Pillars of the Earth
Y'all have probably heard this before, but I posted it on the BPAL board and it bears repeating. Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. I read it back in the early '90's and was completely infuriated. The plot, if described to a medieval English person would make no sense to them. We saw the couple marry in the first scene by medieval legal standards, yet the plot hinges on them not having been married. Yes, they wouldn't count as married after the Reformation and counter reformation, but the book took place in the middle ages proper. The whole book was full of things like that. Yes, 80 percent of medieval folk never traveled more than a day's journey from home, but the other twenty percent carried news with them wherever they went. Yes, it might take 15-20 years for news from the far part of the Middle East or from Russia and eastern Europe to reach England, but trust me, if they were building a cathedral anywhere in England, everyone else in England would know about it in a few months because it was the sort of thing people wanted to know about and news of jobs for skilled labourers traveled fast. I could go on and on.
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