- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (2 May 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099581817
- ISBN-13: 978-0099581819
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,169,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A Fool And His Money
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Popular history at the highest level."
--"Independent"
"Wroe is an excellent historian and an engaging writer with a beady eye for detail and an attractive turn of phrase. Best of all, she conveys a true feeling for the recreation of period and persons and place."
--"Daily Telegraph"
"History lives best when it is loved, and nobody who reads this book can doubt the author's love of her subject."
--"Sunday Telegraph"
--"Independent"
"Wroe is an excellent historian and an engaging writer with a beady eye for detail and an attractive turn of phrase. Best of all, she conveys a true feeling for the recreation of period and persons and place."
--"Daily Telegraph"
"History lives best when it is loved, and nobody who reads this book can doubt the author's love of her subject."
--"Sunday Telegraph"
Product Description
Few books have captured the atmosphere of daily medieval life as well or as movingly as "A Fool and his Money". Rodez, in southern France, was divided for centuries by a fued between two masters. This partitioned town thus acquired two distinct cultures. The story focuses on the strange case of Peyre Marques, a merchant who forgets where he has buried his gold. To read "A Fool and his Money" is like opening a shutter on to a sunlit medieval street teeming with characters, talk and noise all coloured with the vibrancy of truth.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
`The town was Rodez; the river was the Aveyron. The year was 1369 or 1370, though nobody can say for sure.'
15 Dec 2010
Format:Paperback
Who owned the pot of gold found in a drain in Rodez, France, in either 1369 or 1370? Was it the man who claimed it, or was it his father-in-law?
`The story was already set, had become news.'
Ann Wroe unearthed a court case related to this gold and while the outcome of the court case is not known, Ms Wroe's research has provided a wealth of information about life in Rodez. Consider: a fortified city internally partitioned into two communities: the more elegant and ecclesiastical City - subject to the English, and the commercial Bourg - subject to the French. At this time, during the Hundred Years War, bandits roamed the countryside, as did French and English troops and mercenaries.
And what was life like for people in this fourteenth century community? The City paid taxes to the Black Prince and the Bourg paid tax (when it couldn't be helped) to the Count of Armagnac. Some individuals managed to avoid tax completely by being unfindable in either place. With separate municipal governments, and considerable rivalry between the two it is easy to see how the ownership of the gold could be disputed and how, unfortunately, the outcome of the court case is unknown.
Ms Wroe's research has resulted in an interesting and readable account of everyday life in a city divided by more than a wall. Somehow, by the end of the book, knowing who owned the gold was less important than appreciating the everyday lives of those in the city where it was found. In dissecting this complicated case, Ms Wroe has put context around the lives and actions of those involved brought the town of Rodez to life.
Who needs fiction when fact is so interesting?
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
`The story was already set, had become news.'
Ann Wroe unearthed a court case related to this gold and while the outcome of the court case is not known, Ms Wroe's research has provided a wealth of information about life in Rodez. Consider: a fortified city internally partitioned into two communities: the more elegant and ecclesiastical City - subject to the English, and the commercial Bourg - subject to the French. At this time, during the Hundred Years War, bandits roamed the countryside, as did French and English troops and mercenaries.
And what was life like for people in this fourteenth century community? The City paid taxes to the Black Prince and the Bourg paid tax (when it couldn't be helped) to the Count of Armagnac. Some individuals managed to avoid tax completely by being unfindable in either place. With separate municipal governments, and considerable rivalry between the two it is easy to see how the ownership of the gold could be disputed and how, unfortunately, the outcome of the court case is unknown.
Ms Wroe's research has resulted in an interesting and readable account of everyday life in a city divided by more than a wall. Somehow, by the end of the book, knowing who owned the gold was less important than appreciating the everyday lives of those in the city where it was found. In dissecting this complicated case, Ms Wroe has put context around the lives and actions of those involved brought the town of Rodez to life.
Who needs fiction when fact is so interesting?
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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