The Margins of Society in Late Medieval Paris

This book discusses the 'marginal' people of late medieval Paris, the large and shifting group of men and women who existed on the margins of conventional organized society.

Bronislaw Geremek (Author), Jean Birrell (Translated by), Jean-Claude Schmitt (Foreword by)

9780521026123, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 April 2006

332 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2 cm, 0.435 kg

This book discusses the 'marginal' people of late medieval Paris, the large and shifting group of men and women who existed on the margins of conventional organized society. Professor Geremek examines the various groups which made up the marginal world - beggars, prostitutes, procuresses and pimps, petty criminals, casual workers and the unemployed - their haunts in and around Paris, their way of life, and their relation to 'normal' society. Professor Geremek has made with this book a major contribution to the study of late medieval society which illuminates the little-known area of the medieval underworld in a fascinating and very accessible manner. Translated by Jean Birrell from the French edition of 1976, this edition includes a new introduction by Jean-Claude Schmitt, which offers a frank appraisal of the author's life and career to date.

Foreword Jean-Claude Schmitt
Introduction
1. Criminality and its social milieu
2. The sources
3. The social topography of Paris
4. The criminal and his group
5. Clerks and bohemians
6. Charity and beggars
7. The world of prostitution
8. The world of work and the world of crime
9. The boundaries of the marginal world
Conclusion
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]