Jun 29, 2026
Can anyone recommend works that shine light on the medieval person’s self conception? Historical ethnography, sociology, anthropology—anything would be appreciated, but I’m specifically looking for something that’ll help me contrast the medieval inner life with that of the enlightenment/post-enlightenment person. Basically my work-life is comparable to a peasant’s, and I want to see if my mind might resemble a peasant’s as well.
The Autumn of the Middle Ages by Johan Huizinga is really good. It gives a cultural history of Western Europe towards the end of the medieval period transitioning into the renaissance and why that change was brought about. He writes in lovely flowery language and references a lot of art as examples of where change occurred. One of my favourite history books.
Also The Gutenberg Galaxy by Marshall McLuhan. Less of a history book but he outlines a theory of culture that divides modes of perception between acoustic and visual. I’m a bit hazy on the specifics but medieval people were acoustic since being a mostly illiterate society culture was intangible and existed in song and voice and importantly everywhere at once. Contrasted to the renaissance where culture was stored in books and was more visual. (Supposedly with the digital age we have moved back to acoustic). Not sure if that’s what you want but it’s a good comparison between the medieval, enlightenment and modern way of living.
Le Roy Ladurie did Montaillou: Cathars and Catholics in a French village, 1294-1324 micro-history of a small village thanks to Inquisition archives.