16-05-2025
This septic isle — England in the calamitous 14th century
Pandemics, wars, riots, conclaves, antisemitism and climate change. The mouldering 14th century looked a lot like the 20th century, Barbara Tuchman argued in A Distant Mirror, which was a bestseller on the strength of its slew of resonances in 1978. Nearly half a century on we seem to have moved closer to that calamitous age. Helen Carr can expect strong sales. Her latest is a cannily timed new history of the 14th century.
Carr treads the same ground as Tuchman, but her focus is narrower: England rather than Europe. Still, there's a lot to take in, including the Black Death, which almost halved England's population between 1348 and 1350, and England's largest popular uprising, the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. But Carr is more interested
