ANST - Book Review - The Legend of Bouvines

[Nathan W. Jones]

Greetings Friends!

This might be of interest to some folks here.

Gio

*****

http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/book-reviews/h/Legend_Bouvines.html

     title: The Legend of Bouvines
        by: Georges Duby
      from: the French [Catherine Tihanyi]
 publisher: University of California Press 1990 [1973]
  subjects: medieval history, France
     other: 234 pages, black & white photographs, references, index

In 1214 King Philip of France met and defeated the Emperor Otto in
Flanders, in the battle of Bouvines.  In _The Legend of Bouvines_
Georges
Duby writes about this battle, and the legends which sprang from it,
from
the perspective of an anthropologist.  After describing the background
to the battle, he presents an edited version of a contemporary account
(that of William the Breton).  This is followed by a general commentary
on
the ideology of peace, war, and battle in the twelfth century.  Duby
then
analyses the evolution of the legends that sprang from Bouvines -- in
the centuries following the battle and, after its 18th century revival,
in modern French historiography.  Some of the sources for the battle
are included as an appendix.

_The Legend of Bouvines_ has a rare immediacy.  Duby writes in the
present tense, with a polished but effective prose, and brings alive
both the ideals and the realities of warfare in high medieval France.

--

%T      The Legend of Bouvines
%A      Georges Duby
%F      Catherine Tihanyi
%M      French
%I      University of California Press
%C      Berkeley
%D      1990 [1973]
%O      hardcover, bibliography, index
%G      ISBN 0-520-06238-8
%P      234pp, 12pp b&W photos
%K      medieval history, France

13 May 1998

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        Copyright (c) 1998 Danny Yee (danny at cs.usyd.edu.au)
        http://www.anatomy.usyd.edu.au/danny/book-reviews/
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