John
Aberth.
From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War,
Plague,
and Death in the Later Middle Ages.
New York: Routledge,
2001.
xvi,
304pp.
Hardback, ISBN 0415927153.
Publisher's
recommended price $26.00/£15.99
Europe
during the
later Middle Ages was a scene of unparalleled chaos. At no other time
did
so much misery - in the form of famine, war, plague, and death -
descend
upon the earth. At times it must have seemed like the end of the world
was truly at hand. And yet, as John Aberth reveals in this lively work,
a firm belief in the ways of providence and the first stirrings of
greater
political freedom allowed communities to endure. Far from conventional
notions of the "waning" of the Middle Ages, John Aberth reveals here a
world with fears, hopes, and passions that we recognise as our own.
Relying
on rich
literary and historical sources John Aberth brings this period vividly
to life. Taking his themes from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, he
describes how the Great Famine and Black Death swept away nearly half
of
Europe's population, while the royal houses of England and France were
engaged in a hundred years war that meant perpetual political strife.
Above
all loomed the specter of Death, ever present and constantly feared.
Throughout
the
later Middle Ages, ordinary people were transformed by these daunting
and
fearful series of crises, yet in their prayers, chronicles, poetry, and
especially their commemorative art are foreshadowings of the age to
come.
As John Aberth reveals in this informative and sympathetic work, in
their
struggles we glimpse the birth of the modern.
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