Hombres y estructuras de la Edad Media

by Georges Duby

La obra de Georges Duby está consagrada fundamentalmente al estudio de las sociedades medievales de Europa occidental, proponiéndose una tarea de “reconstrucción” histórica global, a través de las condiciones demográficas, tecnológicas y ecológicas, a través de las actitudes mentales y de todos los aspectos de la civilización material. Los trabajos reunidos en este volumen pueden agruparse bajo tres epígrafes. En primer término los que se ocupan de diversos aspectos de la historia social de la nobleza. En segundo lugar los que giran en torno al estudio de sus mentalidades. Por último, los que representan una historia económico-social de los grandes señoríos rurales. Los dos primeros epígrafes están íntimamente conectados entre sí, y mostrar la relación existente entre ellos es la preocupación permanente del autor. Los dos últimos estudios presentados tienen, por otra parte, un carácter acentuadamente metodológico. Siendo además los de más reciente fecha de redacción, proporcionan una base para aproximarnos a la comprensión del método y la ideología del autor. De Georges Duby se ha publicado también en Siglo XXI su obra Guerreros y campesinos: desarrollo inicial de la economía europea (500-1200), dentro de la serie Historia Económica Mundial.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval

287 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Peter Toth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm continuing my journey in Duby's works and I'm getting more and more convinced that for every medievalist, his works are absolute must-reads. This slim Hungarian volume from 1978 contains only a few essays from him, it does not even seem to be a full book for some reason, other editions I see here are double the page-count. Anyway, we get 5 essays from Duby, focusing on agriculture, the monks and abbeys, demographic trends, the appearance of knighthood and lastly about medieval societies as a whole. All of his works are based on decades of research into medieval manuscripts from the early medieval / late antiquity up until the 15th century on the territories that eventually became France. His style is therefore very scientific, to my great joy - includes typical latin words and expressions and explains them too. Some of the concepts, like the history of mentalities are a little off in Hungarian translation, but overall it can be understood well today.

The last essay I would like to put on a pedestal here about medieval societies. It was prepared when he took one of his professorships and it can really be considered as his ars poetica. I adore the work of all French 20th century historians from Bloch or Febvre to Duby or Braudel. They have created a necessary new view to look at historical research, medieval societies in general and opened our eyes to long-time-horizon changes that germinate for centuries before some major change happens in world history. For this, I absolutely recommend reading Duby as he was part of this great current that changed the way we look at the so called 'Middle-Ages'.

[Vasco Ribeiro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tinha a expectativa de ser muito mais interessante do que afinal é.