The Medieval Housebook and Elias's 'Scenes from the Life of a Knight': A case study fit for purpose?

Abstract

This extract is an introduction to the complete monograph which is a critical appraisal of Elias’ use and interpretation of The Medieval Housebook. It concludes that his approach was primarily aimed at supporting his broader thesis, with little attention given to its applicability. These conclusions are reached by highlighting omissions and discrepancies in Elias’s argument, researching the provenance of the codex and by a re-interpretation of its drawings. It argues that these limitations have remained unexposed for more than seven decades largely due to complacent acceptance by many respected figurational sociologists.