The New Murrey and Blue blog

Every so often a book comes along that really doesn’t fit into any genre…except perhaps history in general. “Medieval Woman: Village Life in the Middle Ages” by Anne Baer is fiction, and yet not, because the author has done some splendid, detailed research, and then put it all together around a year in the life of an imagined medieval peasant woman called Marion. However, I have to say that at first the cover rather led me to expect non-fiction, so I didn’t quite know what to make of it when I started to read.

We meet Marion and her extended family immediately, and their fictional English village which really could be any village somewhere in the medieval period. Marion’s lot in life is that of most working peasant women. She is the wife of Peter, a carpenter whom she loves, although there was another man, Dick Shepherd, who first took her heart. But she knew she would better off with Peter, and her love for him has grown. They’ve had many children, but only two, a disabled son called Peterkin and a two-year-old daughter, Alice, have survived.

The comings and goings of the village, the dirt and toil, the harsh winters and hot summers, the ill health and occasional happy days are related in such a way that I was soon deeply involved in Marion’s world. I cried when Alice came close to death only two months after the loss of another daughter Margery. It is Alice’s illness into which the book launches right at the beginning, in the month of March, and it takes no prisoners, believe me.

Sir Hugh and his lady, Dame Margaret, occupy the hall and are reasonable, departing from the usual tendency to show all lords of the manor in a poor light. They weren’t all cruel and grasping, and these two are respected in the village. Sir Hugh’s brother Rollo is more in the cruel mould and definitely not well liked. Mind you, it was appropriate when Rollo arrested a drunken wife-beater named Dobbin and tied him to a tree by the feet to sober up before he was dealt with. The murderous oaf had battered his wife so much he killed the baby in her arms. Rollo ordered that he was to be beaten, and then hauled him personally to the churchyard and forced him to dig the baby’s grave with his bare hands. Marion knew she was truly fortunate to have her Peter.

This wonderful book simply ends when it reaches the following February, so we never learn more about Marion’s life. Nor will we because the author is no longer with us, but what we have learned is both gruelling and exhilarating. Brilliant writing, and quite clearly the work of many years’ research. Maybe it won’t be to everyone’s liking, but if you can step through into Marion’s world with an open mind, you’ll soon be engrossed.

For many years the late Anne Baer, born 1914, was a director of Ganymed Press, which was run by her husband Bernhard. This book was originally published as “Down the Common: A Year in the Life of a Medieval Woman”.

The above-illustrated version of the book is available at Amazon where it can be dipped into using their “Look Inside” facility.