Norman F. Cantor, The Last Knight (Harper Perennial, 2004)
There are some books I am very glad that I did not read as a child, because I would have not been able to truly understand them (such as Gulliver's Travels) or because they would have ended my fantasies about things a bit too early. The Last Knight by Norman Cantor falls into both categories. This well-written, accessible history details the beginnings of the decline of Feudalism in Western Europe during the mid- to late 1300s with enough realistic description that I'm afraid my teenage dreams of the Middle Ages, fueled by King Arthur, Robin Hood and the Lord of the Rings would have been crushed by such a text. At the same time, though, this fairly brisk but substantial tour of the end of an era makes me appreciate just how far Europe needed to go before reaching its Modern Era.
In order to provide a proper context to view these times, Cantor focuses on the life and lifestyle of the eponymous Last Knight, John of Gaunt, first Duke of Lancaster, son of King Edward III, and brother to Britain's most celebrated knight of the time, Edward the Black Prince. To Cantor, Gaunt is the perfect exemplar of this era: growing up and living within the aristocracy, a lifestyle of fabulous wealth, privilege, power, and influence that would fairly well cease to exist by the end of the 1400s. To Cantor, the rise and fall of these Great Families -- the Lancasters, the Dukes, et al -- signalled the beginnings and end of the Middle Ages.
There is much in this book that is familiar ground for medieval history: the partitioning of wealth from the aristocracy to the serfs; the intricate power relationships mandated by feudalism; and the constant struggle of power among the monarchs, the aristocracy and the Church. Cantor fills this out by giving very detailed descriptions of the lifestyles and attitudes of people of the day. He also provides us a concise history of some of the defining moments of the later Middle Ages: the rise and fall of the populist heretic Wyclif, the Peasant Revolt of 1381, the Hundred Years' War, and the beginning of the Wars of the Roses.
And there are quite a few surprises. The Church's hold on Western Europe wasn't nearly as ironclad as it is often supposed. It was constantly struggling to gain and regain power from the Great Families and monarchs. In fact, France was able to franchise its own line of popes during this time and house them in Avignon. There was also very little idea of nations during this time. The aristocracy tended to view its loyalty more from a feudalist point of view than a nationalist one. Finally, I was surprised to find out that before the Norman Conquest, most of Britain's peasantry consisted of small village "autonomous collectives," which were turned into serf-land by the conquering Normans.
Cantor also gives us descriptions of aspects of medieval society that often gets ignored, the plight of the so-called Others, in this case, heretics, homosexuals and the Jews. According to Cantor, England before the 1200's was relatively open to homosexuality. King William II who ruled from 1087 to 1100 was openly gay. Class conflict, though, seems to have made homosexuals one of its first victims after 1200. Similarly, both Jews and heretics experienced extreme persecution during this time, although Cantor inexplicably fails to mention that Jews were periodically banished from England before this, most notably by King Alfred I. This perspective gives The Last Knight an interesting edge to it. It is nice to see a historian explore atypical aspects of medieval society.
If you're curious as to how exactly the Middle Ages ended or how accurate George R. R. Martin's fictional description of England during the Wars of the Roses in his lengthy A Song of Ice and Fire cycle is, this short, accessible book is just what you're looking for.
