Book review: Medieval French Nobles

This is another book by the author of the one on peasant life which I republished last week. The two complement each other and draw upon material from the same French regions and era..

"Strong of Body, Brave and Noble": Chivalry and Society in Medieval France

Constance Brittain Bouchard.    

Cornell UP  2017

A valuable and insightful study

This is a book I would thoroughly recommend, and indeed have done to friends.

I have to disagree with another Amazon reviewer Cebes “Useful but flawed study” who criticises it for not offering a simple model of aristocratic life in the period. The point surely that Bouchard is making is that it was a society that was complex and changing, and that generalisations are difficult if not dangerous.

As a work it offers a synthesis of many studies referenced in the footnotes, and is of great value as a bibliographic guide.

 

There is a great deal that is covered and discussed in a relatively short and very readable book. The life of the medieval nobility is opened out and unpacked in a way which is accessible to the modern reader, enhancing and enriching one’s understanding of the past.

I think it has a wider application than just the area the author predominantly concentrates on of Champagne and Burgundy. It is applicable to much of western Europe in the period and indeed for later centuries.

A book that is valuable for the general reader, for students, and for academics looking for pointers with research.

Posted on Amazon  24.3.2023