John Hatcher’s “The Black Death: The intimate story of a Village in Crisis, 1345-1350”, Book Review
With the innovation of John Hatcher’s, The Black Death: The intimate story of a Village in Crisis, 1345-1350, he attempts to present an invented view of an English village during the pestilence of 1349. Using the archaeological process of theories as a basis, Hatcher’s micro historical approach to the black plague is quite important based on the exploration of new theories that adhere to the historian’s methodology. This, however, is not enough to allow the narrative to stand up to historical analysis, instead it is much better suited to introduce a new audience and a new way of analysing the black plague.
John Hatcher’s example of microhistory …show more content…
However, while there are parallels, it is imperative to understand that not all aspects of the text and archaeology line up. Regardless, the Archaeological process of theories consists of three ranges; the low range theories, dealing with the transformation of materials from the systemic context to the archaeological record, the middle range theories, dealing with the linking of human behaviour and the archaeological data, and finally, high-range theories that deal with the ambiguous questions that span whole cultural systems. These theories are quite important as they represent a step system, in which the low theories lead to the middle and then to the high theories. These theories can be contrasted with Hatcher’s book as he has shown that there are many pre-existing types of historiography on the macro history of the Black Plague, and because of this, hatcher has created a microhistory to ask better questions. The analogy is evaluated when it is considered that hatcher’s book is a middle level theory, it is an examination of human behaviour in the time of the …show more content…
While it is quite incredible for such a book - that examines the impossibly small details - to be published, it is not without its struggles as, Hatcher states, “More particularly. Local records tell us frustratingly little in a direct manner about the impact of the Black Death. The intimate history of the Black Plague, as witnessed by those who experienced it, was never recorded.” However, the main criticism with microhistory is the fact that its main goal cannot be achieved without losing the utility of being a historical source. Thus, the book can be considered untrustworthy as it is based on invented information. The main example for invention is the character, ‘Master John’ the protagonist of the story. In the first chapter of the book, Hatcher explains that, “…Master John, who is the central character in this book, has had to be entirely invented.” Then there is the example of Hatcher using a letter from the papal court in Avignon and placing the contents as the dialogue of a sea captain, “I have heard the most terrible tales of human cruelty when the plague strikes…” These two examples are the main criticisms against the work of Hatcher and his use of microhistory as it is destructive to the
With the innovation of John Hatcher’s, The Black Death: The intimate story of a Village in Crisis, 1345-1350, he attempts to present an invented view of an English village during the pestilence of 1349. Using the archaeological process of theories as a basis, Hatcher’s micro historical approach to the black plague is quite important based on the exploration of new theories that adhere to the historian’s methodology. This, however, is not enough to allow the narrative to stand up to historical analysis, instead it is much better suited to introduce a new audience and a new way of analysing the black plague.
John Hatcher’s example of microhistory …show more content…
However, while there are parallels, it is imperative to understand that not all aspects of the text and archaeology line up. Regardless, the Archaeological process of theories consists of three ranges; the low range theories, dealing with the transformation of materials from the systemic context to the archaeological record, the middle range theories, dealing with the linking of human behaviour and the archaeological data, and finally, high-range theories that deal with the ambiguous questions that span whole cultural systems. These theories are quite important as they represent a step system, in which the low theories lead to the middle and then to the high theories. These theories can be contrasted with Hatcher’s book as he has shown that there are many pre-existing types of historiography on the macro history of the Black Plague, and because of this, hatcher has created a microhistory to ask better questions. The analogy is evaluated when it is considered that hatcher’s book is a middle level theory, it is an examination of human behaviour in the time of the …show more content…
While it is quite incredible for such a book - that examines the impossibly small details - to be published, it is not without its struggles as, Hatcher states, “More particularly. Local records tell us frustratingly little in a direct manner about the impact of the Black Death. The intimate history of the Black Plague, as witnessed by those who experienced it, was never recorded.” However, the main criticism with microhistory is the fact that its main goal cannot be achieved without losing the utility of being a historical source. Thus, the book can be considered untrustworthy as it is based on invented information. The main example for invention is the character, ‘Master John’ the protagonist of the story. In the first chapter of the book, Hatcher explains that, “…Master John, who is the central character in this book, has had to be entirely invented.” Then there is the example of Hatcher using a letter from the papal court in Avignon and placing the contents as the dialogue of a sea captain, “I have heard the most terrible tales of human cruelty when the plague strikes…” These two examples are the main criticisms against the work of Hatcher and his use of microhistory as it is destructive to the