Joan of Arc: the Legend and the Reality

Joan of Arc: the Legend and the Reality
© 1959 Frances Gies
306 pages

Few historical characters, and no women, are more famous than Joan of Arc. Her name and story are known throughout the world. In the Middle Ages there were women to led armies, female mystics who prophesied and gave advice, and men and women alike whose beliefs led them to the stake. Joan’s story has a unique quality, a fairy tale with a tragic ending, invested with her own personality -- her common sense, her trenchant speech, her indomitable courage, before the judges of Rouen as in the moat at Orleans. (259)

Joan of Arc has long fascinated me, beginning when I read about her in my seventh-grade world history book. A girl of fourteen, leading the French army to victory and ending a century-long war? She remains of interest to me, and so when in the course of hunting my next Gies read I saw Joan of Arc,  of course I wanted to read it. Frances and her husband Joseph Gies are both medieval historians who collaborated on a series of “Daily Life in the Medieval Ages” books,  but each have their pet interests. As is characteristic of the Gies, Joan of Arc is both readable and thorough.  Details abound, but Gies sets those details within the larger context . She explains the course of the war to that point -- now dominated more by the civil war betweens the houses of Orleans and Burgundy than by English territorial ambitions -- and smartly gives the reader background on aspects of French medieval culture  that are pertinent to the biography.

Gies draws on many primary and secondary sources, which she identifies and analyzes at the book’s outset.  These sources sometimes conflict, especially when judging Joan’s character and integrity. Some of the sources are biased to the point of being farcical, providing a laugh here and there.  Although Gies is sometimes protective of her subject, she makes a strong effort to portray a less romanticized Joan -- a human hero.  The book does not end with Joan’s death or even the Rehabilitation trial that followed it twenty years later, overturning the English sentence that she was a heretical witch who deserved her fate at the stake:  instead, Gies examines the ways Joan has been received as history has progressed. This historiography of Joan does not extend far past the late 19th century, though: no mention is given of Joan's use in the propaganda war between the Vichy government of occupied France and the Resistance.

All told, Joan of Arc is certainly a worthy read for those interested in her life, although I would recommend reading it alongside a history of the Hundred Years War. (I would recommend Desmond Seward’s  treatment of the war, having used it for several term papers.)

The Knight in History

The Knight in History
254 pages
Frances Gies

This week I read The Knight in History, written by France Gies. Typically she and her husband co-author novels, but not in this case. I was somewhat wary about this particular book because military history is not my interest, but Gies surprised me (very pleasantly so) by treating the knight in a broader social and political context. The book is divided into background chapters, intermixed with case-studies. The individual cases are from both English and French knighthood.

For background, Gies examines the transofrmation of Roman society into medieval society, charts the rise of feudalism and manorialism, examines the Crusades, and finally looks at the "long twilight of chilvary". Per persctive is that the knights were wealthy freemen who were charged by the Church to protect the peace, and that they developed into a class of their own that was connected to the lower nobility. The case-studies are generally military history, but do a fairly good job of connecting the historical narrative to reality.

As usual, the book is well-written and uses primary sources exhaustively, especially in the chapter on the troubadours. There's a lot to this book, and I reccommend it.

Women in the Middle Ages

Women in the Middle Ages
© Frances and Joseph Gies 1978
236 pages, plus index, notes, and bibliography.

Again this week I read from Frances and Joseph Gies' series on daily life in the medieval era. The book is divided smartly into two parts: background and women. The four background chapters detail the roles that social and other institutions shaped for women, beginning with a short summary of "Women in History". The two institution looked at in particular are the church and the feudal system. "Eve and Mary" focuses more on the theology backed by the church rather than the church itself.

The second part of the book consists of a series of seven case-studies. Each chapter focuses on one woman in particular, using her story to establish what kind of life other women in her situation lived. The women range in class and time -- the Gies relate the stories of an abbess (to explore female monasteries), an old noble (Blanche of Castile), bourgeoisie's women during the beginning and height of Europe's economic revival, peasants, and others in between.

The book ends with a summary, one that begins this way:

During the thousand years of the Middle Ages, Western society made historic strides, technological, commercial, political. Medieval innovations revolutionized industry, architecture, agriculture and intellectual life, while alleviating and enhancing daily living with the spinning wheel, water mill, windmill, wheelbarrow, crank, cam, flywheel, lateen sail, rudder, compass, stirrup, gunpowder, padded horse collar, nailed horse-shoe, three-field system, Gothic engineering, distillation, universities, rhymed verse, Hindu-Arabic numbers, the modern theater, movable type, and the printing press. The Commercial Revolution of the high Middle Ages, led by merchants like Francesco Datini, opened the new age of capitalism, as feudal political fragmentation gave way to new national states.

The technological, economic, and political surge could not fail to have its impact on women -- on the work they did, the clothes they wore, the food they ate, the houses they lived in; the health, security, stability, and intellectual enrichment of their lives.

Some parts of the book are mildly repetitive of Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages, but that's to be expected. As usual, the Gies write a relaxed and informative narrative that incorporates quotations from primary sources, resulting in a thoroughly interesting and informative read. I would probably say this is my third or fourth-favorite Gies novel (the first and second being Life in a Medieval City and Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel) One chapter mentions "Rose the Regrater", which was amusing.

Life in a Medieval Village

Life in a Medieval Village
© 1990 Frances and Joseph Gies
207 pages, plus index, notes, and a bibliography

This week I continued reading from the Gies' excellent series on daily life in the medieval era. This book, like Life in a Medieval Castle and Life in a Medieval City, uses one particular example as a case-study. The authors chose the village of Elton in England as their case study for this book. The book is divided into ten chapters. The first introduces the medieval village, comparing it to its ancestors. The authors claim that the medieval village is a unique entity: a new way of living and producing, and one that has not been since since feudalism faded from history.

Subsequent chapters deal with how villagers live, the organization of marriage and family, the village as a working area, how the local parish was integrated into the feudal system, village justice, and finally with the demise of the medieval village. As usual, the Gies quote extensively from primary source materials, including the medieval equivalent of police logs and instructions to parish priests. The book is an in-depth look at manorialism, understandably so since the Gies hold that "the medieval village is unthinkable without its lord". Under manorialism, the majority of people were serfs -- slaves, nearly, tied to the land. They were not allowed to leave the village without their lord's permission. The authors also examine the various types of field systems used.

In general, I found this book to be weaker than the other ones by the same authors. There wasn't as much information on village laws as I was expecting. I was also looking for more information about craftsmanship. Still, it was an interesting enough of a read.

Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel

Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages
© 1994 Frances and Joseph Gies
291 pages, plus notes, an extended bibliography, and an index

The Gies' various books on life in the middle ages have continued to delight and entertainment, and so I looked forward to this particular book. My anticipation was only heightened by the fact that I am interested in pre-industrial technology, particularly concerning architecture and craft. The Gies did not disapoint, and this book has become my second-favorite Gies book -- the first being Life in a Medieval City. The book consists of seven chapters.

The first, "Nimrod's Tower, Noah's Ark", examines popular conceptions about technology in the middle ages. The Gies are forever forcing me to broaden my perceptions about the middle ages, and they do so again -- and again and again -- in this book. In "Triumphs and Failures of Ancient Technology", the Gies track the growth of technology up until the decline of the Roman Empire. They cover water wheels, road-building, weapons, smelting technology, astronomical tools, horse equipment, handicraft, and the like. In the chapters to follow, they move chronologically through the middle ages, ending with a chapter titled "Leonardo and Columbus". Another chapter, "The Asian Connection", is tucked in between the end of the early middle ages (500-900) and the beginning of the economic revival of the early 11- and 1200s. This particular chapter focuses on how technology and learning drifted west fro the Arab world, India, and China.

This is definitely one of the most interesting books I've ever read. The Gies cover a nearly unbeliable about of material in only three hundred pages, and I'm at a loss as to how to properly summarize it. They write about bridges, cathedrals, ship-building, glass-blowing, road-laying, pottery-making, iron-forging, masonry, the growth of universities, the development of art, water wheels, proto-industrial looms, the spice trade, crossbows, the Columbian exchange, mail armor, the Greek disdain for manual labor, trebuchets, cannons, the Roman preference for tehnology over natural philosophy, sanitation programs in cities, Leonardo's technical drawings, the birth of paper -- I could go on and on. All of this is informed by primary-source materials, from which the Gies quote liberally. They also use medieval depictions of water wheels and clock towers and so forth to illustrate what they are writing about. Joseph Gies once edited the technology articles for the Encyclopedia Brittanica, and his knowledge comes through in technical explanations. I didn't understand all of his explantations -- especially in regard to complicated mechanisms like printing presses and clock towers -- but many were.

The Gies also fit all of this into a general narrtive about the development of the medieval world, and I could appreciate this all the more, having read their other books. This book was enormously interesting: I really can't say that too many times. I reccommend it eagerly to anyone who is interested in the medieval era or the history of technology. I only wish the Gies had an official website.

Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages

Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages
Joseph and Frances Gies, © 1987
Harper & Row, New York
369 pages.

This week I continued reading Gies, this time one of their books concerning changes in the family during the middle ages -- from late Roman times until roughly 1500 and the Renaissance. The authors begin by looking at the way three institutions shaped the medieval family: the Roman family, the Germanic family, and the Christian church. After this, the book moves chronologically -- Early Middle Ages, High Middle Ages, and Late Middle Ages. The Gies deal with peasants and aristocrats seperately, using specific towns to explore differences.

The book is well-written, which is what I have come to expect from the Gies. In certain sections, the Gies focused on particular families and I found some of the more extended passages to be uninteresting, but for the most part the book is captivating. What I enjoyed most about the book is that it broke the simplistic idea that medieval culture was monlithic. The impression that I had was that the lords and churchmen held absolute sway over the peasants and that the church have this massively strong cult of anti-sexuality going on, so much to the point that even sex outside of marriage was frowned upon.

The authors show that reality varied tremendously in all aspects. I'll mention a few points from the book as an example:

• While marriage is regarded as a religious institution, it did not become customary for people to take their vows inside a church until the late 1400s.
• Some medieval personalities maintained that such vows were unnecessary -- that so long as two people committed themselves to one another, consumated their union, and showed 'marital affection' toward one another that they were married.
• In the realm of disicpline toward children, not all attitudes were 'medieval'. Two men were mentioned as having rather 24th century attitudes toward raising children -- treating them with respect, sympathy, and responsibily rather than with fear.
  
• Gies again wrote on the life of peasants and their limited self-government.
  

The Gies don't only just write about family structure and relations: they also describe the physical makeup of homes that medieval families lived in. There's a lot of information here, and it's presented quite well. Were I ever in the position of reccommending a book on this subject, this particular book would be a recommendation.

Life in a Medieval Castle

Life in a Medieval Castle
© Frances and Joseph Gies 1974
Harper & Row, NY
261 Pages


A few years ago while wandering aimlessly in a bookstore -- a good way to spend one's time, I might add -- I happened upon a small book titled Life in Medieval City by Frances and Joseph Gies. I skimmed through it and found it to be of interest, and so bought it. The book turned into a favorite, and for while I've been intending to see if the two wrote anything else, and so they have. They've written an entire series of books about life in the medieval era, and as it happens I have access to a number of them. I'll be reading them, and I begin with Life in a Medieval Castle.

While it was my intention to read Gies again, until recently I'd forgotten about them. Then while trying to find a book on the history of citadels, castles, and similar fortifications, I found this book and knew immediately I had to read it. The book isn't terribly long, and was wholly interesting -- at least for me. I like learning about how people have lived, so this book was of particular interest to me. In Life in a Medieval Castle, the authors use one main castle as their case study. They did the same in Life in a Medieval City, using the city of Troyes in France. In this book, Chepstow Castle features as the 'case study'. If you click the preceding hyperlink, you'll be taken to an information page about the castle. Be warned: the page has large-resolution pictures. I like the outline of a sword that is carved into the wall and which may have served a slot to fire arrows through. That particular part of the castle graces the cover of the version of the book I have. (Sword-shaped slots are in the second picture, as well as a few others.)

The book begins with a brief history of castles and like fortifications -- quite brief, as is necessary for such a small book, and going into the basic architecture of castles. Beyond the obvious structures (the outer walls with turrets, the keep, the gatehouse), the authors mention elements I'd never heard of of. They say that many castles kept a large reservoir of water on their upper stories, and water would run down through pipes for the lord's convenience. The next chapter, "The Lord of the Castle", explains the political and economic systems (feudalism and manorialism) that European castles formed a part of. I've taken several classes dealing with the medieval period, and based on my own knowledge, they explained the two systems well.

The next chapter is titled "The Lady" and goes into the role of blue-blooded women in medieval society. This chapter did introduce new material:

Medieval ideas were far from the Victorian notion that nice women did not enjoy sex. Physiologically, men and women were considered sexual equals -- in fact, as in William IXX's verses, women were commonly credited with stronger sexual feelings than men. [...] German scholar Albertus Magnus, widely circulated under the title On the Secrets of Women, asked the question, Was pleasure in intercourse greater in men than in women? The answer was no. In the first place, according to the sages, since matter desires to take on form, a woman, an imperfect human being, desires to come together with a man, because the imperfect naturally desires to be perfected. Therefore the greater pleasure of appetite belonged to the woman.

The authors quote liberally from various medieval documents. They mention one particular ditty where a lord tried to remember how many times he "tupped" women during a given feast. (The lord isn't sure, but he maintains that he nearly "broke his equipment.") Also, medieval people took pregnancy as a sign that the woman had enjoyed intercourse, and so rape cases were dismissed if she were to become pregnant. Other chapters cover the various ranks of servants who served the lord and lady of the castle, daily life in a castle, what castles were like during war, and so on. There are other chapters that deal with elements of medieval life for the blue-bloods that are not directly tied to the castle. For instance, chapter seven covers "Hunting as a Way of Life". It describes the creation of royal forests, goes into how law enforcement positions were created to ensure that the forests of the king and the parks of his lords stayed free of poachers, describes the hunting process, and so on. There is a generous section on falconry in this chapter, where the authors quote from Frederick II (of the Holy Roman Empire, not Prussia -- the Prussian Frederick lived during the time of Voltaire and Goethe. This one lived in the time of the crusades.)'s On the Art of Falconry.

The falconer's first task was to have the [baby] bird prepared for training. The needle points of the talons were trimmed, the eyes usually "seeled" -- temporarily sewn closed -- and two jesses, strips of leather with rings at the end, were fastened around the legs. Small bells were tied to the feet to alert the falconer to the bird's movements. She was then tied to a perch by a long leather strap called a leash.

Reading this, I am prompted to wonder: who decided that sewing a baby falcon's eyes shut was to be part of training? One of the most interesting parts of the book for me was the chapter on the villagers. It describes village life under manorialism. In the feudal system, most people were serfs -- servants who were bound to a manorial estate. Apparently, they weren't just peasants who spent their days working, going to church, and dying of plague: they had government going on.

The village community met at intervals in an assembly called a bylaw, a term that applied to the body as well as to the rules it passed. At these bylaws, all matters were decided that were not automatically regulated by custom -- the choice of herdsmen, problems of pasture and harvest, the repair of fences, and the clearing of ditches. It was decided who should be hired to glean and reap, when and how the harvesting should take place, in what order animals should be allowed to graze after the harvest. Every villager had a voice. Decisions were made not by vote but by consensus: everyone expressed his view, but once a general agreement emerged from the discussion, it became unanimous. No lengthy disagreement was tolerated, and the stubborn or rebellious were threatened with fines.

My view until this was that medieval peasants just did their work, collapsed at the end of the day, and then got up with the dawn the next morning to do it again -- but clearly that's simplistic. After this, the authors write on the decline of the castle. According to them, it was not gunpowder, but the growing centralization of power and the decline of feudalism, that lead to the castle's own decline. They end with a brief summary of how castles have been used since the days of lords and peasants. Apparently, castles have been used in many European wars, even in the industrial age, as a shelter for troops -- with anti-aircraft guns being installed in the castle walls during the Second World War instead of Roman-style ballistas.

The book ends with a listing of castles in Europe. The listings go like so:

Marksburg. On the Rhine. Built originally in the thirteenth century to collect tolls on the Rhine, enlarged in the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, restored by Kaiser Wilhelm II; square central tower, residential quarters, series of gatehouses guarding approach to upper castle.

A lengthy bibliography follows. I enjoyed the book. It was quite interesting, well written, and used a lot of primary sources. The sources were often mentioned in-text -- in the case of the sections on Falconry, for instance. This book introduced a good bit of new material, and considering the reading I've done in to medieval life, that's saying something. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a brief introduction to feudal and manorial life and the warfare of the age.