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The Medieval Underworld
The book explores a way of life which is both extraordinarily modern and yet totally of its period. It looks at medieval times from the point of view of those men and women who either would not or could not conform to the conventions of a society whose insistence upon conformity was obsessive.
319 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1979
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December 16, 2019
More of a history of how certain "indecencies" arose than the so-called atrocities themselves, it's still good history and, at times, good fun.
If you're looking for ribald criminality, you will find it here more by example than by leading framing. McCall digs into Christian ethics and morality , as well as its more exacting (at times) secular counterpart, to show how sin and crime were defined, before moving on to the nitty-gritty, usually in the form of condensed episodes from the historical record.
Poverty is, naturally, the driving force behind much criminality of this period, as was the need for release for the hordes of knights and mercenaries running around Europe. Probably the most interesting facet of medieval "crime", the religious-themed anti-establishment movements are discussed briefly here, too. Our gay friends, Jewish friends, and our witch friends all parade by on their way to their persecutory niches, and these parts, all too short, are the best, because it highlights still-existing, petty intolerances and gives you a sense of their stupid, senseless roots.
Much 'sha', not enough 'na-na', perhaps.
If you're looking for ribald criminality, you will find it here more by example than by leading framing. McCall digs into Christian ethics and morality , as well as its more exacting (at times) secular counterpart, to show how sin and crime were defined, before moving on to the nitty-gritty, usually in the form of condensed episodes from the historical record.
Poverty is, naturally, the driving force behind much criminality of this period, as was the need for release for the hordes of knights and mercenaries running around Europe. Probably the most interesting facet of medieval "crime", the religious-themed anti-establishment movements are discussed briefly here, too. Our gay friends, Jewish friends, and our witch friends all parade by on their way to their persecutory niches, and these parts, all too short, are the best, because it highlights still-existing, petty intolerances and gives you a sense of their stupid, senseless roots.
Much 'sha', not enough 'na-na', perhaps.
September 12, 2020
Part of this book does deal with what we today would consider society’s underworld, organized criminal gangs and individual murderers, thieves, forgers, and blackmailers. There are also chapters on people we would call outcasts: lepers, heretics, witches, prostitutes, homosexuals, and Jews. However, the book is most interesting as it describes the increasingly repressive methods the Papacy used to try to maintain its position in society, and how every attempt to assert control only led to further chaos and alienation from the people, rich and poor alike. The book is well researched and provides an illuminating look at medieval times, when lives were hard and frequently short, legal redress often unavailable, and the authorities themselves, including the priests, might be the biggest thieves and scoundrels around. I lost count of how many different offenses people could be burned at the stake for.
The early nation states were struggling to create and enforce laws, although they were mostly concerned with protecting the rights of the nobility rather than the people at large. Since kings were frequently at war and always short of funds, criminals were often granted pardons in exchange for military service or cash payments, and thus free to resume their depredations. It was not uncommon for men to be declared outlaws repeatedly, and be pardoned just as often. In addition, since the courts were notoriously corrupt and offered their judgments to the highest bidder, many feudal lords took matters into their own hands and maintained groups of thugs to carry out their own “justice”, men who when not working for their lord did freelance kidnapping, theft, and murder, knowing their employer would shield them from the consequences.
Merchants and large landowners also had to contend with attempts at extortion and could only protect themselves by making sure they had bribed the right officials. “Since the uttering of false coin was in most countries held to be a treasonable offence, it was not unusual for black mailers to accuse either royal officials or private citizens of debasing the coinage so as to make them pay a bribe to have the charges dropped.” (p. 149)
As the Middle Ages advanced the Church became richer, more secularized, and more corrupt, and men began to look for salvation in the intercession of Christ or the Virgin Mary rather than in formal religious observance. As a result
Along with this came gradual changes in how laws were implemented. “Medieval secular law was a mixture of Roman law and Germanic barbarian law, a combination everywhere interwoven with Christian doctrine and dogma but one in which the relative proportion of barbarian to Roman law varied from region to region and from one time to another.” (p. 41) Slowly, Trial by Ordeal was replaced with penance or monetary fines, but this offered vast new opportunities for corruption, and would become one of the outrages that spurred Martin Luther into open revolt.
The Papacy tried to reign in the sale of indulgences, but its motivation for doing so was primarily because fraudulent sellers were siphoning off money that the Church considered her own. It became obvious to most educated people that these pieces of paper had nothing to do with salvation and everything to do with revenue, and their growing contempt for the practice led to contempt for the Church and its priests.
In response, the Papacy redoubled its efforts to reestablish its authority and clamp down on dissent, and thus the Inquisition was born. As Will Durant says in The Age of Faith, “Making every allowance required of an historian and permitted to a Christian, we must rank the Inquisition, along with the wars and persecutions of our time, as among the darkest blots on the record of mankind, revealing a ferocity unknown in any beast.” Outward conformity was enforced by fear, but it spurred men and women to wonder how this monstrous perversion could possibly be representative of the Prince of Peace.
The warning signs were everywhere. For instance, “whereas in the eleventh century the evil men against whom such men had railed had generally been Infidel pagans, Moslems or Jews, by the early years of the twelfth century an alarming number of prophetae were beginning to preach against the worldliness and the corruption of the Catholic Church.” (p. 216)
One of the most appalling – but now forgotten – aspects of the late Middle Ages was the repeated rise of mobs of thousands or tens of thousands of peasants spurred to action by self-proclaimed prophets, spreading across the countryside murdering priests, Jews, and anyone thought to have money, pillaging churches, monasteries, farms, and towns. Eventually each was suppressed, but only by terrible slaughter. Nevertheless, they kept coming and they always found a ready audience, because even the illiterate poor could see how the Church was neglecting its primary roles. “As more and more laymen seem to have come to the sad conclusion that the Church was more intent upon accumulating still greater riches than it was interested in fulfilling either its spiritual duties or its obligations towards the needy, so did increasing numbers of poor people hasten to follow popular leaders whose rantings against the ecclesiastical establishment tended to make the authorities regard them as heretics.” (p. 160)
Again the Church’s response was to try to assert even tighter control, and even attempting to live a simple, pious life could be seen as a threat to the established order. “[W]ithin a generation only of St Francis of Assisi’s death in 1226, the governing body of the Franciscan Order was demanding the execution, as heretics, of fellow Franciscans who had in fact done little more than try to practise to the letter the asceticism and self-abnegation advocated by their founder.” (p. 221)
The Church found itself increasingly battered by the winds of change. While it wanted to project a vision of piety and devotion it could not control the results, leading to such absurd incidents as
Ultimately the internal stresses became too much, and the hegemony of the Roman Catholic church in Europe was fractured by the Reformation. The publication of Bibles in vernacular languages would create a rift that could never be healed, but even before that, rebellious priests and monks had started questioning the Church’s mandate for leadership. “[I]n the Bible, as Wyclif, Hus, Martin Luther and countless other later medieval churchmen besides were to point out, there was no authority whatsoever for many of those things on which the Catholic Church had by then come to depend on for its livelihood.” (p. 237)
Under such circumstances even those who tried to live in accordance with the laws of Church and State could find themselves facing denunciation, torture, and gruesome death at any time, since those denounced to the Inquisition had no right to confront their accusers, or even to know who they were. Through it all, despite occasionally enforced draconian laws, prostitution went on as it always had, as did homosexuality. Men and women were burned at the stake for sorcery and witchcraft because fear and ignorance know no bounds. And the Jews, of course, were targets for everyone. Kings offered “protection” to them which was actually ownership, although the king’s soldiers never seemed to be around when the massacres started, and then, after extorting every coin the kings could extract, they expelled them from the realm.
The Middle Ages laid the groundwork for the Renaissance. New discoveries in math, science, and medicine, advanced metallurgy, universities, guilds, and modern banking all got their start. However, as this book reminds us, for many people life was hard and precarious. War, religious fanaticism, and intolerance shaped their lives. We should be grateful that, through it all, they managed to hang on until better times were at hand.
The early nation states were struggling to create and enforce laws, although they were mostly concerned with protecting the rights of the nobility rather than the people at large. Since kings were frequently at war and always short of funds, criminals were often granted pardons in exchange for military service or cash payments, and thus free to resume their depredations. It was not uncommon for men to be declared outlaws repeatedly, and be pardoned just as often. In addition, since the courts were notoriously corrupt and offered their judgments to the highest bidder, many feudal lords took matters into their own hands and maintained groups of thugs to carry out their own “justice”, men who when not working for their lord did freelance kidnapping, theft, and murder, knowing their employer would shield them from the consequences.
Merchants and large landowners also had to contend with attempts at extortion and could only protect themselves by making sure they had bribed the right officials. “Since the uttering of false coin was in most countries held to be a treasonable offence, it was not unusual for black mailers to accuse either royal officials or private citizens of debasing the coinage so as to make them pay a bribe to have the charges dropped.” (p. 149)
As the Middle Ages advanced the Church became richer, more secularized, and more corrupt, and men began to look for salvation in the intercession of Christ or the Virgin Mary rather than in formal religious observance. As a result
the authorities, seeing the Ideal threatened, tried to save it by making it more demanding. The only answer to unorthodoxy seemed to be insistence on still greater orthodoxy….[M]edieval society had begun to close in on itself. And the results were disastrous. Stringent measures against heretics produced more heretics; an hysterical fear of witches produced hysterical witches; attempts to coerce the more restless elements in society made those elements more restive.” (p. 16-17)
Along with this came gradual changes in how laws were implemented. “Medieval secular law was a mixture of Roman law and Germanic barbarian law, a combination everywhere interwoven with Christian doctrine and dogma but one in which the relative proportion of barbarian to Roman law varied from region to region and from one time to another.” (p. 41) Slowly, Trial by Ordeal was replaced with penance or monetary fines, but this offered vast new opportunities for corruption, and would become one of the outrages that spurred Martin Luther into open revolt.
The penetentials had tended to imitate the secular law’s rules...so that the ancient severities enjoined as earthly punishment might increasingly often be commuted in return for money payment or, in less serious cases, for the saying of so many masses or prayers; and from this gradual infusion of the principles of composition into the administration of penance there evolved the practice of granting ‘indulgences’.” (p. 35)
The Papacy tried to reign in the sale of indulgences, but its motivation for doing so was primarily because fraudulent sellers were siphoning off money that the Church considered her own. It became obvious to most educated people that these pieces of paper had nothing to do with salvation and everything to do with revenue, and their growing contempt for the practice led to contempt for the Church and its priests.
In response, the Papacy redoubled its efforts to reestablish its authority and clamp down on dissent, and thus the Inquisition was born. As Will Durant says in The Age of Faith, “Making every allowance required of an historian and permitted to a Christian, we must rank the Inquisition, along with the wars and persecutions of our time, as among the darkest blots on the record of mankind, revealing a ferocity unknown in any beast.” Outward conformity was enforced by fear, but it spurred men and women to wonder how this monstrous perversion could possibly be representative of the Prince of Peace.
The Papacy under whose control the Inquisition was established, in particular, were to give their Christian flock cause rather to fear and even loathe than to love and respect them. Indeed, to some Christians it seemed that by countenancing such ferocious measures, the religious authorities were embracing the ways of the Devil and hence forfeiting any claim to their spiritual allegiance: and so, gradually, as violence begat more violence, was the spiritual standing of the religious authorities still further eroded. (p. 40)
The warning signs were everywhere. For instance, “whereas in the eleventh century the evil men against whom such men had railed had generally been Infidel pagans, Moslems or Jews, by the early years of the twelfth century an alarming number of prophetae were beginning to preach against the worldliness and the corruption of the Catholic Church.” (p. 216)
One of the most appalling – but now forgotten – aspects of the late Middle Ages was the repeated rise of mobs of thousands or tens of thousands of peasants spurred to action by self-proclaimed prophets, spreading across the countryside murdering priests, Jews, and anyone thought to have money, pillaging churches, monasteries, farms, and towns. Eventually each was suppressed, but only by terrible slaughter. Nevertheless, they kept coming and they always found a ready audience, because even the illiterate poor could see how the Church was neglecting its primary roles. “As more and more laymen seem to have come to the sad conclusion that the Church was more intent upon accumulating still greater riches than it was interested in fulfilling either its spiritual duties or its obligations towards the needy, so did increasing numbers of poor people hasten to follow popular leaders whose rantings against the ecclesiastical establishment tended to make the authorities regard them as heretics.” (p. 160)
Again the Church’s response was to try to assert even tighter control, and even attempting to live a simple, pious life could be seen as a threat to the established order. “[W]ithin a generation only of St Francis of Assisi’s death in 1226, the governing body of the Franciscan Order was demanding the execution, as heretics, of fellow Franciscans who had in fact done little more than try to practise to the letter the asceticism and self-abnegation advocated by their founder.” (p. 221)
The Church found itself increasingly battered by the winds of change. While it wanted to project a vision of piety and devotion it could not control the results, leading to such absurd incidents as
At Avignon, in May [1348], Pope Clement VI personally instituted flagellation sessions in which both men and women were encouraged to take part; but, only seventeen months later, in October 1349, the same Pope issued a Bull directing that all flagellants were henceforth to be treated as heretics and that the leaders, who had been deceived by their followers by preaching false doctrines, were to be arrested, examined and burnt.” (p. 228)
Ultimately the internal stresses became too much, and the hegemony of the Roman Catholic church in Europe was fractured by the Reformation. The publication of Bibles in vernacular languages would create a rift that could never be healed, but even before that, rebellious priests and monks had started questioning the Church’s mandate for leadership. “[I]n the Bible, as Wyclif, Hus, Martin Luther and countless other later medieval churchmen besides were to point out, there was no authority whatsoever for many of those things on which the Catholic Church had by then come to depend on for its livelihood.” (p. 237)
Under such circumstances even those who tried to live in accordance with the laws of Church and State could find themselves facing denunciation, torture, and gruesome death at any time, since those denounced to the Inquisition had no right to confront their accusers, or even to know who they were. Through it all, despite occasionally enforced draconian laws, prostitution went on as it always had, as did homosexuality. Men and women were burned at the stake for sorcery and witchcraft because fear and ignorance know no bounds. And the Jews, of course, were targets for everyone. Kings offered “protection” to them which was actually ownership, although the king’s soldiers never seemed to be around when the massacres started, and then, after extorting every coin the kings could extract, they expelled them from the realm.
The Middle Ages laid the groundwork for the Renaissance. New discoveries in math, science, and medicine, advanced metallurgy, universities, guilds, and modern banking all got their start. However, as this book reminds us, for many people life was hard and precarious. War, religious fanaticism, and intolerance shaped their lives. We should be grateful that, through it all, they managed to hang on until better times were at hand.
May 31, 2021
One of the problems about writing about the underclass is they seldom write about themselves, and indeed this perhaps overly broad overview of the subject of the criminal status within medieval society mostly demonstrates that they are seldom written about at all except in the context of the judicial system.
By far the most interesting section was on banditry owing to the fact that bandits, by virtue of being an armed force in society governed by a military hierarchy, could float in and out of basically every level of the social class, being alchemically transformed from criminal to aristocrat and back again by military expediency and real politic. These at least gave us something of a narrative story.
But for many of the other categories, we know the characters only by their executions or the laws passed against them.
The ugliness of the real 13th century is definitely on full display here, and that at least is worth the entry fee for anyone feeling romantically inclined toward the High Middle Ages. I left with the feeling that perhaps the 14th century is exactly what they deserved.
By far the most interesting section was on banditry owing to the fact that bandits, by virtue of being an armed force in society governed by a military hierarchy, could float in and out of basically every level of the social class, being alchemically transformed from criminal to aristocrat and back again by military expediency and real politic. These at least gave us something of a narrative story.
But for many of the other categories, we know the characters only by their executions or the laws passed against them.
The ugliness of the real 13th century is definitely on full display here, and that at least is worth the entry fee for anyone feeling romantically inclined toward the High Middle Ages. I left with the feeling that perhaps the 14th century is exactly what they deserved.
May 17, 2014
This book was interesting, but very painful to read because McCall tortures all of his sentences. In McCall's hands, for example, the previous sentence might read: "The sentences of this book, being tortured by McCall, were very painful to read, yet interesting did I find the book."Or some such nonsense.
Anyway, the content was engaging - the book opens with the context of the Middle Ages, the theory behind Church, State, and sin, then the nature of medieval punishment (cruel and unusual), following by a closer treatment of several strains of deviants in the Middle Ages:
* bandits, freebooters and outlaws
* richman, poorman, beggarman, thieves
* prostitutes
* homosexuals
* heretics
* sorcerers and witches
* Jews
The book ends with an analysis of the medieval conception of hell.
Again, interesting, but perhaps not worth the effort.
Anyway, the content was engaging - the book opens with the context of the Middle Ages, the theory behind Church, State, and sin, then the nature of medieval punishment (cruel and unusual), following by a closer treatment of several strains of deviants in the Middle Ages:
* bandits, freebooters and outlaws
* richman, poorman, beggarman, thieves
* prostitutes
* homosexuals
* heretics
* sorcerers and witches
* Jews
The book ends with an analysis of the medieval conception of hell.
Again, interesting, but perhaps not worth the effort.
December 28, 2014
McCall uncovers some of the nitty gritty of medieval society in Western Europe, though the book is let down by his misguided fascination for long sentences weighed down with subordinate clauses and unnecessary commas.
December 30, 2008
The Medieval Underworld explores social mores of the Middle Ages, their reflection in medieval law, and the groups of people who came into conflict with these mores. Packed with anecdotes, but skimpy on footnotes, this book seems solidly researched but suffers for dearth of analysis. Andrew McCall tells his reader lurid, interesting, ghastly and sometimes humorous stories involving thieves, bandits, prostitutes, heretics and any assortment of other denizens of the medieval "underworld". He describes the medieval legal view of such characters and their activities. He reconstructs medieval authority's view of social deviants. But he scarcely addresses the deviant experience itself.
Certainly, writing social history "from below" proves intensely difficult for a time period when those "below" were seldom written about and, even more rarely, wrote themselves. Nevertheless, historical methodology since the 1950s has proven exceedingly clever in seeking ways to study the lives of the lower classes, minorities and other ignored groups. McCall has not employed these methods. This fact does not impugn his scholarship, but rather reflects my disappointed expectations. Published in 1979, I rather anticipated The Medieval Underworld would grapple with the experiences of the economically weak, the politically powerless and the socially maligned. Instead it speaks to the experience of the authorities in relation to these groups. McCall situates deviants of all sorts within the framework of legal and moral thought of the day -- a useful project perhaps, but not a fresh or fascinating one, even in 1979.
The Medieval Underworld provides, then, a useful overview of the ways medieval authority sought to curtail the personal and social freedoms of Europeans and of the extent to which a crime was punished or permitted. It does not, however, bring the reader much closer to understanding what life felt like for an individual who challenged that authority, whose choices or very natures were excluded from medieval societal norms. It only peripherally hints at the circumstances of life that would lead a great many people to, for instance, take up prostitution or worship with an heretical sect. Those people remain largely voiceless in The Medieval Underworld, as obscure in its pages as they seem to have been in the Middle Ages.
Certainly, writing social history "from below" proves intensely difficult for a time period when those "below" were seldom written about and, even more rarely, wrote themselves. Nevertheless, historical methodology since the 1950s has proven exceedingly clever in seeking ways to study the lives of the lower classes, minorities and other ignored groups. McCall has not employed these methods. This fact does not impugn his scholarship, but rather reflects my disappointed expectations. Published in 1979, I rather anticipated The Medieval Underworld would grapple with the experiences of the economically weak, the politically powerless and the socially maligned. Instead it speaks to the experience of the authorities in relation to these groups. McCall situates deviants of all sorts within the framework of legal and moral thought of the day -- a useful project perhaps, but not a fresh or fascinating one, even in 1979.
The Medieval Underworld provides, then, a useful overview of the ways medieval authority sought to curtail the personal and social freedoms of Europeans and of the extent to which a crime was punished or permitted. It does not, however, bring the reader much closer to understanding what life felt like for an individual who challenged that authority, whose choices or very natures were excluded from medieval societal norms. It only peripherally hints at the circumstances of life that would lead a great many people to, for instance, take up prostitution or worship with an heretical sect. Those people remain largely voiceless in The Medieval Underworld, as obscure in its pages as they seem to have been in the Middle Ages.
March 26, 2019
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this book, but the cover was a grab from a Taddeo di Bartolo fresco (yes, I did just pinch that from the dust jacket) featuring a medieval demon terrorizing hapless sinners, so I thought I'd pick it up.
Perhaps I was hoping for some demon field guide, or the likes, but what this book covers is folk in medieval Europe who ended up on the fringes of society. Chapter by chapter McCall covers Bandits, the poor, thieves, prostitutes, homosexuals, heretics, sorcerers and witches and, finally, Jews, in general terms, with some historical and illuminating examples.
On the off chance you felt that living in European Medieval wouldn't have been quite that bad, and for whatever reason, you haven't read or watched 'A Game of Thrones', then this book should serve as a timely reminder that things really were pretty damn grim back there and then, especially if you were born into, chose or otherwise lived a life on the outskirts of society then.
McCall foregoes a smooth narrative style to instead focus upon accuracy and precise statements of research, which does lead to a longer reading experience, but perhaps a more rewarding one for all that.
This book does serve as a decent portal to various aspects of medieval European society and its (even more) darker underbelly, which, upon reflection, may be a more accurate description than underworld. There are any number of reading options to follow on from here, depending on your interests. Personal pics would be sorcerers and heretics.
Perhaps I was hoping for some demon field guide, or the likes, but what this book covers is folk in medieval Europe who ended up on the fringes of society. Chapter by chapter McCall covers Bandits, the poor, thieves, prostitutes, homosexuals, heretics, sorcerers and witches and, finally, Jews, in general terms, with some historical and illuminating examples.
On the off chance you felt that living in European Medieval wouldn't have been quite that bad, and for whatever reason, you haven't read or watched 'A Game of Thrones', then this book should serve as a timely reminder that things really were pretty damn grim back there and then, especially if you were born into, chose or otherwise lived a life on the outskirts of society then.
McCall foregoes a smooth narrative style to instead focus upon accuracy and precise statements of research, which does lead to a longer reading experience, but perhaps a more rewarding one for all that.
This book does serve as a decent portal to various aspects of medieval European society and its (even more) darker underbelly, which, upon reflection, may be a more accurate description than underworld. There are any number of reading options to follow on from here, depending on your interests. Personal pics would be sorcerers and heretics.
December 14, 2016
So... I'm dumb. And Andy McC knew I was going to be. Back in 1979. This was a well written compelling read from beginning to end. He broke down the subject into chapters dealing with specific types of crimes in the various Latin Christian kingdoms in the middle ages (a chapter on thieves, a chapter on heretics, a chapter on homosexuals, etc.). I didn't pick up on what he was doing until the end, when he laid it out for all the ding-dongs like me. His last chapter (Chapter 11) was a brief "epilogue" as he called it, to relate the torments of transgressors as imagined by medievals and described Dante in the Inferno. This, after ten chapters of his own book, each dedicated to a separate type of criminal element in medieval society, whereas Dante dedicated Ten concentric circles of hell to specific types sinners. I didn't pick up on it until the end, but then, I am very stupid. I give this book five out of five stars.
January 20, 2012
I had great hopes for this, having previously read a rollicking history of the Elizabethan Underworld. I was quite disappointed. Instead of detailed anecdotes about robber barons and outlaws, alchemists and astrologers, the book instead gave me a quick overview of medieval non-conformists - heretics, homosexuals, Jews and so on - over the entire stretch of the Dark/Middle Ages and across Europe. Detail was light. Amusement levels were low. But it was good to see that university student pranks were already alive and kicking in the 1200s (even if the authorities reacted to them with extreme violence). 1.5/5
October 27, 2020
Insanely bad ass book imo
June 1, 2023
I love weird, niche Medievalism because amid all the pestilence and horror, you come across hidden gems like "the notorious riot of the nuns at Poitiers" that are just unintentionally hilarious.
August 21, 2014
I just finished reading The Medieval Underworld by Andrew McCall. While not terribly in-depth the book was an informative and general look at the more disreputable parts of the middle ages. He did a wondeful job of de-romanticising the middle ages, painting it as a place or time, no one in their right mind would wish to live. McCall did a very good job of showing how things progressed throughout the middle ages, the reasons for what was happening, as well as showing differences between different countries, and the different roman, Christian and barbarian traditions. The book also had a ton of gorgeous medieval illustrations.
The first chapter was a brief overview of the middle ages, the main themes facing Europe at that time, crusades, plagues, threats from outside it's borders, and the rise of feudalism. The rest of the book looked separately at different groups that for a variety of reasons often found themselves outside of medieval law or convention. These chapters were, Church state and Sin, covering the rise of the catholic church in Europe. Crime and Punishment, looking at the ecclesiastical and secular courts and the roles of each. Bandits, Freebooters and Outlaws, how bands of these would terrorize the countryside. I must confess to getting a little bored during this chapter and at one point I found myself picturing the outlaws in medieval Chinese garb to make them more interesting. Richman, poorman, Beggarman, Thieves, which included an interesting look at the treatment of lepers. The chapter on Prostitution looked at the various laws were passed often trying to protect the women prostitutes which I found quite interesting, though the idea of making it illegal failed time and again. This was one of my favorite chapters and I wished it had been longer. There was a lovely bit when one of the Arab writers had been writing about the horrid prostitutes from France that had been throwing themselves at the crusaders and in his poetic prose came up with about 15 different euphemisms for sexual acts. The chapter on homosexuality was also quite good, depressing as it was to read about such prejudices, it was very interesting to see that it was a crime that was rarely persecuted. And there was a lovely part where an early monk was warning against the temptations of lust against other good looking young men. The chapter on Heretics was also interesting, looking at the different groups and movements, rather than individual cases. Sorcerers and Witches contained no real new information for me having studied the subject a bit. The last chapter on Jews was rather shocking at the horrendous prejudice, and in some cases genocide that was carried out against them in the middle ages. The last chapter was a look at Dante's hell. And showed the ultimate fate of everyone you had just been reading about, it was a very nice touch and almost upsetting.
The book used a lot of laws to illustrate it's points. But there were also plenty of stories and anecdotes, all documented from original sources, that were often very amusing.
The first chapter was a brief overview of the middle ages, the main themes facing Europe at that time, crusades, plagues, threats from outside it's borders, and the rise of feudalism. The rest of the book looked separately at different groups that for a variety of reasons often found themselves outside of medieval law or convention. These chapters were, Church state and Sin, covering the rise of the catholic church in Europe. Crime and Punishment, looking at the ecclesiastical and secular courts and the roles of each. Bandits, Freebooters and Outlaws, how bands of these would terrorize the countryside. I must confess to getting a little bored during this chapter and at one point I found myself picturing the outlaws in medieval Chinese garb to make them more interesting. Richman, poorman, Beggarman, Thieves, which included an interesting look at the treatment of lepers. The chapter on Prostitution looked at the various laws were passed often trying to protect the women prostitutes which I found quite interesting, though the idea of making it illegal failed time and again. This was one of my favorite chapters and I wished it had been longer. There was a lovely bit when one of the Arab writers had been writing about the horrid prostitutes from France that had been throwing themselves at the crusaders and in his poetic prose came up with about 15 different euphemisms for sexual acts. The chapter on homosexuality was also quite good, depressing as it was to read about such prejudices, it was very interesting to see that it was a crime that was rarely persecuted. And there was a lovely part where an early monk was warning against the temptations of lust against other good looking young men. The chapter on Heretics was also interesting, looking at the different groups and movements, rather than individual cases. Sorcerers and Witches contained no real new information for me having studied the subject a bit. The last chapter on Jews was rather shocking at the horrendous prejudice, and in some cases genocide that was carried out against them in the middle ages. The last chapter was a look at Dante's hell. And showed the ultimate fate of everyone you had just been reading about, it was a very nice touch and almost upsetting.
The book used a lot of laws to illustrate it's points. But there were also plenty of stories and anecdotes, all documented from original sources, that were often very amusing.
January 16, 2022
It's interesting but at heart it's a text book and like many such text books, while it is well written, it has utility rather than originality. It is a book which provides much learning and little entertainment. Which is a pity given that the underworld of thieves, beggars, con-artists, vagabonds, roguish priests, monks and nuns, and those tawdry dream peddling actors can often provide much in the way of anecdotes and shaggy dog stories.
I felt as if I had been back to school listening to dear old Mr Caldecott beginning his lesson with the adage: “History, boys, is his story. Who's story? Man's story.” They don't make teachers like that any more. I have to say that I didn't enjoy the book a great deal and its method of straight forward factuality, not unlike Kenneth Clark's Civilization, rather than teaching me history, taught me a lesson.
I felt as if I had been back to school listening to dear old Mr Caldecott beginning his lesson with the adage: “History, boys, is his story. Who's story? Man's story.” They don't make teachers like that any more. I have to say that I didn't enjoy the book a great deal and its method of straight forward factuality, not unlike Kenneth Clark's Civilization, rather than teaching me history, taught me a lesson.
December 14, 2008
Interesting look at various elements on the fringes of medieval society. Criminals, bandits, prostitutes, so called witches and sorcerors, Jews, homosexuals among others all have chapters dedicated to them in Medieval Underground. There is also quite a bit in here about punishment for various offenses in medieval society. Really harsh and gruesome stuff!
You could certainly go into further depth with virtually all of the subjects covered in this book but as far as an entertaining overview this is very good.
You could certainly go into further depth with virtually all of the subjects covered in this book but as far as an entertaining overview this is very good.
November 25, 2014
Not a book about the afterlife (well, mostly), this is about medieval Western Europe's 'outsiders' - criminals, heretics, Jews, and those accused of witchcraft. The author does a very good job showing the interrelationships between these, and also has some interesting points about how the Church's support of strong royal power as a tool for the Christianization of Iron Age Europe fed directly into the conflicts between temporal and spiritual authority that define so much of the later middle ages right up to (and including) the Reformation.
February 20, 2023
An excellent dive into the outcasts, outlaws, and outsiders of the Middle Ages: criminals, beggars, sexual and religious minorities, and more. It's a big topic and a broad time period to cover in detail, but what does get in-depth coverage is really fascinating. The "king of the beggars" and his guild-like organization of beggars into a dozen specialized scams is interesting, as is the story of Francois Villon, poet and outlaw. Well worth a look.
February 3, 2008
Pretty cool book, detailing the ins and outs of medieval criminal society; the punishments for different vices and crimes, and which groups of society helped those vices flourish.
July 9, 2022
Pretty good read, full of interesting anecdotes. The writing still is a bit run-on, with the most confuddling use of commas.
August 22, 2018
the low rating isn't entirely the author's fault (and is more like a 2.5)—mccall presents interesting information, but it's hampered mainly by the fact that studies of social marginality have come a long way in the 40 years since this was published (especially evident, imo, in the chapter on "homosexuality," which predictably deals about 95% with what straight people thought of gay men). probably the best chapter is the one on jewish people, because it sticks to a chronology that doesn't imply social attitudes were interchangeable in 700 and 1300. the entertaining bits aren't really worth the shelf space for me.
August 14, 2019
There are some fascinating snippets in here, such as an allusion to dungeons and dragons style thieves guilds, but the writing style can be hard work to get through, and I would up giving my copy away without finishing it completely.
March 21, 2013
The Medieval Underworld by Andrew McCall
My father had this book in his library when he passed away. I decided to keep it because of the beautiful artwork on the cover, and saw that there were illustrations from the time scattered throughout the text. However, this book was incredibly difficult to read.
I have studied the Medieval times, the plague, the Papal successions, and the history of England. I found this book difficult to follow. There were a few tidbits of information I had not encountered previously, but not enough to keep me reading. I gave up on page 76 (Hardcover Edition). The author was describing different types of bodily mutation for different crimes.
The author writes: "Not infrequently, people were mutilated by accident; and might, like the Englishman John de Roghton whose left ear was in the reign of Edward I removed by a horse kick, obtain a certificate stating that the injury in question had not been sustained as punishment for any crime.
I could not get past "....the Englishman John de Roghton whose left ear was in the reign of Edward I ....." The sentence was broken and the meaning obscured. A long sentence can serve a purpose, if correct punctuation is used and the standard rules of grammar are followed.
I can not recommend The Medieval Underworld by Andrew McCall. Some of his information is interesting, but I will seek it from other authors.
My father had this book in his library when he passed away. I decided to keep it because of the beautiful artwork on the cover, and saw that there were illustrations from the time scattered throughout the text. However, this book was incredibly difficult to read.
I have studied the Medieval times, the plague, the Papal successions, and the history of England. I found this book difficult to follow. There were a few tidbits of information I had not encountered previously, but not enough to keep me reading. I gave up on page 76 (Hardcover Edition). The author was describing different types of bodily mutation for different crimes.
The author writes: "Not infrequently, people were mutilated by accident; and might, like the Englishman John de Roghton whose left ear was in the reign of Edward I removed by a horse kick, obtain a certificate stating that the injury in question had not been sustained as punishment for any crime.
I could not get past "....the Englishman John de Roghton whose left ear was in the reign of Edward I ....." The sentence was broken and the meaning obscured. A long sentence can serve a purpose, if correct punctuation is used and the standard rules of grammar are followed.
I can not recommend The Medieval Underworld by Andrew McCall. Some of his information is interesting, but I will seek it from other authors.
July 7, 2008
Wonderful fun book but more of akin to reading the pulp trash of medieval Europe than a true research tome.
March 5, 2009
It has nothing to do with criminals.
February 3, 2012
Very interesting book on the evolution and practice of law and the criminal class in the Medieval period. good read - highly detailed with references.
February 28, 2012
Interesting book on the culture of 12th and 13th century western Europe and it's beliefs. A nice read.
January 27, 2013
A comprehensive survey of crime and punishment in the middle ages, by turns hilarious and sad and uncomfortably modern. For anyone who loves crime novels, this is a great change of pace.
February 19, 2010
Has plentiful secondary images, a good overview, a quick read.
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