{"product_id":"2940157793661","title":"Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period (Illustrated)","description":"The Manners and Customs of the Middle Ages:--this subject is of the\u003cbr\u003egreatest interest, not only to the man of science, but to the man of the\u003cbr\u003eworld also. In it, too, \"we retrace not only one single period, but two\u003cbr\u003eperiods quite distinct one from the other.\" In the first, the public and\u003cbr\u003eprivate customs offer a curious mixture of barbarism and civilisation. We\u003cbr\u003efind barbarian, Roman, and Christian customs and character in presence of\u003cbr\u003eeach other, mixed up in the same society, and very often in the same\u003cbr\u003eindividuals. Everywhere the most adverse and opposite tendencies display\u003cbr\u003ethemselves. What an ardent struggle during that long period! and how full,\u003cbr\u003etoo, of emotion is its picture! Society tends to reconstitute itself in\u003cbr\u003eevery aspect. She wants to create, so to say, from every side, property,\u003cbr\u003eauthority, justice, \u0026amp;c., \u0026amp;c., in a word, everything which can establish\u003cbr\u003ethe basis of public life; and this new order of things must be established\u003cbr\u003eby means of the elements supplied at once by the barbarian, Roman, and\u003cbr\u003eChristian world--a prodigious creation, the working of which occupied the\u003cbr\u003ewhole of the Middle Ages. Hardly does modern society, civilised by\u003cbr\u003eChristianity, reach the fullness of its power, than it divides itself to\u003cbr\u003efollow different paths. Ancient art and literature resuscitates because\u003cbr\u003ecustom _insensibly_ takes that direction. Under that influence, everything\u003cbr\u003eis modified both in private and public life. The history of the human race\u003cbr\u003edoes not present a subject more vast or more interesting. It is a subject\u003cbr\u003ewe have chosen to succeed our first book, and which will be followed by a\u003cbr\u003esimilar study on the various aspects of Religious and Military Life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis work, devoted to the vivid and faithful description of the Manners\u003cbr\u003eand Customs of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, answers fully to the\u003cbr\u003erequirements of contemporary times. We are, in fact, no longer content\u003cbr\u003ewith the chronological narration and simple nomenclatures which formerly\u003cbr\u003ewere considered sufficient for education. We no longer imagine that the\u003cbr\u003ehistory of our institutions has less interest than that of our wars, nor\u003cbr\u003ethat the annals of the humbler classes are irrelevant to those of the\u003cbr\u003eprivileged orders. We go further still. What is above all sought for in\u003cbr\u003ehistorical works nowadays is the physiognomy, the inmost character of past\u003cbr\u003egenerations. \"How did our fathers live?\" is a daily question. \"What\u003cbr\u003einstitutions had they? What were their political rights? Can you not\u003cbr\u003eplace before us their pastimes, their hunting parties, their meals, and\u003cbr\u003eall sorts of scenes, sad or gay, which composed their home life? We should\u003cbr\u003elike to follow them in public and private occupations, and to know their\u003cbr\u003emanner of living hourly, as we know our own.\"","brand":"Readings LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47182901772528,"sku":"2940157793661","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940157793661_p0.jpg?v=1764108944","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940157793661","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}