The waning of the middle ages: a study of the forms of life, thought and art in…
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Johan Huizinga
(4,5 Sterne; 2 Bewertungen)
The Waning of the Middle Ages (also known as The Autumn of the Middle Ages, or Autumntide of the Middle Ages), subtitled A study of the forms of life, thought and art in France and the Netherlands in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, is Johan Huizinga's most famous work. It was published in 1919 as Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen and first translated into English in 1924.
Huizinga defends the idea that the exaggerated formality and romanticism of late medieval court society was a defense mechanism against the constantly increasing violence and brutality of life. The break off between Middle Ages and Renaissance was, according to him, a period of pessimism, cultural exhaustion, and nostalgia. Even though this work has found criticism, especially for relying too heavily on evidence exclusively from the Burgundian court, it has achieved immense impact in the thought about the period. - Summary by Leni (13 hr 26 min)
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Important book for those interested in the Reformation
MHW
(5 Sterne)
The book is a classic in its field, still an important scholarly work. The book itself gives a thorough picture of the mental world of the bourgeoisie and petty nobility of NE France/Flanders in the period immediately before the Northern Renaissance and Reformation. It may be a bit unapproachable for the common reader, as the individuals H discusses are mostly minor, obscure figures. (This is sort of the point; they're typical, not famous.) The readers are good.