Tormented Voices: Power, Crisis, and Humanity in Rural Catalonia, 1140–1200

by Thomas N. Bisson

Mute in life as in death, peasants of remote history rarely speak to us in their own voices. But Thomas Bisson’s engagement with the records of several hundred twelfth-century people of rural Catalonia enables us to hear these voices. The peasants’ allegations of abuse while in the service of their common lord the Count of Barcelona and his son the King reveal a unique perspective on the meaning of power both by those who felt and feared it, and by those who wielded it. These records―original parchments, dating much earlier than other comparable records of European peasant life―name peasants in profusion and relate some of their stories.

Bisson describes these peasants socially and culturally, showing how their experience figured in a wider crisis of power from the twelfth century. His compassionate history considers demography, naming patterns, gender, occupational identities, and habitats, as well as power, coercion, and complaint, and the moralities of faith, honor, and shame. He concludes with reflections on the historical meanings of violence and suffering.

This rich contribution to medieval social and cultural history and peasant studies suggests important resources and ideas for historians and anthropologists.

Genres: History

Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

Thomas Noel Bisson was an American historian, medievalist, academic and author. He was the Henry Charles Lea Professor of Medieval History Emeritus at Harvard University.
Bisson was elected a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America (1975), a member of the American Philosophical Society (1977), and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1992). He also was a corresponding member of the Institute for Catalan Studies and the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona, and was a corresponding fellow of the British Academy.

Reviews

[Wolfram Grajetzki · Rating 2 out of 5]

The poor souls covered in the book suffered from bad treatment by the local ruling classes. Sadly the book is written in bombastic (pseudo?) academic style. The main reason for using such language is often to maintain class boundaries. The author might sympathize with these people, but is not doing them a good job. He is employing exactly that language used in other context to marginalize the less privileged ones.

[Gilli Fryzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

strangely compelling little book - the voices of the ill treated and dispossessed echoing over 850 years...the taking of peasants' pigs, wives, only cow.... of beatings and cheatings. Micro history at its best.