Montaillou : The Bestselling Portrait of Life in a Medieval Village

The village of Montaillou was the last stronghold of the cult of Catharism in medieval France. Under the Inquisition of Bishop Fournier members of this sect were persecuted and some burnt at the stake, and the interrogations about the way they lived were chronicled in a Register. From this document Ladurie has reconstructed an intruging account of everyday peasant life in a medieval village. Montaillou gives us a unique glimpse into how people really lived 700 years ago: from their homes and the food they ate to their body language and attitudes to sex.

EMMANUEL LE ROY LADURIE was born in 1929. He has had a distinguished career, serving as Administrateur Général of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (1987-94); member of the Institute (Academy of Moral and Political Sciences). He is a professor at the Collège de France and chair of the department of the History of Modern Civilization.

'Fascinating ... a Chaucerian gallery of vivid medieval persons' Hugh...