Currently Reading: Life in a Medieval City

One of the best things about reading multiple books by the same author(s) is that since their research is usually somewhat focused, you end up meeting the same people again and again. For example, in the Life in a Medieval... series, I have encountered Thibaut the Songwriter no less than three times now. I almost feel like I know the guy. :)

Some fun quotes:
"In Pisa plunder contributed to the construction of a large tower designed to house the bells of a new cathedral; unfortunately this edifice did not settle properly."

"A cardinal accused the communes of abetting heresy, of declaring war on the clergy, and of encouraging skepticism."

"Horse and donkey traffic made the narrow streets as foul as they were congested."

"Eudes' two sons divided up his domain and started a war with the kind of France after which one son died and the other, Thibaut the Trickster, duly tricked his nephew out of his share of the inheritance."

Thibaut the Trickster was father of Thibaut the Great, who established the great fairs at Troyes (the city about which the book is most concerned), who was in turn the father of Thibaut the Songwriter, my new favorite Medieval dude.