Before passing on to matters of detail, which will help us to see whether the few medieval generalizations quoted in the preceding chapter are indeed typical, and representative of what serious contemporaries really did think concerning peasant life in the Middle Ages, we must first pause to consider the very different picture which has obtained wide currency during the last quarter of a century. The writer who has produced the greatest show of evidence here, and who has most influenced even distinguished scholars who have had no leisure to verify his references and note his omissions, is Johannes Janssen in his voluminous and frequently-quoted History of Germany at the Close of the Middle Ages. When we look closely at that book, we find that he produces no complete and general characterization from any contemporary author in support of his views. While completely ignoring Beham's unfavourable generalization, even Janssen's enormous industry—and nobody will deny to him that praise—has failed to discover any equally full and emphatic generalization in favour of peasant life. The most he can produce is the proof that the country-folk were often well fed at the exceptionally favourable time with which he is concerned—roughly, from 1450 to 1500—and that other classes satirically inveighed against the prosperity and pride of these boors.