Genealogy Books - Life in a Medieval City

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Customer Rating:

Summary: Medieval Cities Were Fascinating Places
Comment: This is a great book for anyone who would like to further his or her education on daily life in a
thriving Medieval city. Virtually all segments of the population, from lowest to highest, are
described here, as are numerous aspects of the goings-on that kept a bustling city moving. This is
not a work for romantics, it is a serious, fairly in-depth examination of the social and
occupational structure of this era in European history. Medieval life could be brutal but it also
had its shades of beauty. True a modern person may recoil at much of what a person from 800 years
ago accepted without a thought, but the reverse might also be true. What I liked so much about this
book was it refused to be the typical general study of a vast time and place and never strayed from
its goal of shedding light strictly within the confines of a city and those who lived there, worked
there, or came there for festival or for trade. Everything from clothing to food to tools to crime
and punishment, religion and medicine are covered here. This is really a very fine book.

Customer Rating:

Summary: As reliable as a time machine..
Comment: I didnt know what exactly to expect as i went into this book. All i really aimed for was getting an
insightful account on how living in a medieval city would be and had no idea how an author would go
about presenting this.

Having mentioned that, "Life in a Medieval City" exceeded my
expectations and then some! It's a brilliant and carefully detailed book on how the every day
routine rolled around the 11th century in the city of Troyes in France.

The authors
touch basically all aspects of life in a medieval city: commercial, religious, every day tasks,
challenges and difficulties, education, military defense, you name it.

It's definetely
not overwhelming as some reviewers claimed because the authors do not bore tzhe reader with the
unnecessaryas the delve into the various sectors of medieval life. The style is very direct, very
modern and very comprehensive.

The bits of information to be obtained from it are
absolutely remarkable and i finished this book pleased that i had a fresh set of questions about
medieval life based on the knowledge i acquired by reading it. This is anyway the value standard a
good book should be measured by.

Easily one of the most pertinent books on the
subject.

Customer Rating:

Summary: History made accessible
Comment: First of all, the authors set out to simply enlighten the modern reader as to the daily life of a
Medieval city-dweller. They had no hidden agenda, just the report of the facts, as best as they
could determine from existing documents and sources. Their work represents a fairly accurate
representation of what life might have been like for the average city dweller during the Middle
Ages.
Second, they focus on one, particular city, namely Troyes. But, what they discuss can be
generalized to other cities. Also, they compare Troyes to other cities of similar size and time
periods, as examples of how standard, or not, Troyes was.
Thirdly, they use easy to understand
language without talking down to the reader. They don't try to make their historical personages talk
to the reader, but, instead, let the occasional quote do their talking for them. They speculate only
a little bit about what the people might have been thinking, focusing instead on what they actually
did.

All in all, a very enjoyable book. I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the whys
and hows of life in early cities.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Best on subject.
Comment: I have been researching the Middle Ages for a number of years and this is one of the most even
-handed books I have come across. The authors are researchers par excellence, and have presented
their findings in an imminently readable form. If I were not already a student of the Middle
Ages, however, I might have found the wealth of detail somewhat overwhelming and some of the terms
and references obscure. This is a book for people who really want to know.

Customer Rating:

Summary: A good overview.
Comment: Required to read this for a class, I found the book a great overview of life in a Medievil City.
The chapters devoted to various subjects make it a good reference book. The writing style is light
yet presents the indepth information.

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