A couple of weeks ago, I checked out a book on the Middle Ages, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman and...Wow! This book rocks! It's packed with a lot of details but it's a page-turner and Tuchman adeptly handles the different alliances, feuds, intrigues and battles from that time.
In her book, Tuchman recounts the times through Enguerrand de Coucy who was a French nobleman of that time often acknowledged for his diplomacy and tact.
I'm still in the midst of reading this book but so far Tuchman has covered the bubonic plagues, peasant uprisings, wars between Britain and France, the marital alliances of the Viscontis, 2 popes who each claim that the other is the false pope and the betrayal of Bétizac. Really a dastardly deed but not that uncommon for those times.
For style, Tuchman provides some insight as to laws which would forbid certain classes from particular attire or restrict the amount of clothes that they could purchase. The materials involved for wedding, tournaments or other ceremonial events are also occasionally described in the book. For clothing, one person who stands out is Count Amadeus of Savoy who was known as the Green Count because he once arrived in a tournament dressed in green with his horses, knights and ladies-in-waiting similarly decked out.
How would you create a medieval look from your wardrobe? Do you have a signature color like the Green Count?
image source: amazon.com
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