You know how school teachers can (and they often do) make history the most boring thing ever - well,here is a little,short and sweet book that would thrill anybody who was ever been bored in a school. Some 200 pages with very funny stories and anecdotes about real people in medieval times,as opposite to myths and legends later fabricated centuries later. Forget (almost) everything you have ever heard about Knights and dirty peasants and damsel in distress and such things - they wouldn't know what are you talking about,and as for knight's chivalry,well it appears it was only for the books - in reality it was the rule of the sword,kill now,pray later. In fact,if you have enough money to pay monks,they can pray for you so you can avoid the nuisance.
The book is cleverly divided in several chapters,each dealing with typical character ("Peasant","Minstrel","Outlaw" and so on) - it's all written in a very nonchalant way with lots of completely off-the-wall observations which will make you laugh out loud. There is a lot of humor here but also a lot of sadness and brutality once you start reading between the lines,after all,no matter how serious or unserious things might have been,it always comes to the same point: powerful and rich men were controlling less fortunate creatures,way back and today. Just looking at the treatment of women in medieval times (burned,raped,kidnapped,robbed,hanged) it makes you wonder how did human race survived at all.
It's very clever little book (and I wouldn't mind even if it's three times longer,because it's really easy read) but of course I am aware that things that looks ridiculous to modern reader now were very serious matter back than. After all,just imagine that in a few centuries someone writes a book about us.
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