''Montaillou'' (; french: Montaillou, village occitan de 1294 à 1324, ) is a book by the French historian

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie Emmanuel Bernard Le Roy Ladurie (, born 19 July 1929) is a French historian whose work is mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ''Ancien Régime'', particularly the history of the peasantry. One of the leading historians of France, Le Roy Ladurie h ...

first published in 1975. It was first translated into English in 1978 by

Barbara Bray Barbara Bray (née Jacobs; 24 November 1924 – 25 February 2010) was an English translator and critic. Early life Bray was born in Maida Vale, London; her parents had Belgian and Jewish origins. An identical twin (her sister Olive Classe was al ...

, and has been subtitled ''The Promised Land of Error'' and ''Cathars and Catholics in a French Village''. ''Montaillou'' was Ladurie's "most important and popular work". Ladurie used the

inquisitorial An inquisitorial system is a legal system in which the court, or a part of the court, is actively involved in investigating the facts of the case. This is distinct from an adversarial system, in which the role of the court is primarily that of an ...

records of

Jacques Fournier Pope Benedict XII ( la, Benedictus XII, french: Benoît XII; 1285 – 25 April 1342), born Jacques Fournier, was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1334 to his death in April 1342. He was the third Avignon pope. Benedict was a careful ...

to reconstruct the lives of the inhabitants of

Montaillou Montaillou (; oc, Montalhon) is a commune in the Ariège department in the south of France. Its original, medieval location was abandoned and the current village is a short distance away. History The village is best known for being the s ...

in the Ariège (at the time, the

county of Foix The County of Foix (french: Comté de Foix, ; oc, Comtat de Fois) was an independent medieval fief in southern France, and later a province of France, whose territory corresponded roughly the eastern part of the modern ''département'' of Ariè ...

). The work was part of the

historical anthropology Historical anthropology is a historiographical movement which applies methodologies and objectives from social and cultural anthropology to the study of historical societies. Like most such movements, it is understood in different ways by differe ...

of the Annales school.

Summary

''Montaillou'' examines the lives and beliefs of the population of

, a small village in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

with only around 250 inhabitants, at the beginning of the fourteenth century. It is largely based on the Fournier Register, a set of records from the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

which investigated and attempted to suppress the spread of Catharism in the Ariège region from 1318 to 1325, during the reigns of Philip V "the Tall" and Charles IV "the Fair". The work is in two parts. The first explores the physical world of the inhabitants of Montaillou, telling the stories of

Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

and Bernard Clergue, two of the most powerful men in Montaillou, and the shepherd

Pierre Maury Pierre Maury (1282 or 1283 – after 1324) was a shepherd in the Comté de Foix. His life is known through his deposition, and the depositions of his friends and associates, to Bishop Jacques Fournier who was hunting for Cathar heretics. He play ...

. The second explores the beliefs of the residents of Montaillou: what ''Annales'' historians called their '' mentalité''.

Historiography

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie is most associated with the ''Annales'' School in French historiography, and in the English-speaking world he is one of the best-known ''Annales'' historians. ''Montaillou'' has been described as a work of history from below. It has been described as a landmark in the genre of history from below. In its use of records of interrogations as its primary source, it has also been seen as having links with oral history. The book is unusual for its use of a single source, the inquisition register, for so much of the work. It has been considered a precursor to

microhistory Microhistory is a genre of history that focuses on small units of research, such as an event, community, individual or a settlement. In its ambition, however, microhistory can be distinguished from a simple case study insofar as microhistory aspires ...

Reception

''Montaillou'' was much more successful than either Ladurie or his publishers had anticipated, selling more than 250,000 copies and being translated into multiple languages. It received praise from professional historians and the general public alike. When the book was published, it was widely described as a masterpiece of social history. Reviewers considered that ''Montaillou'' was "by far one of the finest historical works of the decade", and one of the most remarkable works of French history ever. However, despite its influence, Ladurie's history has been criticised by many reviewers. Ladurie's use of the Fournier Register has been challenged as being insufficiently critical. Reviewers such as Cynthia Hay have written about the challenges of using oral evidence, especially oral evidence given many years after the event in question, as a source, despite Ladurie's rejection of the idea that the evidence might not be reliable. David Herlihy has also criticised the translations of the Register given in ''Montaillou'', which he said were often paraphrased, sometimes misleadingly, rather than direct translations.

References

{{Authority control 1974 non-fiction books 20th-century history books Catharism French books History books about France