The Middle Ages Explained in Pictures

The text of this work was published in 2006 under the title The Middle Ages Explained to Children. The Middle Ages first of all represent a very long period: at least ten centuries, or 1000 years. Its name then lends itself to a double interpretation. For some, this "middle age" evokes nothing more than a period of violence against Jews and heretics, crusades against Muslims, and a mediocre moment for culture and the arts: for them, only a poor and ugly Middle Ages exists. Without ignoring that Middle Ages, Jacques Le Goff nevertheless evokes another, with unparalleled expertise that carries conviction. There was, and above all, a beautiful Middle Ages, with figures that still inspire dreams today (the Knights of the Round Table, fairies and monsters), magnificent constructions (fortified castles and cathedrals), a shared taste for encounters between men and women (pilgrimages, fairs, markets, religious festivals and pagan festivals), astonishing works of thought, literary creations and musical inventions: a whole imaginary world imbued with wonder. Finally, it was in the Middle Ages that Europe was born, with the variety of its nations but also the unity of a Christendom and a religious culture that contained in germ the modern ideas of democracy and secularism.