Far From Brooklyn

Like many another reader over the past 12 months, I picked up Barbara Tuchman’s “A Distant Mirror” within days of the Covid 19 lockdown last year, looking to learn about the effects of the Black Plague in 14th Century Europe. I started it last year but didn’t read much. I picked it up again this spring.

Her description of that plague and its years–or decades–long impact was extremely interesting, as were chapters or long sections describing, for instance, anti-semitism in that period, or the daily routines in a “typical” medieval town, and the likely possessions and habits of a medieval peasant. What was less interesting, indeed intolerably dull, were recitations of the various skirmishes, wars and feuds between kinds, princes, and popes.

The thesis of the book might be said to be that the travails of the 14th century parallel similar issues of the 20th century – hence the title, “A Distant Mirror.” (It was published in 1980.) And indeed there are certainly parallels today, at least with regards to the pandemic. But I still found the narrative, which basically shifts without any particular rhyme or reason from topic to topic, to be heavy going whenever the subject shifted away from daily life and rather focused on the ambitions of princes and popes.

The best brief description of the Black Death I read these past 12 months was definitely Bocaccio, in his introduction to “The Decameron.” Incredible.

Photo credit: Detail of marginal drawing; Matthew Paris, Historia Anglorum, Royal 14 C VII f. 148v