justifiable reason was the norm, crusades against distant lands were the epitome of a knight's duty, and the Black Death was decimating half the world's population.As usual, the author has done extensive research and although it is often difficult to keep all the players straight, it offers a fascinating panoply of a time when "knighthood was in flower". I'm sorry I waited so long to read it.
—Jill Hutchinson
The Hundred Years War, the Papal Schism, the Black Death, peasant uprisings, the death of chivalry, crusades, assassinations, tournaments, all these things and more Tuchman explores through an examination of the life of one man, Enguerrand de Coucy. Scion of perhaps the most powerful and wealthiest baronial family in France, Coucy lead a fairly amazing life. He fought wars in his homeland of France, Italy, North Africa, Switzerland and Bulgaria, lead important diplomatic missions, twice turned down the title of Constable of France and, for over a decade, was married to the favourite daughter of the King of England, who also happened to be his captor at the time, and died a captive of the Ottoman Sultan after the disastrous Battle of Nicopolis.This isn't a strict biography though, and Tuchman wanders wherever her interests take her. There's a hell of a lot of ground to cover, so this isn't as tight as, say, Guns of August, and Tuchman will occasionally get hung up on something, but these are minor faults. Speaking of getting hung up, this book was cited by George R R Martin and the inspiration he drew from it is very apparent. Tuchman really relishes describing feasts, fetes and tournaments in incredible detail, and portrays the major and minor figures of the era with a blend of real ambiguity, grittiness and the occasional larger-than-life anecdote that any reader of A Song of Ice and Fire will find familiar. This book is littered with Barristan Selmys and Gregor Cleganes.I particularly enjoyed Tuchman's sneering portrayal of knighthood and the ruling class. No flower of chivalry here, Tuchman portrays people like the famous Black Prince as the brutal, rapacious, violent thugs they really were, and even her main character, who she is obviously fond of, is not spared, being described as "the least compromised of his class and kind by brutality, venality and reckless indulgence." Not exactly a glowing reccomendation.
—Matt Brady
