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Medieval People Audiobook
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(3.03) - 187 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In this classic of social history, the author describes the lives of five lesser-known men and women of the Middle Ages, as well as one famous one. She draws on account books, records, letters, diaries, and wills to make the life of those times as concrete and comprehensible as our own. There are full-length portraits of Bodo, a Frankish peasant in the time of Charlemagne; Marco Polo, the celebrated Venetian traveler—only one of many—of the thirteenth century; Madame Eglentyne, the prioress of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, whose life can be copiously filled out from the records of the nunneries of fourteenth-century England; the young wife of a fourteenth-century Parisian bourgeois; and two English merchants of the fifteenth century, Thomas Betson of the wool trade and Thomas Paycocke, an Essex clothier.
This is an informative yet entertaining look at an era through the eyes of people that lived it.
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"Wonderful history of the Middle Ages according to lives that the writer researched meticulously. Shows how people's lives in other times are different from and the same as our own. Witty, like Kitto's The Greeks. "
— Trix (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“It possesses a color, a dramatic touch that humanizes.”
— New York Tribune
Medieval People Listener Reviews
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" This book was hard to get into at first, but it turned out to be really interesting. I don't know of another book that has shed so much light on the day-to-day lives of Medieval people. It could be boring in parts, yet fascinating in others. It's a must for anyone studying that time period. "
— Anita, 11/7/2013 -
" Wonderful history of the Middle Ages according to lives that the writer researched meticulously. Shows how people's lives in other times are different from and the same as our own. Witty, like Kitto's The Greeks. "
— Trix, 7/15/2012 -
" Interesting history and easy to read. "
— Jessica, 4/8/2012 -
" Some plodding prose and dated syntax, but worth the effort if you have an interest in the daily travails of mostly ordinary people in medieval times. "
— ej, 9/17/2011 -
" A somewhat less than satisfying look at some real people from the Middle Ages based on documents and letters. Maybe I was expecting more than could possibly be reconstructed from the source material. Nonethless, interesting insights into how things were -- especially trade, travel and finance. "
— Stephen, 6/19/2010 -
" Some plodding prose and dated syntax, but worth the effort if you have an interest in the daily travails of mostly ordinary people in medieval times. "
— ej, 4/18/2010 -
" A somewhat less than satisfying look at some real people from the Middle Ages based on documents and letters. Maybe I was expecting more than could possibly be reconstructed from the source material. Nonethless, interesting insights into how things were -- especially trade, travel and finance. "
— Stephen, 7/5/2009
About Eileen Power
Eileen Power (1889–1940) was a writer and a feminist known for being the second woman appointed to a Chair in economic history at the London School of Economics. After marrying the historian Michael Postan in 1937, she became professor of economic history at Cambridge University.
About Roe Kendall
Roe Kendall (a.k.a. Vanessa Benjamin), a native of the British Isles, graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London. She has performed on stage, as a voice-over artist, and as an audiobook narrator.