Duby, Georges (1919– )

Duby, Georges (1919– ), French scholar and author. Georges Durby has gained renown both as a medieval scholar and author. Duby's research led him to write several books on the middle ages. Notable among these was Le Temps des cathedrales: L'Art et la societe, 980–1420.

Translated in 1981 as The Age of the Cathedrals: Art and Society, 980–1420, the work had also served as the basis for the series of television films Duby produced for Antenne 2 in Paris in 1980. A comprehensive study of the early Gothic cathedrals of France, The Age of the Cathedrals discusses the various building plans of the churches and explains the social and religious milieu that gave rise to their construction.

Other works by Duby include The Knight, the Lady and the Priest: The Making of Modern Marriage in Medieval France, which traces the evolution of marriage and societal attitudes toward it through an examination of medieval romance literature, religious drama, and early church records, and William Marshal: The Flower of Chivalry, in which Duby examines a manuscript from the thirteenth century which contains a long poem by a French trouvere about the life of Guillaume Marechal, a knight-errant who rose to greatness and wealth in the service of kings before his death in 1219. Duby continued to write books on medieval subjects in coming years, and in 1986 he collaborated with several scholars to produce Historie de la vie privee. The work comprises an anticipated five volumes, the first three of which were directed by Duby and the late Philippe Aries.

CA