Modern Mind

carried on, with the book eventually taking almost as long to complete as did his earlier work. The first volume of
Civilisation et capitalisme,
known in English as
The Structures of Everyday Life,
appeared in 1967; the last in 1979. 27
    Here again Braudel’s conception was threefold – production at the base, distribution, and consumption at the top. (This was Marx-like, rather than specifically Marxist.) In the realm of production, for example, Braudel explored the relationship of wheat and maize and rice to the civilisations of the world. Rice, he found, ‘brought high populations and [therefore] strict social discipline to the regions where they prospered’ in Asia. 28 On the other hand, maize, ‘a crop that demands little effort,’ allowed the native Americans much free timeto construct their huge pyramids for which these civilisations have become famous. 29 He thought that a crucial factor in Europe’s success was its relatively small size, plus the efficiency of grain, and the climate. 30 The fact that so much of life was indoors fostered the development of furniture, which brought about the development of tools; the poorer weather meant that fewer days could be worked, but mouths still had to be fed, making labour in Europe relatively expensive. This led to a greater need for labour-saving devices, which, on top of the development of tools, contributed to the scientific and industrial revolution. The second volume,
The Wheels of Commerce,
and the third,
Perspective of the World,
followed the rise of capitalism. Braudel’s central point was that geography governed raw materials, the creation of cities (the markets) and trade routes. There was in other words a certain inevitability about the way civilisations developed, which made Europe, rather than Asia, Africa, or America the cradle of both capitalism and science. 31
    Braudel’s influence lay not just in his books but in the inspiration he offered to others (he died in 1985). Since World War II, the
Annates
school has spawned a very successful series of investigations, among them
The Peasants of Languedoc; Montaillou; Centuries of Childhood; The Hour of Our Death; The Coming of the Book; The Identity of France; The Great Cat Massacre; Catholicism from Luther to Voltaire; The Birth of Purgatory;
and
The Triumph of the Bourgeoisie.
Emmanuel le Roy Ladurie was widely regarded as Braudel’s most brilliant pupil. 32 He too was interested in
la longue durée,
and in
The Peasants of Languedoc
and
Montaillou
he sought to recreate the
méntalité
of mediaeval Europe. Montaillou, situated in the Ariège region of southwest France, was in an area that had been ‘home’ to a number of nonconformists during the Cathar heresy of the fourteenth century. These heretics were captured and interrogated by the local bishop, and a written record of these interrogations has survived. This register was used by Ladurie, who interpreted it in the light of more recent advances in anthropology, sociology, and psychology. 33 Among the names on the register of interrogations, twenty-five came from one village, Montaillou, and for many readers Ladurie brought these individuals back to life. The first part of his book deals with the material aspects of village life – the structure of the houses, the layout of the streets, where the church was. 34 This was done with wit and imagination – Ladurie shows, for instance, that the stones were so uneven that there were always holes in the walls so that families could listen to their neighbours: privacy was unknown in Montaillou. But it is in the second part of the book, ‘An Archaeology of Montaillou: From Body Language to Myth,’ that the real excitement lies. Here we are introduced, for example, to Pierre Maury, a gentle shepherd, but also politically conscious, to Pierre Clergue, the obnoxious priest, too big for his boots and the seducer of Béatrice des Planissoles, impressionable, headstrong, and all too eager to grow up. 35
    The
Annales
school has proved very influential. Its attraction for many people lies in the imaginative use of new kinds of evidence, science added to a humanity that provides a technique to bridge the gap across the centuries, in such a way that we can really understand what happened in the past, and how people thought. The very idea of recreating
mentalités,
the psychology of bygone ages,is ambitious, but for many people by far the most intriguing use of history, the closest to time travel we have