Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices From a Medieval Village

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! describes what it took to survive in the difficult period of the Middle Ages. Despite the overarching need to secure safety and sustenance, the characters actively seek out more meaningful connections with each other, and some of these narratives transcend class boundaries and religious differences entirely. By illustrating the many commonalities of the human condition, Schlitz provides a counterpoint to the harsh realities of medieval life.

Many of the author’s most philosophical points are implicit in the structure of the interwoven narratives, and several of the separate but interconnected monologues are specifically designed to highlight the importance of human connection. For example, Otho, the miller’s son, appears in the narratives of Mogg and Jack, and he is not described in a complimentary fashion. Like most of the other children, Mogg hates Otho because his father habitually cheats people of their grain, but Jack, who often finds himself ridiculed for his intellectual disability, forges a genuine, human connection with the miller’s son. Specifically, Jack draws upon his own experience of being beaten and empathizes with Otho’s similar injuries. He even goes so far as to put snow on the boy’s face in a gesture of tenderness, easing Otho’s pain and repeating soothing words to calm him.