Georges Duby (1919–1996)

I found the chapters on Rome enlightening and fascinating. This book brings home the brutality of daily Roman life, especially with its descriptions of abandoned infants left to die by the side of the road. It is important when looking at the merits of the Greek and Roman cultures whose heritage we have inherited to take off our rose-colored glasses and see the flip-side as well. This book reveals a lot of history overlooked elsewhere.

Who is ever alone at the beginning of the thirteenth century but the mad, the possessed--marginal figures who are hunted down? An orderly world requires that each man remains swathed in a fabric of solidarities, of friendships, in a corps.

A few detractors of this text cite that Duby appears more concerned with "the age of chivalry" rather than the specifics of Marshall's life. I suppose you can't please everyone. This is an astonishing portrait of the intensely intricate and complex set of show more social relations in the late 1200/early 1300s. As society became more complex, a fixed monetary system apparently flourished and social mobility became an increasing reality. This wasn't an option for most folks in this milieu. Thus the code of knightly honor and courtly love. Each is actually a sober response to set of unfair circumstances. William Marshall embodied this code to a fanatical end, despite ongoing menace he maintained an unyielding loyalty and was actually rewarded. Yes, he was an exceptional warrior. He was also rather lucky, not least by a healthy constitution which allowed him to outlive most of his royals, especially those sporting crowns.

This dovetailed nicely with the Plantagenets book I'm reading, and it wasn't a bad way to spend a frozen Sunday. Despite being 153 pages, the text does require concentration as well as an awareness of the various royal houses of the time. show less

Sometimes the source material is so strong and moving, that only a bit of editing is sufficient to present a great narrative and highlight the miscarriage of justice. Joan of Arc was clearly framed in a show trial process on extremely weak charges and after the church trial burned without a necessary civil judgment. The local bishop as well as the university of Paris were willing tools in the hands of the oppressors. The obsession of the judges and prosecutors with Joan's wearing of male show more dress is puzzling. Now, the cross-dresser is an official saint of the Catholic church!

"La passion de Jeanne d'Arc" (1928) is a moving must watch with outstanding b/w cinematography. I also like Milla Jovovich/Luc Besson's 1999 version "The Messenger". show less

Georges Duby provided a charming yet scholarly account of his career as a historian. He generously shared important and insightful details of his professional life while remaining totally reticent on any personal points that were not germane to his being an academic.

Duby outlined his career in a chronological order, with occasional glimpses ahead or back to draw a parallel or make a point. He began with what he apparently considered his first major work, a detailed study of documents of the show more monastery at Cluny. He told how he came to choose the subject, how he narrowed and refined his scope, how he explored the information to elicit various kinds of questions to be answered. This narration of his approach to the material became a framework on which he draped his views on how one should approach history. Ever modest, he never blatantly extolled the virtues of his work; nor was he particularly critical of the shortcomings of others. He merely expressed what he did, what he liked about his work, where he felt he did an adequate job and what parts he would do differently if he were pursuing that study at the time of writing this memoir.

In chapters titled, “Treatment�€?, “Readingâ€?, and “Constructionâ€? he elaborated on how he mined the Cluny documents for information. He showed that the historian is part detective, part logician and all-around student of human nature. He illustrated how the historian must often use educated inference to extract those elusive fragments of data lying beneath the surface of the obvious. The data must be connected, related and matched, then examined for what it does and does not reveal. From there, extrapolations may be proffered while being cautious to remain close to the sources. Duby did not suggest speculation for its own sake served any good purpose.
After the rather close examination of his earlier work, Duby moved on to touch on the high points of his career; he consistently presented the events of his life not so much as to commend what he accomplished rather to use the experience as a jumping off point to discuss some topic. For example, he referred to his work in television primarily to discuss his thoughts on how the medium can be used to further the study and pursuit of history. Similarly he mentioned his travels; but what he was most excited about was how he felt travel could expose the student of history to opportunities to expand his or her grasp of times past.

As he approached the end of his memoir and concentrated on recent or current projects, he revealed what he saw as his faults or omissions. He believed that women had been short-changed in their treatment by historians; he felt he should have observed that earlier and would strive to redeem this oversight in future work. Duby implied his current students would not be allowed to neglect disenfranchised groups or write the same type of Euro-centric history that he and his generation had done.
Duby avoided bragging and ostentation about his personal achievements yet his pride and loyalty to his country’s band of scholars and their reputations was unequivocal. He admired the work of his earlier countrymen and yearned for French historians to retain or regain their place among the premiere practitioners in the field. He had no illusions about that place being taken for granted; he appeared to feel some vicarious embarrassment on behalf of some of his colleagues who behaved as if French historians held the top honors exclusively. One has the feeling that Duby was being very generous in refusing to abandon his countrymen, since there seemed to be no reason why he personally should not be held in the highest regard.

In this same gracious tone, he concluded by passing the torch to a younger generation of scholars. After surveying topics still to be explored and mistakes to be rectified, Duby remarked that it was more likely that they, not he, would be the ones to continue the challenge. Duby left one hoping that future historians can equal him, not only in scholarship, but in style and grace as well.

Alex Hunnicutt show less