Why read Monodies and on the Relics of Saints?

Book cover of Monodies and on the Relics of Saints: The Autobiography and a Manifesto of a French Monk from Thetime of the Crusades

Book description

The first Western autobiography since Augustine's "Confessions", "The Monodies" is set against the backdrop of the First Crusade and offers stunning insights into medieval society. As Guibert of Nogent intimately recounts his early years, monastic life, and the bloody uprising at Laon in 1112, we witness a world - and…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Monodies and on the Relics of Saints as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

R.I. Moore

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The same transformation is vividly described, along with the enormities of archetypically immoral barons and revolting peasants, the murder of a scandalous bishop, and much else, in the memoirs of an abbot from northern France at a time of violent social upheaval and intense personal rivalries, often played out on the stage of religious piety. This is one of the liveliest and most revealing of the many sources translated from this period, excellently introduced by Jay Rubenstein.

From R.I.'s list on The best books on the real Middle Ages.