What do you think?
Rate this book
Medieval People: Vivid Lives in a Distant Landscape
A rich and revelatory exploration of the medieval world, conveyed through intimate biographies by a renowned historian This engrossing, exquisitely illustrated, often witty account tells the life stories of some seventy individuals who "made" the Middle Ages. There are kings and queens, popes and politicians, soldiers and merchants, scholars, authors and visionaries. They range from the important, such as El Cid or Frederick Barbarossa, to the little known, such as the dissolute Venetian nun Clara Sanuto. Some were astonishingly the empire created by Chinggis Khan was one of the most extensive ever seen. Some, such as Charles the Bold, the over-ambitious 15th–century duke of Burgundy, were failures.
Contrary to modern myth, medieval people did not believe the earth was flat; torture was far less common than in later centuries; and technological advances included guns, printing, blast furnaces, spectacles, stirrups and the compass. Full of insights such as these, this book shows how medieval people lived in an era that was more one of invention and innovation than of superstition and backwardness. It will appeal to all those who want a truer picture of a world often erroneously portrayed by bestselling novelists of today. 179 illustrations, 171 in color
Contrary to modern myth, medieval people did not believe the earth was flat; torture was far less common than in later centuries; and technological advances included guns, printing, blast furnaces, spectacles, stirrups and the compass. Full of insights such as these, this book shows how medieval people lived in an era that was more one of invention and innovation than of superstition and backwardness. It will appeal to all those who want a truer picture of a world often erroneously portrayed by bestselling novelists of today. 179 illustrations, 171 in color
288 pages, Hardcover
First published November 11, 2014
9 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
About the author
Michael Prestwich
37 books13 followersMichael Charles Prestwich OBE (born 30 January 1943) is an English historian, specialising on the history of medieval England, in particular the reign of Edward I. He is retired, having been Professor of History at Durham University, and Head of the Department of History until 2007.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 14, 2014
Torn about this book - it's a beautiful piece of the book-maker's art, lavishly illustrated, splendidly designed, inviting to read. Even the highly legible fonts hark back to a medieval manuscript. The selected "vivid lives" also provide a broad and illuminating spectrum of the Middle Ages, striving to be other than wholly Euro-centric: Genghis Khan, Alexander Nevsky, Avicenna, Usama ibn Mundqidh, Anna Komnene are some of those limned here in an attempt to expand beyond the usual suspects. All that is admirable.
My difficulties arise from a perhaps unfair reason: the vignettes of the "vivid lives" themselves. These seem lightweight and far from illuminating for a scholar of Prestwich's reputation. At times, I felt he rather missed the point of why someone (say, Hildegard of Bingen) should be noted and remembered. He seems to include her--and others--not because he thought their lives illuminated aspects of medieval times but because it was expected, and he was bored with having to write anything about them. With Hildegard, he misses the point entirely. She isn't notable because she's been adopted as a "new-age feminist hero," but because of her music, which he scarcely mentions.
Disappointing, therefore, but also interesting. The vignettes are slight. The illustrations are wonderful. A book for a small coffee table?
My difficulties arise from a perhaps unfair reason: the vignettes of the "vivid lives" themselves. These seem lightweight and far from illuminating for a scholar of Prestwich's reputation. At times, I felt he rather missed the point of why someone (say, Hildegard of Bingen) should be noted and remembered. He seems to include her--and others--not because he thought their lives illuminated aspects of medieval times but because it was expected, and he was bored with having to write anything about them. With Hildegard, he misses the point entirely. She isn't notable because she's been adopted as a "new-age feminist hero," but because of her music, which he scarcely mentions.
Disappointing, therefore, but also interesting. The vignettes are slight. The illustrations are wonderful. A book for a small coffee table?
April 6, 2020
Egentlig ville jeg nok gitt denne 3.5. Som faghistoriker er det ikke så mye nytt her, men for et allment publikum er dette en fin og grei introduksjon til middelalderen gjennom en rekke biografiske oversikter.
Boka er en fin og grei presentasjon av en rekke historiske personer fra middelalderen. De fleste er nok så opplagte valg, mens en håndfull hadde, i hvert fall ikke jeg, hørt om tidligere. En klar hovedvekt av menn, noe som naturlig nok skyldes kildesituasjonen. Har likevel med flere interessante kvinneskikkelser (selv om majoriteten av disse tilhørte geistlige miljøer).
Bokas struktur er kronologisk, med innlagte beskrivelser av særtrekk ved ulike historiske perioder. Boka har mange fargesterke og vakre illustrasjoner, som er en fryd for øye og sjel. Vel verdt å lese.
Boka er en fin og grei presentasjon av en rekke historiske personer fra middelalderen. De fleste er nok så opplagte valg, mens en håndfull hadde, i hvert fall ikke jeg, hørt om tidligere. En klar hovedvekt av menn, noe som naturlig nok skyldes kildesituasjonen. Har likevel med flere interessante kvinneskikkelser (selv om majoriteten av disse tilhørte geistlige miljøer).
Bokas struktur er kronologisk, med innlagte beskrivelser av særtrekk ved ulike historiske perioder. Boka har mange fargesterke og vakre illustrasjoner, som er en fryd for øye og sjel. Vel verdt å lese.
March 30, 2024
Love history told through the lives of individuals, but it felt unfinished in places.
February 13, 2015
While these snapshot-biographies often feel incomplete or quickly aborted, on the whole, they provide a complete view of the Medieval period. The biographies are mostly European, with a smattering of influential Middle Easterns and Africans for good measure, and span the arts, politics and religion. The book's construction is its biggest selling point, with lush illustrations, and heavy, satisfying paperweight. Approach this book as you would Wikipedia: a great jumping off point to uncover more in-depth topics.
October 25, 2017
The medieval period covers a long time and is populated with a great diversity of people. This book looks at some seventy people who lived from 800 to 1500 AD. He chronicles Christians, Muslims, Huns, and heretics from many levels of society. Some were religious or civil leaders (sometimes both), some were artists, some were everyday merchants, craftsmen, and farmers.
The biographies are short, typically three or four pages with at least one page's worth of pictures or art depicting the person or items related to the person. In such limited space, condensing a person's life is hard. The writing is occasionally choppy, like a longer biography was edited for length without any adjustments to make the narative flow naturally.
That wouldn't be so bad if many of the things left in are inaccurate, like the caption of a picture from the motion picture El Cid about the 11th century Spanish warrior. The caption claims the character was "Charlton Heston in his most famous role." [p. 39] More famous than Ben-Hur or Moses in The Ten Commandments? Plenty of other dubious interpretations and factual errors spring up, ruining the author's credibility.
If that wasn't bad enough, his treatment of spirituality is appalling. He claims Thomas Aquinas did not have mystic visions at the end of his life, rather he had migraine headaches that stopped him from writing. Catherine of Siena receives nothing but scorn, contempt, and mockery from the author. Joan of Arc probably had anorexia, which would explain her "voices" and belief that she would save France but not her few military victories.
The best thing about the book is the illustrations and pictures. It is a coffee-table size book and unfortunately fits that cliche--a book better to look at than to read.
Not recommended.
The biographies are short, typically three or four pages with at least one page's worth of pictures or art depicting the person or items related to the person. In such limited space, condensing a person's life is hard. The writing is occasionally choppy, like a longer biography was edited for length without any adjustments to make the narative flow naturally.
That wouldn't be so bad if many of the things left in are inaccurate, like the caption of a picture from the motion picture El Cid about the 11th century Spanish warrior. The caption claims the character was "Charlton Heston in his most famous role." [p. 39] More famous than Ben-Hur or Moses in The Ten Commandments? Plenty of other dubious interpretations and factual errors spring up, ruining the author's credibility.
If that wasn't bad enough, his treatment of spirituality is appalling. He claims Thomas Aquinas did not have mystic visions at the end of his life, rather he had migraine headaches that stopped him from writing. Catherine of Siena receives nothing but scorn, contempt, and mockery from the author. Joan of Arc probably had anorexia, which would explain her "voices" and belief that she would save France but not her few military victories.
The best thing about the book is the illustrations and pictures. It is a coffee-table size book and unfortunately fits that cliche--a book better to look at than to read.
Not recommended.
May 8, 2016
My, oh my, people certainly were brutal in medieval times. Wholesale slaughter of men, women, and children by victorious armies was depressingly common, as were individual acts of blinding, dismembering, and burning at the stake. Throw in crop failures leading to mass starvation, the Black Death, death in childbearing, and it's a wonder that 70 people made it to adulthood to be chronicled by British historian Michael Prestwich in his new book, "Medieval People: Vivid Lives in a Distant Landscape".
But, survive and prosper they did, and life in medieval Europe, Asia, and the Middle East was changed because they existed. Prestwich divides his book into centuries, beginning with Charlemagne in the 8th century and ending with Italian painter Piero della Francesca in the 15th. He has chosen the 70 most influential people of the times and gives short biographies, accompanied by art of the period. I was a bit amazed he left out Maimonides (1135-1204) but I assume he couldn't get everyone in. While I'd say the book featured a lot of European "heavy hitters", Prestwich did include three Asians and several Islamic figures.
I was intrigued by the art Prestwich included. Most of the bios featured portraits of the individuals. I hadn't realised until I thought about it that portraits were rather generic until the 1300's. There are several portraits in the book of figures before that time, but they were all done in the 1500's. (And how would the artists really know what the subjects looked like?) The first portrait that actually looked like an individual I saw was that of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, done by Rogier van der Weyden in 1460.
Michael Prestwich's book - published by Thames and Hudson - is a beautiful book. The short bios - almost like the tempting appetizers before a meal in a French restaurant - serve to interest the reader in knowing more about the subjects. Keep access to Wikipedia close; you'll need it when reading this book.
But, survive and prosper they did, and life in medieval Europe, Asia, and the Middle East was changed because they existed. Prestwich divides his book into centuries, beginning with Charlemagne in the 8th century and ending with Italian painter Piero della Francesca in the 15th. He has chosen the 70 most influential people of the times and gives short biographies, accompanied by art of the period. I was a bit amazed he left out Maimonides (1135-1204) but I assume he couldn't get everyone in. While I'd say the book featured a lot of European "heavy hitters", Prestwich did include three Asians and several Islamic figures.
I was intrigued by the art Prestwich included. Most of the bios featured portraits of the individuals. I hadn't realised until I thought about it that portraits were rather generic until the 1300's. There are several portraits in the book of figures before that time, but they were all done in the 1500's. (And how would the artists really know what the subjects looked like?) The first portrait that actually looked like an individual I saw was that of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, done by Rogier van der Weyden in 1460.
Michael Prestwich's book - published by Thames and Hudson - is a beautiful book. The short bios - almost like the tempting appetizers before a meal in a French restaurant - serve to interest the reader in knowing more about the subjects. Keep access to Wikipedia close; you'll need it when reading this book.
December 30, 2015
I'm torn about this book. It's gorgeous, and it provided me with an introduction to a number of people that I knew nothing about. It's also light and thoroughly readable. It's the sort of thing one can dip into at random or read straight through. I never had trouble putting it down because I could always finish the entry I was working on quickly, and I always picked the book up again.
The downside is that the biographies are extremely superficial; each one runs 2-4 pages and includes lots of illustrations. There were also points at which the author asserted things that made me go, "Wait. What?" and then didn't elaborate or support his points. On several occasions, I found myself asking, "How on earth could anyone know that?" when he made claims about particular historical figures' emotional states/relationships. There also wasn't much of a bibliography, and I expected something hefty.
The downside is that the biographies are extremely superficial; each one runs 2-4 pages and includes lots of illustrations. There were also points at which the author asserted things that made me go, "Wait. What?" and then didn't elaborate or support his points. On several occasions, I found myself asking, "How on earth could anyone know that?" when he made claims about particular historical figures' emotional states/relationships. There also wasn't much of a bibliography, and I expected something hefty.
February 15, 2015
This is a really neat book, that I wished I had just around the house. It contains nearly 70 short biographies of some of the most interesting people from the year 800-1500 AD. It doesn't really work as a book that you would read from cover to cover. It feels more like a book to pick up and browse when you have some time to kill.
June 23, 2015
Short biographies of a wide range of people from the Middle Ages. I enjoyed it. It made me want to learn more about many of the people. It also gave me a good overview of when some of these people lived.
September 8, 2016
amusing and interesting!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews