Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours (Conjunctions of Religion and Power in the Medieval Past)

Rating:
Summary: A heavyweight insight into twelfth century Narbonne
Review: The parenthesized title gives a better explanation of the topic of this book, rather than the somewhat romanticized main title. What the author has done is provide an acutely focused eye on a small geographical place and period, namely that of the eleventh and twelfth centuries and the region known, at the time, as Occitania. A multi-parted text, multi-chaptered discourse where Cheyette uses Ermengard of Narbonne as a focal point to discuss the secular and spiritual power of a region that played an important part in Mediterannean history. The implication is that it was a microcosm of the funtioning social, political and commercial whole that was modern day France and Spain. Nevertheless, a history of (based on very little extant documentation) Ermerngard's influence as the ruler of Narbonne in both local and spiritual dealings; and a greater part (akin to Eleanor of Aquitane or Stephania) in the history of the region from the situation at the time of her inheritance, her wedding to Alphonse of Toulouse and subsequent rise to power through alliance, right through to Raymond V and crusade - all serve to demonstrate the power held by heiresses during the Middle Ages and the reality of their rule as they struggled with the Church for ascendancy. This gives rise to a fuller history of the regions of Narbonne, Montpellier
What Cheyette does so well is to display the lot of the common man, the realities of daily life within the feudal system, the monastic regime and the commerical and political shifting partnerships that all occurred - fundamentally, it would seem to be argued - to ensure that general accession of new generations would be smoother.
This piece of scholarship is not so heavy that it becomes unreadable, but it does go into far more depth about the sheer detail of life than the romantic title might suggest Ultimately, it succeeds for it and any student interested in a more precise look at the region and the period would be well advised to read this.