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566 reviews for:
The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
Ian Mortimer
4.02 AVERAGE
566 reviews for:
The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
Ian Mortimer
4.02 AVERAGE
LOL this only took me almost a complete whole year to read. I FORCED myself to get through the last 3 chapters over the last couple of days because I was dang sick and tired of this book. I love Medieval England. I studied loads of the literature from that time in my classes and am very familiar with law and societal views when it comes to women, sex and sexuality as I also studied that at university. I always thought it would be interesting to write a story based in this period of history but felt that I didn't know enough about day-to-day life. I was thrilled when I found this book as it felt like an easy and comprehensive text to read. It was okay, but it was dry. Don't let the whole "it's like a travel guide!" fool you into thinking this is just a fun piece of literature. This is hard, cold nonfiction at its finest with lack of transitions and listing of facts. I really liked the sections on literature, women's rights, sketchy doctors, and importance of bread but I found myself glazing over at pretty much everything else. Glad that I can finally get this off of my "currently reading" list.
This book was a real treat to read. It reads more like a travel book than a history book, which really helps bring the 14th century to life. The author does a great job of telling you how it is and asking the reader to withhold judging these Medieval people with our modern eyes. Simply see how they lived and understand all the factors that went into that way of life. Mortimer details many aspects of life from entertainment to law and order to living conditions. And he spares no section of the populace, so you learn how the King and nobles lived as well as the merchants, freemen, and villeins (peasants).
I'm looking forward to the guide to Restoration England and Elizabethan England now too. Such a great way to absorb history, in my opinion.
I'm looking forward to the guide to Restoration England and Elizabethan England now too. Such a great way to absorb history, in my opinion.
A genuinely interesting look at England in the fourteenth century. It discusses not only the political angles, but focuses primarily on the daily life of people in the various classes. It also talks about popular pass-times, games, fashion, music, food, cleanliness, medicine, and almost anything else you could consider.
Very interesting read. This book is written as a guide for the traveller-in case you find yourself in 14th century England. This is not the book to read if you want to study the politics or wars of the time, but it's the book to read if you want to understand how people lived.
I really enjoyed this tourguide-style book about Medieval England. It was fast for me to read at first but I got a little bit bored during the section on medieval law, and it took way longer to complete the book after that point. It's a period of history I'm very interested in so I enjoyed learning more through this book. If anyone knows of any books written in this style for earlier periods of history (this book was focused on the 14th century, I would especially like to read about the middle ages before the 11th century) I would be interested in reading other similarly written books in the future.
I'm a huge fan of Medieval history but I did expect this book to be a bit dry. It was not even a little bit dry. Every chapter was fascinating. Mortimer did an excellent job describing what it would be like to be in the 14th century. I ended up wishing it were longer so he could have gone over more topics.
informative
medium-paced
The way Mortimer wrote about women was.... not good. But otherwise, a helpful starting place for research.
I’m not going to go higher than a 4, but this was very good and I’m going to seek out the other books in the series. The medieval period isn’t one I know much about so the sheer amount of information, almost all of which was new to me, was a little overwhelming and I’m sure most of it went in one ear and out of the other as one can only absorb so much info... Love to know that almond milk was around in the 1300s tho, great fact. Also the (very detailed!!) chapter on clothing has got me itching to draw some medieval fashion illustrations.
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced