"Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen" by Johan Huizinga is a historical study published in 1919. Examining fourteenth and fifteenth-century France and the Netherlands, Huizinga argues that the excessive formality and romance of late medieval court life served as a defense mechanism against society's increasing brutalization. Drawing on chronicles and literature rather than archival documents, this groundbreaking work pioneered cultural and mentality history, evoking an entire era's atmosphere in literary style.