Public Opinion at the End of the Middle Ages according to the
Publisher
:
Editions Perrin
Parution date
:
2002
EAN
:
9782262018450
Description
Few documents provide a better glipmse of public opinion in the Middle Ages than the fourteenth century Chronicle of Charles VI, by the Monk of Saint-Denis, also known as Michel Pintoin. The original text in Latin filled six volumes in the nineteenth century French translation, and was often used by historians for its abundance of facts and references to people and places. But the one thing no one ever examined until now was what it says of public opinion in those turbulent times. Bernard Guenee, prize-winning historian and author of numerous books on the Middle Ages, takes a close look at the Chronicle, as well as at the surrounding literature of the times, to extract those truths and opinions that represent what was commonly held belief. Bringing Michel Pintoin's inner thoughts to light so many centuries later, Guenee does not lose their immediacy. His comments on the reasons why the English and French could so hate one another are particularly vivid, and reappear throughout. Possible reasons: the loss of English properties in France; the disagreements between the two countries over the Schism; the way the English treated the widow of Richard II, Charles VI's daughter; and the aggressiveness of Henry V among others.
Author
Bernard Guenee : Bernard Guenee has taught the History of the Middle Ages at the University of Paris for thirty years, and is the author of Un roi et son histoire (De Boccard, 1999), Un meurtre, une societe (Gallimard, 1992), and Entre L'Eglise et L'Etat (Gallimard, 1987), among other works. He has won the Grand Prix national d'histoire, and the Grand Prix Gobert, and is a member of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.
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