Life in a Medieval Village by Frances Gies

This is actually 3 books since it contains editions of Life in a Medieval Castle, Life in a Medieval City and Life in a Medieval Village. I try to create fantasy worlds that break the medieval mold, but I keep coming back to medieval/early modern Western Europe, and especially Britain, simply because of my confidence with my ability to handle the source material. Heck, even coverage of eastern Europe is lacking in English. Now if only there were more accessible books out there on non-Western material culture / social history. And Dorothy Hartley's Lost Country Life is quirky and dated but has a lot of good stuff about the rhythms of agricultural life.

Newman, which was fabulous for small details of material culture. If you're reading this review, you MAY be a writer (or artist, tabletop gamer, reenactor, etc.) Another work I recommend is Daily Life in the Middle Ages by Paul B. The illustrations were added after the fact for this hardcover compilation, but they're for the most part carefully selected from medieval Books of Hours and other manuscripts - only a scattering of irrelevant Victorian illustrations. It's a work of popular history and a bit older but makes extensive use of primary documents and, gratifyingly, tackles towns and villages as well as castle life. I need to buy this book I read it cover to cover a year ago and just borrowed it again for reference.Īny book that tries to sum up 'medieval times' for a popular audience is going to do a lot of simplifying, but this one does a pretty good job as far as I, who am Not A Historian, can tell. The authors use recent archeloogical discoveries and historic and contemporary documents in conjunction with diagrams and dramatic photographs to give readers a full understanding of what it was truly like to live 700 years ago.

Three real medieval places - a castle in Chepstow on the Welsh border, the city of Troyes in the country of Champagne and the village of Elton in the English East Midlands - are the jumping - off point for this thorough exploration of 13th and 14th century life in Europe. This book takes readers into the fascinating world of medieval life through historic pictures, period illustrations and detailed text that describes everything from castle-storming techniques to villagers' hair styles. A Vivid, Detailed Account of Birth, Marriage and Death Food, Clothing and Housing Love and Labor in the Middle Agesĭaily Life in Medieval Times is a fully-illustrated edition of the classic and popular books of history and anthropology by Frances and Joseph Gies - Life in a Medieval Castle, Life in a Medieval City and Life in a Medieval Village.

Life in a Medieval Village by Frances Gies