A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages

Wright, Thomas, 1810-1877Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.7
Word count
897K words
Chapters
90

Tags

English Originals World HistoryHistory and Culture Everyday LifeSocial ObservationDaily LivingFamily BondsHistorical MaterialsAcademic StudyMiddle AgesCultural ChangeFolk CustomsMaterial Civilization

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle AgesAuthor: Wright, Thomas, 1810-1877,Language: English, Class: DA: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Great Britain, Ireland, Central Europe, Release Date: Apr 25, 2019

Editor's review

This is a history of everyday life in medieval England by the nineteenth-century English scholar Thomas Wright, an early systematic study of domestic manners, habits of living, and sentiments. Its value lies in bringing ordinary people's food, clothing, housing, and travel, festive amusements, and family relations—matters outside institutional history—into view, opening a window onto medieval society. The book cites numerous documents and sources, and its prose carries the learned style of Victorian scholarship, offering the pleasure of reading historical notes. A caveat: the book was written long ago, and some views and interpretations of sources bear the limitations of their time; readers should treat it as a reference for understanding early lines of research rather than as settled conclusions. It suits readers interested in medieval English history, social history, and folklore, and serves as supplementary reading for historical writing and general humanities education. The English original is a public-domain e-book and quite long; reading by topic is recommended.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Start with the table of contents and pick chapters by topic—food, dwellings, festivals—rather than reading straight through.
  2. Jot down the primary sources cited as you read, so you can compare them with other historical materials.
  3. When you encounter Victorian judgments, note their standpoint and look to modern research for supplementation.
  4. Read alongside a general survey of medieval English social history to build an overall framework.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
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  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
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  47. 47
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  51. 51
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  53. 53
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  57. 57
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  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
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  66. 66
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  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
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  77. 77
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  80. 80
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  86. 86
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  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90

FAQ

Is this book suitable for beginners in history? It can be read, but it requires some patience. Written in the nineteenth century, its prose and citation style differ from modern general histories, and readers lacking background knowledge may get lost in the details. It is better to start with a general history of medieval England as a foundation, then read selected chapters by topic.
Are the book's views still reliable today? The book preserves a wealth of valuable materials and observations, but some interpretations bear the limitations of the author's era. Readers should treat it as a reference for early lines of research, remain cautious about specific conclusions, and read it in comparison with modern scholarship.
Is this the Chinese edition or the English edition? This is the English public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg; the original text is in English. The book contains many quotations and technical terms; use a dictionary and annotation tools as you read, and reading by topic is less laborious than page-by-page reading.

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About the author

Wright, Thomas, 1810-1877 Author

Thomas Wright (1810–1877) was an English writer and antiquary whose biographical details are only sparsely recorded in publicly available sources. Two of his works are held here, both in the field of cultural and social history. A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art examines how caricature and grotesque imagery were expressed and developed in literature and art, showing the author's long-term interest in traditions of visual satire and popular imagination. A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages turns to the history of everyday life, tracing household customs, manners, and sentimental attitudes in medieval England. Though different in subject, the two books share a common method: both draw on wide-ranging documentary and material evidence and address general readers in a plain, clear style. Wright's approach reflects the nineteenth-century English tendency among scholars to organize old customs and to bridge academic and public reading interests, and his works are still regarded as early and readable general surveys of their subjects.