The past is a foreign country: this is your guidebook. Imagine you could get into a time machine and travel back to the fourteenth century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? Should you go to a castle or a monastic guesthouse? And what are you going to eat? What sort of food are you going to be offered by a peasant or a monk or a lord? This radical new approach turns our entire understanding of history upside down. It shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. It sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you, the reader, to the middle ages, and showing you everything from the horrors of leprosy and war to the ridiculous excesses of roasted larks and haute couture. Being a guidebook, many questions are answered which do not normally occur in traditional history books. How do you greet people in the street? What should you use for toilet paper? How fast - and how safely - can you travel? Why might a physician want to taste your blood? And how do you test to see if you are going down with the plague? The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: revolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail, and startling for its portrayal of humanity in an age of violence, exuberance and fear.
About the Author
Ian Mortimer has BA and PhD degrees in history from Exeter University and an MA in archive studies from University College London. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1998, and was awarded the Alexander Prize (2004) by the Royal Historical Society for his work on the social history of medicine. He is the author of three medieval biographies, The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, and The Fears of Henry IV: The Life of England's Self-Made King, published in 2003, 2006 and 2007 respectively by Jonathan Cape. He lives with his wife and three children on the edge of Dartmoor.
Prizes
An original, entertaining and illuminating guide to a completely different world: England in the Middle Ages.
Reviews
[Mortimer] sets out to re-enchant the 14th Century, taking us by the hand through a landscape furnished with jousting nights, revolting peasants and beautiful ladies in wimples. It is Monty Python and the Holy Grail with footnotes, and, my goodness it is fun... the result of this careful blend of scholarship and fancy is a jaunty journey through the 14th Century, one that wriggles with the stuff of everyday life Guardian Social history is popular enough but I have read nothing quite like this. It is written in the manner of an extremely well-informed but chatty guidebook...This is not only an unusual book, but a thoroughly engaging one Literary Review This is the history book I've been waiting for: the essential handbook for any would-be Time Lords wishing to travel to the Middle Ages. Thorough, detailed and totally absorbing As lively as it is informative. His (Mortimer's) work of speculative social history is eminently entertaining but this doesn't detract from the seriousness and the thorough research involved Financial Times A unique and astonishing social history book which is revolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining History magazine
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Reviews
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An excellent book on social history, presented in the style of a travel guide. Fascinating and highly entertaining, this is so much more than a typical history book.
It takes the reader on a journey through the cities, towns and villages of medieval England, illustrating the vivid contrast between rich and poor, slave and nobleman.
The presentation of the struggles and triumphs, joys and sorrows of men and women of a bygone era, allows the reader to identify with them, and learn much about thier world.
At the same time it serves as an introduction to social customs and conventions. In doing so it provides a unique insight into life during this period, as well as a glimpse into the medieval mindset.
This is an excellent history book! It shows the lives of people living in medieval England in vivid 'real-time', detailing subject areas from travel, food and dress to religion and law, but also drawing relationships between them to produce a rich holistic tapestry of life in the 14th century. It is well-written and easy to read in parts or in a marathon sit-down session because you can't stop turning the pages. Highly recommended.
I used this book for a school assignment and it was very very helpful. then when my sister did the same assignment i gave to book to her and she found it very handy too. Great referencing and really helpful and detailed information. Schools should get this book for their library because it was very helpful. It was a worthwhile buy.
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