Presents an account of day-to-day life in a medieval French village. Using records gathered by the Catholic Church in its pursuit of heretics, this book shows the lives of a cast of village characters.
Presents an account of day-to-day life in a medieval French village. Using records gathered by the Catholic Church in its pursuit of heretics, this book shows the lives of a cast of village characters.
The village of Montaillou was the last stronghold of the cult of Catharism in medieval France. Under the Inquisition of Bishop Fournier, members of this sect were persecuted and some burnt at the stake, and the interrogations about the way they lived were chronicled in a Register. From this document Ladurie has reconstructed an intriguing account of everyday peasant life in a medieval village. "Montaillou" gives us a glimpse into how people really lived 700 years ago: from their homes and the food they ate, to their body language and attitudes to sex.
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie was born in 1929. He has had a distinguished career, serving as Administrateur General of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (1987-94); member of the Institute (Academy of Moral and Political Sciences). He is a professor atthe College de France and chair of the department of the History of Modern Civilization.