Touchstone The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century

I truly love the Middle Ages, and have read many books and texts about them...and this one is one of the very best. Ian Mortimer, the author of "The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England," has created a Guide that is truly unique. It's written as if--you guessed it--you've traveled back in time and found yourself in a foreign land...Britain, in the midst of the Middle Ages. It's meant not only to review what made this period unique, but also to immerse oneself into that period to discover it from the point of view of those who lived it. As Mortimer himself puts it: "How did people greet each other...? What is their sense of humor like? How far away from home do individuals travel?" His hope is that such knowledge will make us not only understand the past better, but find out "what it's like to be human" in this era. The chapters are written thematically. While the first few concentrate on subjects like "The Landscape" and "The People," the latter ones are more direct, like "What To Wear" and Where To Stay." Not only does this give us a rich diorama of the era, it is also extremely readable. As aids to our understanding, Mortimer also provides charts, a fair amount of artwork (in color), and lists,..lots of lists. One list is all about "Ordinances"... a list of offences of the time and what their penalties were, including items like "No man shall play tennis...within the guild hall" or "No butcher may work in the city as a cook." Additional lists cover such items as "Household Inventories" of actual people, "Clothing Regulations," and "The Social Hierarchy." What particularly sets this book apart though is not its lists or pictures or subject headings, however, but its thoroughness. You really do gain a sense that you are learning about specifics of the era, and finding out what you need to get around. In a sense--as the author tells you--you will be able to use this book as a "virtual reality" for travel from your own home to other locations. Not only will you find out what your own home looks like--should you be a wealthy burgher or a commoner--but you will also be told how others will greet you when you knock on a door to, say, an inn--again, whether you are a member of nobility or a commoner. In the same vein, you will also be informed as to what you should expect from various courses of food in a peasant's home versus a nobleman's. While being dined at a castle earns many pages of specificity, visiting a more humble home still manages to sound inviting: "After supper the householder will have his children sent to bed in the family bedchamber and will spend the evening talking with you beside the fire...Even in this poor light you will find his wife darning or stitching clothes for the family, squinting at her needlework." The Guide also lets you know how to take care of yourself or others in matters of illness or surgery (even the plague or leprosy), how to handle various legal issues such as malicious arrest or even execution. (A WARNING...this next sentence might be disgusting:) You are also given the particulars of your own disembowelment, and how a skilled executioner will most likely enable you to witness your own entrails on fire before you die. On a lighter note, you will also find out how to entertain oneself in local townships...be it wagering or playing a "ball and stick" game or seeing a performance or witnessing the spectacle of jousting. Or your needs might be loftier, such as reading pleasurable prose or poetry, or even taking part in a crusade. Regardless, this book provides a very playful and knowledgeable look at the era, one that will enlighten your way, as well as "lighting" a path through what many used to think of as the "Dark Ages."

I think that I can safely speak for many of us in the historical community (both writers and readers) when I say that we are - in the nicest way of course - rather nosy. That is, we want to know all about people from different times: what they looked like; what they did; how they did it. For instance, have you ever wondered whether people in the fourteenth century wore nightdresses or what the well off used to wipe their behinds with (I have!)? How about their pastimes, sense of humour or the difficulties of travelling? Ian Mortimer's latest book: The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England - A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century certainly satisfies that craving for knowledge of the minutiae of daily life in the Middle Ages. The book is lovingly researched and well written with a light sprinkling of humour that makes it very easy to read. The style in itself is very original for a non-fiction historical book, using a `guidebook' approach that is a million miles away from the stuffiness of many `academic' books. Yet, happily, the book does not suffer from a lack of sincerity or historical integrity in any way. The topics cover a broad range of subjects for the `traveller' from what the landscape will look like to what to wear, where to stay when travelling, and how to address different kinds of people that you will meet along the way. And then, of course, when they invite you to eat with them, you will know what food to expect. And then, of course, there is always the danger of falling ill. The Time Traveller's Guide is once again at hand to tell you not only what may be wrong with you (hopefully not the plague, or leprosy!) and what medicine is available to help cure it. This book, then, is a wonderful read. To be fair, I could not find fault either with the style or the information it offered (much to my frustration - as I always like to find at least a little criticism to balance things). To anyone who loves this period it will open up new doors to understanding the social history of the time. For writers of Medieval fiction, it is a valuable sourcebook - full of the little details that we need to make our stories come alive. So yes, I heartily recommend this book as worth every penny

Una preciosa lectura, te atrapa con su humor y su forma inmersiva de describir la cultura medieval. 10/10

I bought this book to help me with research for my next novel, and I loved it. It has everything you need to know about what it was like to live in medieval times, explained clearly and in an interesting way. You won't fall asleep reading this, if only all history books could be as much fun to read! Highly recommend, even if you're not doing any research!

easy read, get a good sense of what life was like in the middle ages, high recommend