What do you think?
Rate this book
A Fool and His Money: Life in a Partitioned Town in Fourteenth-Century France
Ann Wroe brings to life a rich and perplexing culture of a city physically divided-as so many communities are today-by political factions in this skillful re-creation of fourteenth-century Rodez. Notes, bibliography.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
7 people are currently reading
148 people want to read
About the author
Ann Wroe
14 books89 followersAnn Wroe is a journalist and author - working as Briefings and Obituaries editor of The Economist. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Royal Society of Literature and the English Association.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Read
August 6, 2018Once upon a time mainstream history was a simple matter of kings, dates and important events with capital letters. But then as historians laboured through archive, squeezing the sources and their brains too, developing new mentalités, new histories began to emerge. Books like Montaillou seized the reader by head and heels, and plunged them into a strange country.
Although far more gentle, Ann Wroe's book is in the same vein. She used documents from the French town of Rodez, account ledgers and volumes of trial documents to open a window on life in this little town during the Hundred Years War.
Lordship of the town was divided between a Bishop and the Count of Rodez (both of whom were generally absent from the town). This meant the town was physically divided by a ditch and had separate institutions. The war was largely distant from the town, with the exception of the taxes raised to pay for it. At one time it paid towards both sides when the Count of Rodez acknowledged the Black Prince (the son of the king of England) as his overlord.
The smarter townsfolk took advantage of the division between the two jurisdictions by living on one side and renting property to store goods on the other to evade the tax collectors. But not all the townsfolk were quite so financially acute, the starting point for this book is a more traditional method of tax avoidance in the form of a pot full of coins found by workmen sent to unblock a sewer running through a house and the people who laid claim to it.
I should make clear that this is a book about the journey not the destination. There is no resolution to the mystery of the money (ultimately because the documentary record is incomplete), that is just a starting point and a theme that ties the book together. Wroe gives a chapter to each of the people involved in the case telling us what she can about their daily lives and business affairs and how that fitted in to the life of the city.
In passing Wroe tells us about her search for documents, the ledgers, the handwriting of the clerks and even the bits of straw left between the vellum pages. The language of record varied between the Occitan spoken in the region and Latin, although the Latin gives way to Occitan for swear words and the names of tools (shades of From Memory to Written Record here).
This is an approachable book. The urban setting with its jobbing builders, lawyers and tax collectors is more familiar than the worlds of forgotten believes that you can find in Montaillou or The Cheese and the Worms, yet at the same time shows us the very different Europe that existed before the nation-state when every county was a country and from the perspective of Rodez not just distant Paris was foreign, but so was everywhere else further than a couple of days journey away.
Although far more gentle, Ann Wroe's book is in the same vein. She used documents from the French town of Rodez, account ledgers and volumes of trial documents to open a window on life in this little town during the Hundred Years War.
Lordship of the town was divided between a Bishop and the Count of Rodez (both of whom were generally absent from the town). This meant the town was physically divided by a ditch and had separate institutions. The war was largely distant from the town, with the exception of the taxes raised to pay for it. At one time it paid towards both sides when the Count of Rodez acknowledged the Black Prince (the son of the king of England) as his overlord.
The smarter townsfolk took advantage of the division between the two jurisdictions by living on one side and renting property to store goods on the other to evade the tax collectors. But not all the townsfolk were quite so financially acute, the starting point for this book is a more traditional method of tax avoidance in the form of a pot full of coins found by workmen sent to unblock a sewer running through a house and the people who laid claim to it.
I should make clear that this is a book about the journey not the destination. There is no resolution to the mystery of the money (ultimately because the documentary record is incomplete), that is just a starting point and a theme that ties the book together. Wroe gives a chapter to each of the people involved in the case telling us what she can about their daily lives and business affairs and how that fitted in to the life of the city.
In passing Wroe tells us about her search for documents, the ledgers, the handwriting of the clerks and even the bits of straw left between the vellum pages. The language of record varied between the Occitan spoken in the region and Latin, although the Latin gives way to Occitan for swear words and the names of tools (shades of From Memory to Written Record here).
This is an approachable book. The urban setting with its jobbing builders, lawyers and tax collectors is more familiar than the worlds of forgotten believes that you can find in Montaillou or The Cheese and the Worms, yet at the same time shows us the very different Europe that existed before the nation-state when every county was a country and from the perspective of Rodez not just distant Paris was foreign, but so was everywhere else further than a couple of days journey away.
September 13, 2011
No offence to the author, but for me this book equaled a snooze-fest and I had to struggle to get through the entire story! Once started, I just wanted to get to the end to find out what happened so I could move on to a different book.
The general concept was fascinating; it was based on court records from a small French town in 1369/1370. A pot of gold is found in a drain and the idea is to figure out who it belonged to: the forgetful shop owner, Peyre (who probably had Alzheimer’s) or his quick-thinking son-in-law, Gerald, who took possession and immediately hid the money in his own home. Gerald’s primary concern was not with good-natured Peyre, but whether the gold would be taxed heavily to help pay for the ongoing war with England.
In the telling of the story, the author introduced (too) many characters, each with a unique story meant to describe the personality of the town—and it reportedly did have a fascinating split-personality type of existence (the two halves of this small town had their own money, laws, taxes, and so forth…). While I appreciated the intent to slowly reveal the entire story, the reality was that it made it more muddy than interesting and felt like filler. Not only that, but the outcome was altogether unsatisfactory.
The general concept was fascinating; it was based on court records from a small French town in 1369/1370. A pot of gold is found in a drain and the idea is to figure out who it belonged to: the forgetful shop owner, Peyre (who probably had Alzheimer’s) or his quick-thinking son-in-law, Gerald, who took possession and immediately hid the money in his own home. Gerald’s primary concern was not with good-natured Peyre, but whether the gold would be taxed heavily to help pay for the ongoing war with England.
In the telling of the story, the author introduced (too) many characters, each with a unique story meant to describe the personality of the town—and it reportedly did have a fascinating split-personality type of existence (the two halves of this small town had their own money, laws, taxes, and so forth…). While I appreciated the intent to slowly reveal the entire story, the reality was that it made it more muddy than interesting and felt like filler. Not only that, but the outcome was altogether unsatisfactory.
September 12, 2012
If you want to know about everyday life in a partitioned town in medieval France, this is the book for you. If you're looking for a story, tho, it's not. Fascinating minutiae, just not a lick of anything cohesive.
April 17, 2024
So, once upon a time, in the year 1369 (or maybe it was 1370), a cloth merchant in the French town of Rodez saw that his basement was flooding. Workmen were called to unblock the drain, and they found a pot filled with gold coins.
This could be the beginning of a fourteenth century police procedural, but in the hands of scholar, Economist editor and author Anne Wroe, we are taken on a journey through the lives and politics of the residents of this town located (and divided) between the opposing forces of England and France during the Hundred Years War.
We never find out who owns the gold, but we learn a tremendous amount about the way life was conducted in this small town located in the Occitan. This book is a collection of vignettes featuring, butchers and farmers, priests and prostitutes, officers of the law and scofflaws.
It’s worth reading if only to marvel at the prodigious research that the author performed to bring this story to life.
This could be the beginning of a fourteenth century police procedural, but in the hands of scholar, Economist editor and author Anne Wroe, we are taken on a journey through the lives and politics of the residents of this town located (and divided) between the opposing forces of England and France during the Hundred Years War.
We never find out who owns the gold, but we learn a tremendous amount about the way life was conducted in this small town located in the Occitan. This book is a collection of vignettes featuring, butchers and farmers, priests and prostitutes, officers of the law and scofflaws.
It’s worth reading if only to marvel at the prodigious research that the author performed to bring this story to life.
March 11, 2022
Once I started reading and taking this book for what it is (a historical document ), I began to enjoy it much more. If one were reading it as a typical story it would seem to move much too slowly but that's not what it is. This is more of a historian shining a light and every nook and cranny in a mediaeval town. The author uses only primary sources to paint the picture of this town and the extent to which she paints the details of what life was like is quite extraordinary. Also I think it's important to note I see reviews where people were frustrated that there wasn't a map of the town in their book but I had both a detailed map of medieval Rodez and a cast of characters which I referred to frequently while reading the book. If you pick up this book to read I suggest that you find a copy that has both of these in the beginning as I did.
September 29, 2022
A lovely micro-history that uses a court case to tell the story of Rodez. It doesn't quite wrap up unfortunately and is a bit marred by a bizarre and racist comparison of Algerians to mushrooms ("dangerous, dark and smelly") on almost its last page.
September 28, 2025
What I liked about this book is the authenticity. History in the raw ; Ann Wroe has seperated the 7oo year old threads of the story for the modern reader and lays them out in a coherent fashion . Very satisfying . I'll think about this one for a long time.
January 18, 2022
To my shame, I have noted that I read this book but I can't remember anything about it but since it didn't stick I have awarded it three stars.
September 15, 2022
Jammer dat het einde zo open blijft
June 2, 2025
3.5 ☆
December 15, 2010
‘The town was Rodez; the river was the Aveyron. The year was 1369 or 1370, though nobody can say for sure.’
Who owned the pot of gold found in a drain in Rodez, France, in either 1369 or 1370? Was it the man who claimed it, or was it his father-in-law?
‘The story was already set, had become news.’
Ann Wroe unearthed a court case related to this gold and while the outcome of the court case is not known, Ms Wroe’s research has provided a wealth of information about life in Rodez. Consider: a fortified city internally partitioned into two communities: the more elegant and ecclesiastical City – subject to the English, and the commercial Bourg – subject to the French. At this time, during the Hundred Years War, bandits roamed the countryside, as did French and English troops and mercenaries.
And what was life like for people in this fourteenth century community? The City paid taxes to the Black Prince and the Bourg paid tax (when it couldn’t be helped) to the Count of Armagnac. Some individuals managed to avoid tax completely by being unfindable in either place. With separate municipal governments, and considerable rivalry between the two it is easy to see how the ownership of the gold could be disputed and how, unfortunately, the outcome of the court case is unknown.
Ms Wroe’s research has resulted in an interesting and readable account of everyday life in a city divided by more than a wall. Somehow, by the end of the book, knowing who owned the gold was less important than appreciating the everyday lives of those in the city where it was found. In dissecting this complicated case, Ms Wroe has put context around the lives and actions of those involved brought the town of Rodez to life.
Who needs fiction when fact is so interesting?
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Who owned the pot of gold found in a drain in Rodez, France, in either 1369 or 1370? Was it the man who claimed it, or was it his father-in-law?
‘The story was already set, had become news.’
Ann Wroe unearthed a court case related to this gold and while the outcome of the court case is not known, Ms Wroe’s research has provided a wealth of information about life in Rodez. Consider: a fortified city internally partitioned into two communities: the more elegant and ecclesiastical City – subject to the English, and the commercial Bourg – subject to the French. At this time, during the Hundred Years War, bandits roamed the countryside, as did French and English troops and mercenaries.
And what was life like for people in this fourteenth century community? The City paid taxes to the Black Prince and the Bourg paid tax (when it couldn’t be helped) to the Count of Armagnac. Some individuals managed to avoid tax completely by being unfindable in either place. With separate municipal governments, and considerable rivalry between the two it is easy to see how the ownership of the gold could be disputed and how, unfortunately, the outcome of the court case is unknown.
Ms Wroe’s research has resulted in an interesting and readable account of everyday life in a city divided by more than a wall. Somehow, by the end of the book, knowing who owned the gold was less important than appreciating the everyday lives of those in the city where it was found. In dissecting this complicated case, Ms Wroe has put context around the lives and actions of those involved brought the town of Rodez to life.
Who needs fiction when fact is so interesting?
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
June 28, 2013
The basic premise is fascinating: using a legal drama to describe an era. In this case, Wroe selected to describe 14th Century Rodez, a town in Southern France that endured conflicting loyalties between the English and French during the Hundred Years War. The loyalties were more than personal, the town was governed in part by a bishop, and in part by a count. The townsfolk were caught in the middle. The tale is told through the ups and downs of Peyre Marques and his family.
The model strongly resembles Barbara Tuchman's Distant Mirror through the eyes of Sire de Coucy. It is unfair to compare Wore to Tuchman. However, if Wroe expanded her book, it would be easier for readers. As it stands, there is so much detail and deviation from Marques, that the reader is quickly overwhelmed and confused.
Different taxes, measurements, and responsibilities fall on citizens who lived and operated in different parts of the town and the town's jurisdiction. The fact that people moved in between these boundaries makes her book even more difficult to follow. Even visualizing the town is difficult as there are no illustrations, photographs, or visuals. Even a crude drawing of the town, as simple as a Tolkien map, would have helped considerably. A diagram of the political scene with some of the key characters would have helped too.
True, this book could have been turned into a fascinating novel; but it too would have been painfully detailed. Even if only half of the characters were involved, a novel would be confusing. Wroe did an admirable job trying to speak to a non-academic audience. The result is a lay book that is too complex and a scholarly book that is too vague and simple.
The model strongly resembles Barbara Tuchman's Distant Mirror through the eyes of Sire de Coucy. It is unfair to compare Wore to Tuchman. However, if Wroe expanded her book, it would be easier for readers. As it stands, there is so much detail and deviation from Marques, that the reader is quickly overwhelmed and confused.
Different taxes, measurements, and responsibilities fall on citizens who lived and operated in different parts of the town and the town's jurisdiction. The fact that people moved in between these boundaries makes her book even more difficult to follow. Even visualizing the town is difficult as there are no illustrations, photographs, or visuals. Even a crude drawing of the town, as simple as a Tolkien map, would have helped considerably. A diagram of the political scene with some of the key characters would have helped too.
True, this book could have been turned into a fascinating novel; but it too would have been painfully detailed. Even if only half of the characters were involved, a novel would be confusing. Wroe did an admirable job trying to speak to a non-academic audience. The result is a lay book that is too complex and a scholarly book that is too vague and simple.
March 2, 2013
4 1/2 stars
This book reads like a novel, but it is the ultimate in detective stories, in its own way. The key incident in this book occurs in a French village in 1370! It has been ferreted out from an amazing (apparently)archive/stash/attic full of old documents going back, in exquisite detail, at least 400 years! Ann Wroe, an impressive historian/sleuth and a very capable writer, pieces together a very interesting story, and in the process paints a facinating picture of a France very different from today.
PS It's a rare treat to be the first to both rate and review a book here on Goodreads!
This book reads like a novel, but it is the ultimate in detective stories, in its own way. The key incident in this book occurs in a French village in 1370! It has been ferreted out from an amazing (apparently)archive/stash/attic full of old documents going back, in exquisite detail, at least 400 years! Ann Wroe, an impressive historian/sleuth and a very capable writer, pieces together a very interesting story, and in the process paints a facinating picture of a France very different from today.
PS It's a rare treat to be the first to both rate and review a book here on Goodreads!
Read
February 26, 2021Readable, interesting, as always can't speak for the research or the conclusions.
I'm getting increasingly wary of outsiders' views but given I'm limited to English, not sure what to do about that...
I'm getting increasingly wary of outsiders' views but given I'm limited to English, not sure what to do about that...
August 29, 2011
One of the best windows into the medieval period I've ever had the pleasure to read. Stellar research. Only problem with this book is that it is far too short.
May 18, 2014
Readable, facinating history of life in the 14th century.
April 8, 2017
quite an interesting read centering around the discovery of a treasure in a drain & the dilemma as to who doe it belong to. Wroe really brings the town to life using carefully extricated resources.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews