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The Companion Guide to Gascony and the Dordogne
The corner of south-west France comprising Gascony and the Dordogne is the quintessence of provincial France. Many will be content to enjoy the douceur de vivre, the good food and the unspoiled countryside, but for those who are interested in the past this is rich terrain. Much of England's history between 1154 and 1453 was bound up with events in the region, as the French lands of Henry II remorselessly slipped from the grasp of the English kings. This is the land of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Gaston Phebus, the scene of Richard I's death, and of the Black Prince's triumphs and disasters. It is also the landscape in which some of the greatest medieval poetry and architecture was created; here many of the troubadours lived, and the lofty castles, Romanesque churches, and fortified villages of their time still beguile the traveller of today. RICHARD BARBER is an expert guide to the region and its he made his name as a medieval historian with biographies of Henry II and the Black Prince, and his important study The Knight and Chivalry is rooted in the society of the vast dukedoms of south-west France.
- GenresTravel
Paperback
First published June 26, 2002
About the author
Richard Barber
166 books32 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Richard William Barber is a prominent British historian who has been writing and publishing in the field of medieval history and literature ever since his student days. He has specialised in the Arthurian legend, beginning with a general survey, Arthur of Albion, in 1961, which is still in print in a revised edition. His other major interest is historical biography; he has published on Henry Plantagenet (1964) and among his other books is the standard biography of Edward the Black Prince, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. The interplay between history and literature was the theme of The Knight and Chivalry, for which he won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1971 and he returned to this in The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (2004); this was widely praised in the UK press, and had major reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post.
His other career has been as a publisher. In 1969 he helped to found The Boydell Press, which later became Boydell & Brewer Ltd, one of the leading publishers in medieval studies, and he is currently group managing director. In 1989, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, in association with the University of Rochester, started the University of Rochester Press in upstate New York. The group currently publishes over 200 titles a year.
Richard William Barber is a prominent British historian who has been writing and publishing in the field of medieval history and literature ever since his student days. He has specialised in the Arthurian legend, beginning with a general survey, Arthur of Albion, in 1961, which is still in print in a revised edition. His other major interest is historical biography; he has published on Henry Plantagenet (1964) and among his other books is the standard biography of Edward the Black Prince, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. The interplay between history and literature was the theme of The Knight and Chivalry, for which he won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1971 and he returned to this in The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (2004); this was widely praised in the UK press, and had major reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post.
His other career has been as a publisher. In 1969 he helped to found The Boydell Press, which later became Boydell & Brewer Ltd, one of the leading publishers in medieval studies, and he is currently group managing director. In 1989, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, in association with the University of Rochester, started the University of Rochester Press in upstate New York. The group currently publishes over 200 titles a year.
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December 14, 2009
Nicely written, but a companion, not a guide. I was last in this area in April 1986--in fact, we came out of Lascaux II to hear that the US and Britain had bombed Libya. Maybe it was that distraction ,but I can't place most of the other places we visited around there, and I was trying to identify them for a possible return, but not a lot of luck.
Displaying 1 of 1 review