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180th out of 602 books
—
709 voters
Medieval Home Companion: Housekeeping in the Fourteenth Century
by
Tania Bayard
A window into the daily life of a medieval household, originally written as instructions for a young wife from her husband-with more than fifty medieval woodcuts and printed in two colors throughout.
Paperback, 144 pages
Published
September 28th 1992
by Harper Perennial
(first published 1991)
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This book is a very abridged version of a household manual that was written in the late 1300's by an older husband for his very young wife (who, as an orphan, presumably hadn't had a mother to teach her these things). It covers everything from communication and respect between a husband and wife to making sand for an hourglass, and the tone is affectionate. I found it endearing, and it presents a more equal relationship between spouses than people like to admit (and which corresponds with other,...more
Short and very enjoyable--a great glimpse to what it was like to keep house in medieval Europe, without having to wade through lots of detail, historical context, or specifics about every aspect of daily life. (For the record, I enjoy all of these things, but sometimes it's nice to read something a little lighter.) This is actually excerpted from a housekeeping and deportment manual written for a young wife by her much older husband, so we are getting a largely unfiltered view of what was requir...more
A lovely, accessible excerpt of The Householder of Paris, with very entertaining descriptions of the old man's 15-year-old wife (addressed as "Sister") should act, cook, housekeep, etc. Since I don't read medieval French and don't have enough time for history in general, this was a great opportunity to read a primary source. The reader certainly gets a feel for the time, attitudes, and overall overbearing patronizing friendliness of a writing-inclined man 700 years ago. The abridgement and the p...more
This book is all kinds of awesome.
So, back in the late 14th century, a man in his 50’s – old by the standards of the day – married a 15 year old girl. He then sat down and wrote a book on how to be a good housewife for her to use both to be a good wife to him and later to be a good wife to whoever she presumably married after he died.
He sites in the prologue that he decided to write the book because his young bride told him she couldn’t run his house for him because didn’t know how to do anythin...more
Who wouldn't want to read a house-keeping manual from the 14th Century, really?
I got this book for Christmas and thoroughly enjoyed it. It also will work perfectly as a reference for a novel. Mmmm. I've long had a fascination with the 14th Century, but haven't had much opportunity to muck around in it since high school.
This book was translated from French. As a translation, it was very good. There were only a few places where the language felt unnatural. I am also in awe of the translator's 14th...more
I got this book for Christmas and thoroughly enjoyed it. It also will work perfectly as a reference for a novel. Mmmm. I've long had a fascination with the 14th Century, but haven't had much opportunity to muck around in it since high school.
This book was translated from French. As a translation, it was very good. There were only a few places where the language felt unnatural. I am also in awe of the translator's 14th...more
An interesting resource for medieval common life.
From page 136: To cure a toothache: Take an earthenware pot with a lid. The pot should be tightly sealed with clay, and the lid should have a hole in the middle. Or take a lidless pot covered with a trencher that has a hole in the middle. Fill the pot with water, put sage or other herbs in it, and set it to boil. Take off your clothes and get into bed. With your head well covered, position your open mouth over the hole so you can breathe the stea...more
From page 136: To cure a toothache: Take an earthenware pot with a lid. The pot should be tightly sealed with clay, and the lid should have a hole in the middle. Or take a lidless pot covered with a trencher that has a hole in the middle. Fill the pot with water, put sage or other herbs in it, and set it to boil. Take off your clothes and get into bed. With your head well covered, position your open mouth over the hole so you can breathe the stea...more
I thought this was going to be one of those "written by a historian, this is what life was like way back when" books. In fact, it's an actual housekeeping guide written by a 15th-century French guy and edited and translated by Tania Bayard. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I had known. But it is a good illustration of both medieval housekeeping and the medieval mindset, and valuable to people researching the period.
This was an interesting window into everyday life of a middle class person in the 14th century. I believe Tania did an adequate job of editing the manuscripts to a readable form for the modern person. However a glossary would have made this book a better read, for he measurements given in the text are archaic and are difficult to look up.
Oct 18, 2009
Art Marshall
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
medieval history buffs
Recommended to Art by:
a professor
This is a funny little book that I owned from a college class that I took. I stumbled across it as I was unpacking from a move and found it a short, interesting read.
I may actually try to reproduce a recipe or two found in it!
I may actually try to reproduce a recipe or two found in it!
It's interesting, so far, how little has changed in the home in six hundred years (obvious and huge changes in gender roles aside)...
This was an excellent translation and collection; rather than go purely academic, it's made to be very accessible. So you can both learn what a 14th century household was like _and_ learn a few things about plants and herbs...
This was an excellent translation and collection; rather than go purely academic, it's made to be very accessible. So you can both learn what a 14th century household was like _and_ learn a few things about plants and herbs...
This was a quick fun read. Very approachable fir the modern reader. So much is applicable still today almost 700 years later. A great resource for any 14th century SCA persona.
A lightweight book. Not a lot of information.
Charming.
A window into the daily life of a medieval household, originally written as instructions for a young wife from her husband-with more than fifty medieval woodcuts and printed in two colors throughout.
This was a joy to read. Fascinating look at medieval times. A book on housekeeping (and by that, read "running an estate" maybe) from an older husband to his very young bride. A fun book to add to the reading rotation for our kids when they study that time period in middle or high school.
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If you are at all interested in how the medieval woman lived, this is the book for you.. I am very interested in medieval cooking which is why I bought it. I am also looking for good medieval recipes.
A fascinating overview of how the ideal medieval household should be run, written by a fourteenth-century Parisian gentlemen for his young bride.
May 10, 2013
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