Terry Jones' love of history is well-known, and this book, which seemed to be based on a BBC series of the same name, goes more deeply and detailedly in the richness of late medieval history in English than one would expect . Written with Alan Ereira, parts of pieces of Jones' comedic voice remains in the the text. Separated into the medieval roles, Jones uses these roles to construct a counter-narrative to many of the stereotypes around medieval history through focusing in on specific instances and highlighting specific anecdotes to clarify the his major points. It is clearly organized, and the focus on specific anecdotes are useful, but definitely feel more cinematic than scholarly. However, there are reasons why Jones' did this that are beyond limits based on the BBC series: Jones has a bone to pick with much of the historigraphy around the Renaissance. As he said in an interview "...And I'm sick to death of that ridiculous assumption that that before the Renaissance human beings had no sense of individuality." Jones aims to illustrate that this is clearly a misunderstanding of self-conception of humanity in the medieval period. The anecdotes persalize things on an individual level. Furthermore, Jones' is good a pointing out that our conceptions of the medieval period are often more based on Victorian misconceptions and projecting violence of the Renaissance and the early modern period back unto medieval period. The book is particularly good on the selective criterion for understanding the Plantagent kings as well as omissions from the king's list like Louis the first and last, who was ruler during the first Baron's War. It also is particularly strong in the areas about popular medieval conceptions of women. A close reading of Chaucer would have confirmed a lot of what Jones is saying, but he and Ereira do a particularly good job of finding both historical and literary sources to make their point here. A weak point may be on medieval medicine where Jones seems to think that treatments developed in the medieval period that ther roots of some modern treatments were more effective than they were. He does not mention how dangerous a lot of the medical precedures used by Galen are, and then he justifies it by morality rates in modern hospitals due to infection. The two cases aren't really good analogies for severeal reasons: Most of which having to do with the fact we understand what hospital morality is so high, but medieval doctors didn't understand why so many of their leeched patiences died anyway. While Ian Mortimer's "Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England" show be paired with this as it is much more substantive and should probably be read with this book, Jones light take on history is still substantive enough for the non-specialist to learn significant amounts and for the specialist to be fairly amused.
I hadn't seen the TV series which this accompanies but I did know of the Former Python's keen interest in History so I was sure I was in for a good book. I'm glad I wasn't dissapointed.An extremely informative book, it debunks the whole concept of the "Middle Ages" as a Reformation construct and sets about trying to present an accurate picture of life post Norman invasion and up until the end of the War of the Roses. By taking the stereotypes of the Medieval era such as peasent, minstrel, damsel, knight and monk and devoting a chapter to each, the author is able to set the context and then show how the reality differed from the image. We learn that by todays standards peasents probably had a better lot and were far from illiterate, the church was a money spinning enterprise, women were outspoken (and horny!) and knights invented the chivalric code simply as a way to legitimise institutionalised violence.Some reviews on Amazon found Jones's use of modern allusions too jarring but I personally thought they were infrequent and when they did pop up helped us see the historical absurdities with a modern eye. Given the state of affairs in the world today I'd be very interested to read Jones's book on the Crusades.I learnt a lot of new things such as the role minstrels played in the propoganda of war, and about King Louis the First & Last, the de facto ruler of England towards the end of King John's reign and that of his child heir Henry III. Whilst the book was very easy to read and suffused with a sense of humour there were plenty of scholarly footnotes as a useful springboard for anyone looking for a more weighty and academic read.I'll have to see if the TV show is out on dvd, and The Crusades and Barbarians are definately going on my wishlist.
4.5 really...For the longest time, everything I ‘knew’ about Medieval England I'd learnt from Monty Python’s Holy Grail.Now that I’ve discovered that history isn’t the boring list of dates my teachers made it out to be, and lacking the thousands of pounds required to go and get a proper education, it’s only fitting to turn back to a Python for my further education. And what a brilliant education it is – chock full of fascinating facts and humour, and providing a sturdy foundation for further reading.Taking a look at the many stereotypes associated with the age (peasant, minstrel, outlaw, monk, philosopher, knight, damsel and king) Jones & Ereira debunk many of the popular misconceptions via brilliant medieval anecdotes that brings real life to their material, as well as laying clear the propaganda machine that’s helped cement in place most of our accepted ‘facts’ (ie ‘Good’ King Richard I was a mass-murdering rapist who detested England and spent only 6 months of his entire ten-year reign here, and hoped to sell it off to the highest bidder, whereas ‘Bad’ King Richard II might have actually been pretty awesome, except Henry Bolingbroke’s spin doctors got to work on the history books)Fantastic stuff that I highly recommend - I'm now hoping that Terry decides to tackle the rest of English history, as it's a class I desperately want to sign up for. You should too.**Also posted at Randomly Reading and Ranting**
—Lisa
First things first: this book is not funny. That's not necessarily a bad thing for most books, but I expected a bit of humour from something headlined by Monthy Python's Terry Jones: maybe not laugh-out-loud funny, but certainly with more levity than what this came out as. It's actually quite dry, which makes me wonder how much Jones really contributed to it.It's also incredibly short and superficial. There are interesting bits, like the chapter on alchemists, but the whole book barely skims the surface on this incredibly deep subject. It's almost like a somewhat fleshed-out clickbait listicle, which doesn't really offer much substance on the whole.Technical point: The illustrations in my Kobo edition didn't display, which was a miss. It's not a bad book for what it is, it's decently written, but didn't meet my expectations.
—Ysabelle
We've all fallen from time to time to imaginations of life in the medieval era- hapless and starving peasants, pious and stick-thin monks, and knights gallant riding away to rescue King & Kingdom. But was it really the case?From the cover In Terry Jones' Medieval Lives, his mission is to rescue the Middle Ages from moth-eaten cliches and well-worn platitudes. Behind the stereotypes of "damsels in distress" and "knights in shining armor," there are wonderfully human stories that bring the period to life. Terry will start with the medieval archetypes—the Knight, Peasant, Damsel, Monk, Outlaw, King, Merchant, and Physician—and in the course of unravelling their role and function will introduce a host of colorful real-life characters, recreating their world by visiting key locationsThe author sets out in this book to debunk the myths and set the account straight. The book, is divided according to character-central profiles -The Monk, The Knight, The Peasant & so on. He also explores ingrained animosities, wars, social attitudes on marriage, sex and religion. The narrative is written in a light-hearted and witty tone that would leave you amused. However, the scope of the topics is quite broad, and doesn't deep delve into any particular area. So if you are looking at a more detailed study, this is not the book for you. Overall it was a nice foray into the medieval times. A good introduction to the subject.
—Aoi
