A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

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I’ve read Ken Follett’s two Kingsbridge novels, and I’ve been to a few Renaissance Fairs in my time (and eaten more than my share of child-sized turkey legs), but beyond that, I’ve never cared much about the Middle Ages. The author looks into the history of Western Europe between 1300 and 1450, drawing parallels with the 20th century and looks into Chaucer, Boccaccio, The Hundred Years' War, pilgrimages, plagues and revolts against a poll tax, amongst other things. The towering, imperious Enguerrand is her path to a sweeping review of international power struggle, intrigue and bloody conflict; the persecutions and plagues, dynastic marriages, petty bickering and shattering squabbles of a bare-knuckle century. The crusaders of 1396 started out with a strategic purpose in the expulsion of the Turks from Europe, but their minds were on something else. Barbara Tuchman's magisterial work, follows this great family in the service of the great nation of France.

A mirror reflects an image of the viewer back onto themselves – but this mirror was placed so far away that it was hard to make out any of the images in a way that felt satisfying. Tuchman wrote this book – as the title implies – to compare the catastrophes of the 20th Century with those of the 14th.Folly is a deft study of the almost systematic loss of rational method leaders experience once they are dazzled by the trappings of ultimate power.

The century marked the decline of the Roman Catholic Church’s power, the feudal system and the myth of the chivalrous knight. He is a perfect character to follow since he is thus connected to both the French and English nobility, the two warring nations. Like I said, there are lots of things to love about this book – and I should have loved it much more than I did, I really should have, and really wanted to – but there was something missing that I just can’t put my finger on and which just kept me at arm’s length. A Distant Mirror makes us appreciate that the society back then was very different from the society and the state as we know it now.

The main title, A Distant Mirror, conveys Tuchman's thesis that the death and suffering of the 14th century reflect those of the 20th century, particularly the horrors of World War I. The English longbow with the power to drive heavy arrows accurately came of age at the beginning of the fourteenth century. lawyers are said to 'make and unmake matrimony to money' and a man might get rid of his wife by giving the judge a fur coat.