Reviews for Geheimreport

The average rating for Geheimreport based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-05-16 00:00:00 Bruce Frampton The essay on hair politics during the Merovingian/Carolingian changeover and the one on weather magic both blew my mind. Although it's a shame he didn't bring up La Chanson de Floovants, a geste whose plot is kicked off when the royal heir shaves his sleeping tutor's ducal beard as a prank and is exiled form the kingdom. It's from a later time period but it's looking back on that era. All the stuff on animals and the literary side of the Carolingian renaissance ruled too. I think what makes these essays so good is they give in to speculation, which people like Dutton who actually know what they're talking about are usually reluctant to do. Or to admit they're doing, so much of this period's history really is just trying to suss out clues from the annals and chronicles. I dunno. All I'm saying is I really enjoyed this.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-02-08 00:00:00 Andrew Haskett I am not a medievalist or a historian or a scholar and yet I really enjoyed this collection of essays by Dutton about little cultural clouds around Charlemagne's court. Could Charlemagne, famous encourager of learning and books, actually read and/or write? What did the various kingly hairstyles mean, and why did they change when they did? How was astronomy/astrology actually used and understood by the Merovingians? These are not questions I would have asked, I know nothing about this period but the names, yet Dutton's writing in answering them is so enjoyable and fascinating; I came away from the book with my intellectual curiosity fed.