The Waning of the Middle Ages

One of the most insightful examinations of the mediaeval era is this classic study of art society and thinking in France and the Netherlands in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The book makes the case that the period of declining chivalry reflected the spirit of an age and that its figures and events were neither a forerunner to the Renaissance nor harbingers of a coming culture but a consummation of the old. It is a brilliantly imaginative work that established the reputation of Dutch historian John Huizinga (1872-1945).The author looks at the violent nature of mediaeval life the concept of chivalry the rules of love religious life the view of death the symbolism that surrounded mediaeval life and aesthetic sensibility among other things.The Waning of the Middle Ages is a significant literary achievement as well as a work of historical knowledge that has long been hailed as a milestone. The New York Times praised the book's author stating that Professor Huizinga has dressed his imposing and variegated assembly of facts in the colourful garments characteristic of novels and he parades them from his first page to his last in a vivid style.The Waning of the Middle Ages a 1919 international bestseller that has since been translated into a number of languages will not only be a priceless resource for students and scholars of mediaeval history but will also be interesting to general readers and anyone who is interested in life in the Middle Ages.