Terry Jones' Medieval Lives

When Terry Jones joined Monty Python, he kept his day job. He is a scholar and professor of medieval studies. Which means, MEDIEVAL LIVES is serious history for general readers, but it is also history dished up in a fluent voice that chuckles over human folly, is appropriately stern at the abuses of power that caused incredible pain and suffering, and returns with awe at the lights of human achievement that managed to flicker in an epoch of constant bloodshed.

Nothing seems to annoy Jones more than the inaccuracies that have circulated as fact about the period he defines as beginning with the Norman Conquest in 1066 and ending when Henry VIII effectively dismantled the old church in 1536. The overarching inaccuracy is that the medieval period was static and primitive. Au contraire says Jones and developed a BBC series taking the 470 years archetype by archetype, looking at how things changed often dramatically in that long period, sometimes progressively, sometimes regressively for the likes of peasants, minstrels, monks, outlaws, scientists, knights, women and kings. He stomped forcibly on the inaccuracies and falsehoods largely promulgated in the Renaissance and Victorian eras. This book is the companion volume to that series. As someone who has not seen the television series, I can vouch that you never miss it. The book is a stand alone triumph.

Jones manages to pull together an amazing amount of material and information in a relatively short book, weaving social, political and religious history. As such, the book is like a survey course, which is not a bad thing at all. To see what Jones can really do when he throws all his scholarly resources and colleagues at a medieval subject, see WHO MURDERED CHAUCER? That is top-notch historical investigation and criticism that skimps on nothing.

I read Terry Jones' book just prior to reading Ian Mortimer's "Travelers Guide to Medieval" book. Both were quite interesting, and very entertaining,and not to belittle Jones' book, since it does accompany a TV series and presumably had to cater to a TV audience, but after reading the latter, the Jones book kind of came acrost as light and fluffy, like an adult Horrible Histories.

Jones did present material I was not familiar with, and gave me a new perspective on historical "facts" I had always assumed to be correct, which just.... weren't.

On the plus side, my husband has put this book in his "to read" pile, just based on the author (sorry, dude, I know you're a serious scholar and all), and anything or anyone who can get him to read anything outside of WWII topics is OK in my book.

Read the Jones' book as a delightful, entertaining appertif, and then devour the Mortimer book as a main course.

And while we're at it, gotta love a country that can produce what looks to have been an entertaining series on medieval history, which people will actually WATCH, while all our lot can come up with is the annoying, endless soft porn of "The Tudors". Meh!

This rather light-hearted look at the so-called Medieval period of history had something of the feel of a television program about it. And – surprise! – a look at the acknowledgements section reveals that it apparently is, in fact, a companion book to a television series. I’m sorry I missed it.

Despite that, however, it is serious history, even if it does constitute a somewhat rapid overview of the period. Their approach is to discuss the lives of eight types of people you might have run into during the almost five-hundred year period of the middle ages (which they define as having lasted in England from 1066 to 1536).

One of the constant themes is change – for example, in the lives of peasants. During the period the number of slaves declined as slaves were replaced by villeins – people who were obliged to work a certain number of days a week on their masters’ farms and additionally pay rents in the form of a portion of their crops. Over time the rents began to be paid in cash, and people became more free to move to other parts of the country, or to own small farms on their own. The lives of the other types of people changed over the years too – some improving, some getting now better, now worse (damsels, i.e. higher-class women, for example, were treated more tolerantly at some periods than others, and the changes were not uniformly improvements). Even the role of kings, the last of the types of people covered, changed over the period, but at least in their case many of the changes were initiated by the kings themselves, or were, at any rate, due to such good or bad qualities as they possessed. They also point out how much of our judgements of these kings of the past is due to historical records that may have been manipulated by those who came to power after them, so that those who we think of as ‘good’ kings may not have necessarily been perceived as such by the people of their own times.

I learned a lot from this book, and found little in it that contradicted what I have read in much more ‘serious’ histories of the period. If you would like to learn more about the middle ages but are intimidated by long recitals of minute details, this book is a good choice.

It is often said that `history is a lie agreed upon.' If one reads Mr. Jones' Medieval Lives, this aphorism is very appropriate. I approached this book with a little trepidation, but after reading the first couple chapters, one cannot help but be impressed with the impressive citations. Unlike some other popular histories, Jones does not fall into the trap of quoting other popular histories as gospel truth. Instead, Jones cites from material such as the "Constitutional History of England in the Fifteenth Century" or "The Monastic Order in Yorkshire, 1069-1300". The beautiful thing is that Jones writes in a very clear and concise way, but does not dumb history down to a level that is all to often the norm for popular history tomes. One of the highlights is the section on outlawry and the resultant development of the jury system. Anyone involved in the practice of criminal law would agree that, as Jones writes: "compared with the evil of the corrupt world of public administration, symbolized by the sheriff, the outlaw was a model of propriety." In fact, after reading the 'Outlaw' section, I typed the "Outlaw Poem" and have it hanging in my office. Overall, a highly recommended book that provides a great intro for any serious student of the Middle Ages.

Occasionally startling but forgettable on the whole. The chapters are basically what life was like, according to the best modern understandings, for things like a monk, an outlaw, a king, etc.

It had a breezy tone that did not go well with the occasional scholarly references. It's like the author was a scholar but somebody told him to write a book intended for the masses, which he could do only cackhandedly.

It's worth reading once, though.

Monty Python's Terry Jones is not just funny--- he's actually smart too! ;)

Terry Jones and Alan Ereira do a great job of presenting "Medieval Lives" in layman's terms while at the same time being informative and entertaining. Each chapter is broken down by a particular social order, whose viewpoint offers crucial insights into life during the Medieval period.

It is informative and funny, a perfect way to impart information to a 21st century audience! It is perfect for actual historians or even just fans of 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail', myself falling under both categories, I would lean more towards people who have an affinity toward the time period. It is history with a fun twist!

A very interesting and informative history of the period. Written a humorous tone but full of little known information. The author clearly explained the themes of the 'middle ages'. An excellent overview for anyone with an interest in this poorly understood period. Certainly represented a very different view of the 1000 years between the fall of the Roman Empire (in Western Europe) and the Renaissance from those commonly presented.

Strongly Recommended

This is an excellent overview of an often misunderstood and underappreciated era. The authors present copious quanties of information, but never become pedantic or tiring. This book would be a good introduction to the era for those whose history education fell short in this respect. I've been a student of the medieval period for years and I learned a good bit that was new to me.

I gave this book to a family member who is a student of Medieval times. He is delighted with it. It combines actual scholarship with a wonderful British, Monty Python style humor. Full marks all around. It is a delightful read.

Terry Jones is not one who would be considered as an authoritative voice in the realm of serious history, a brilliant comedian yes but history?
It really isn't that much of a stretch considering his passion for and love of medieval history, one simply has to view his brilliant BBC series to know that he is not buffoonish about the subject but a series student of history.
This book is simply more of his very iconoclastic view of what most historians have come to believe are facts about a period of time which has been so misrepresented and misunderstood.
In his own indomitable style, Terry Jones takes his readers by the hand and gently guides them through a process of relearning about life in what most historians would have us believe to be the darkest times of human history and the journey becomes, both insightful and fun.
This book is one of those rare gems which teaches and entertains, I highly recommend it.