Admittedly, the book deserves praise for its discussion of the peasant as a key aspect of the society of the Middle Ages, but unfortunately the author ignores town dwellers and focuses on parasitic cultural and intellectual elites, evidence of an anti-bourgeois bias that is all too common in such efforts. So long as this book is viewed as a humorous and lighthearted attempt at popular history, it is far easier to enjoy than when one is tearing it apart for its inevitable stumbles and errors and its failure to give credit where credit is due to various people and groups of people.
Similarly, the author comes to the Middle Ages with a certain background as a comedian whose work, especially Monty Python’s Search For The Holy Grail, itself made a lot of knowing winks and nods at the medieval history of the British Isles. Among his biases is a strong hostility to organized religion as well as a certain degree of favoritism to entertainers and outlaws. As any author does, this particular writer comes to the subject of medieval history and the lives of various classes of people with a certain bias and a certain background. In many ways, this book is an entertaining volume, even though it seeks to present itself as something more than mere entertainment. Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives: The Book Of The BBC Series, by Terry Jones and Alan Ereira
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