A Distant Mirror is a nonfiction book written by Barbara W. Tuchman. Released in 1978, it recounts the "calamitous" 14th century and its culture.
Major figures within[]
to be added
Publisher's summary[]
The 14th century gives us back two contradictory images: on the one hand a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry and exquisitely illuminated Books of Hours; on the other, a time of ferocity and spiritual agony - a world plunged into chaos.
Barbara Tuchman anatomizes the century, revealing to us both the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic life as it was lived: what childhood was like; what marriage meant; how money, taxes and war dominated the lives of serf, noble, and clergy alive. Here are guilty passions; loyalties and treacheries; political assassinations; sea battles and sieges; fear of the end of the world; corruption in high places and a yearning for reform; satire and humor; sorcery and demonology; lust and sadism on the stage. Here are proud cardinals, beggars, bailiffs, feminists, Jews, scholars of the university, grocers, bankers, clerks, sorcerers, mercenaries, saints and mystics, laywers and tax-collectors, and, dominating all, the knight in his valor and "furious follies," a "terrible worm in an iron cocoon."
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Name of the Rose | Umberto Eco | 1980 | A novel set in the 14th century with similar themes |
| The Discarded Image | C.S. Lewis | 1964 | A nonfiction book about Medieval literature |
| A World Lit by Fire | William Manchester | 1992 | A nonfiction book on Medieval society |
| 1492 | Barnet Litvinoff | 1991 | A nonfiction book on the 15th century |
Sources[]
- Wikipedia
- Goodreads