Authentique cuisine du Moyen Age
[Authentic French Cooking from the Middle Ages]
By Françoise de Montmollin

For several years volunteer at the site of Guédelon – the French project to rebuild an original French Castle – Françoise de Montmollin has been the cook at the castle since 2009. In this book she presents the results of her research into the workings of medieval cooking. Illustrations are by François Folcher, who is a professional photographer who has followed since the beginning of the construction site of the castle of Guédelon.

Authentique cuisine du Moyen Age
Françoise de Montmollin
Ouest-France 2013
Langue : Français
ISBN-10: 2737360706
ISBN-13: 978-2737360701
€ 24.00

Archéologie et histoire du fleuve Charente : Taillebourg – Port d’Envaux : une zone portuaire du haut Moyen Age sur le fleuve Charente
[Archaeology and history of the River Charente: Tailleboourg – Port d’Envaux: A port from the High Middle Ages at the river Charente]
By Annie Dumont, Jean-François Mariotti et al.

The book is published in connection with a comprehensive research project, which aims to study the site Taillebourg – Port Envaux (Charente-Maritime). This archaeological deposit contains numerous witnesses related to activities at the Charente river (boats, dams, fish furniture, agricultural tools, etc..), dated mainly from the Merovingian and Carolingian periods.

The research conducted on this complex site have been based on the principle that one cannot separate the remains discovered under water with what is found further inland in the valley on the floodplain. To carry out this program, various sources of information – geophysical, bathymetric and underwater analysis of the archaeological map of the banks – have been conducted. This has been enhanced with and accompanying study of archaeological finds plus research into old maps and plans. This diachronic and interdisciplinary approach has renewed the knowledge of the evolution of a portion of the river between Saintes and the estuary. It provides understanding a medieval port area, rarely studied.

Archéologie et histoire du fleuve Charente : Taillebourg – Port d’Envaux : une zone portuaire du haut Moyen Age sur le fleuve Charente
[Archaeology and history of the River Charente: Tailleboourg – Port d’Envaux: A port from the High Middle Ages at the river Charente]
By Annie Dumont, Jean-François Mariotti et al.
Hardback: 350 pages
Editions Universitaires de Dijon 2013
Langue : Français
ISBN-10: 2364410339
ISBN-13: 978-2364410336
€40

Deux chefs de guerre au Moyen-Age
[Two Medieval Warlords]

Jean de Vienne, admiral of France, and Bertrand du Guesclin, Constable, were as different as two major warlords can be, although they sometimes fought together during the Hundred Years War. However, while Bertrand du Guesclin, achieved a reputation as a great general, which still lingers in the French imagination, the admiral Jean de Vienne is virtually unknown.

And yet, du Guesclin would probably not have been able to achieve his glorious success against the English if Jean de Vienne had not won the supremacy over the English Channel. The author of this double biography asks the question whether it is legitimate to ignore the admiral who was the first to organize a real fleet of war for the kingdom of France?

History ended up glorifying Bertrand du Guesclin and ignoring Jean de Vienne. Now is the time to restore the memory of jean de Vienne who should be considered as the first founder of what became the Royal and our Navy.

Deux chefs de guerre au Moyen-Age
By Jacques D. de Certaines
Hardback: 224 pages
Publisher : APOGEE 2013
Language : Français
ISBN-10: 2843984289
ISBN-13: 978-2843984280
€ 17.10

Maîtres et élèves au Moyen Age
[Teachers and Students in the Middle Ages]

“We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants”. This “bon mots” was famousy formulated by Bernard of Chartres in the twelfth century, when he described the situation of the clergy of his time. Crushed by the weight of the legacy of the ancients, all their efforts were on to restore and master.

Written by two leading experts, this story of teachers and students in the medieval West shows how to succeed at the time of cathedrals and monastic schools as well as at one of the most brilliant medieval revivals, the universities. These new institutions created the possibility for a wide the expansion of public teaching. The book delves into the lives of both teachers and students, describing the constraints on their aspirations and recalling what guided their work. Students and teachers shared the same requirements of high spirituality and the same insatiable curiosity.

Pierre Riché is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of Paris X Nanterre.

Jacques Verger is a professor of cultural history from the Middle Ages at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne.

Maîtres et élèves au Moyen Age
By Pierre Riché and Jacques verger
Publisher: Fayard / Plural (13 March 2013)
Language: French
ISBN-10: 2818503329
ISBN-13: 978-2818503324
£8.55