life in a medieval village by francis and joseph gies

In return for paying taxes, the privileged members of Troyes enjoy a certain freedom, though self-government remains elusive. Towns are governed by charters, agreements between the feudal lord and the city.

Glass-makers, glaziers, also rise to prominence in this period, providing beautiful and complicated stained glass works of art. One professional of particular importance is the mason, who with a wide knowledge of mathematics, engineering, and stonecutting, erect the massive Gothic cathedrals of the error. City professionals such as the smith, goldsmith, tanner, weaver, and miller are highly skilled in their individual work, and carve out a comfortable middle-class, clearly departing from the servile peasants of the feudal period. Of particular emphasis are the various craft professions. A pregnant woman is a woman in danger in this time childbirth is still a mysterious process plagued by pagan myths.Įvents like weddings, funerals, church services, and cathedral school (reserved for only well-to-do young boys) are explored in detail. Housewives, while holding no political power, share the power of the purse and are crucial to the home for daily shopping and the direction of the several servants in the home. Such things as dinner and etiquette are explained in detail. A typical residence is a four story home. Troyes is part of a large and complex web of trade routes.

Rather than relying on the normal historical record of royals and wars, the book instead looks at life from an 'everyday' perspective.įrom Troyes' humble beginnings as a Roman fort, Troyes in 1250 is a bustling city of about 15,000 people, and the center of the Hot Fair and Cold Fair, two in a series of important merchant markets central to the economic success of the region. Life in a Medieval City provides a hypothetical, though factually researched and historically accurate, day in the life of the city of Troyes, the capital of the Champagne region of what is now modern-day France, in the year 1250.

Life in a medieval village by francis and joseph gies