'The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century' by Ian Mortimer is a popular history book that delves into the lived experience of people in the fourteenth century. The book offers a detailed exploration of everyday life, social hierarchy, travel, health, hygiene, education, literature, and more during this period. Mortimer vividly describes various aspects of life, from food and clothing to laws and entertainment, making the distant time and place of medieval England concretely visible to readers. The book is structured like a modern travel guide, providing insights into the culture shock a visitor would have experienced in the fourteenth century.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is engaging, informal, and descriptive, similar to a travel guide, making historical content accessible.

Plot/Storyline:

The focus is on portraying history through the lens of a tourist experience, emphasizing daily life over significant events.

Setting:

Set in 14th century England, it explores diverse environments from towns to countryside.

Pacing:

Pacing varies, with chapters designed for easy digestion but can sometimes feel slow due to extensive detail.

It is the cathedral that you will see first. As you journey along the road you come to a break in the trees and there it is, massive and magnificent, cresting the hilltop in the morning sun. Despite t...

Genres:

Topics:

travel and accommodation

Notes:

Medieval medicine included bizarre treatments like bathing in puppy viscera and milk from women or goats for tuberculosis.

Life varied drastically between social classes in the 14th century, with distinct differences in clothing and dietary restrictions.

The Great Plague, which decimated the population, was not referred to as the Black Death until the 19th century.

Clothing was strictly regulated by sumptuary laws, dictating what individuals could wear based on social status and wealth.

The use of buttons became widespread, changing how clothing was fitted and signifying a shift in fashion.

Eating meat was restricted on certain days of the week, with specific fish classifications that included puffins and beavers due to their aquatic lifestyles.

Women had more independence as widows compared to married women, with certain rights regarding the continuation of their husbands' trades.

Fourteenth-century England saw the transition from French to English as the primary language of the upper classes.

Life in the 1300s could be harsh, marked by superstitions, legal harshness, and peculiar medical practices.

The introduction of mechanical clocks standardized the hour length, as previously, hours varied depending on the season.

Most English individuals believed they maintained cleanliness despite poor sanitation practices like infrequent bathing and earthen floors in homes.

From The Publisher:

Imagine you could get into a time machine and travel back to the 14th century. This text sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking the reader to the Middle Ages, and showing everything from the horrors of leprosy and war to the ridiculous excesses of roasted larks and haute couture.

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About the Author:

Dr Ian Mortimer is a historian and novelist, best known for his Time Traveller's Guides series. He has BA, MA, PhD and DLitt degrees from the University of Exeter and UCL. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and was awarded the Alexander Prize by the Royal Historical Society in 2004.

Home for him and his family is the small Dartmoor town of Moretonhampstead, which he occasioanlly introduces in his books. He also writes in other genres: his last novel The Outcasts of Time won the 2018 Winston Graham Prize for historical fiction.

His trilogy of novels set in the 1560s were published under his middle names, James Forrester. His most recent book is 'Why Running Matters' - a memoir of running in the year he turned fifty.

He also writes songs: a CD entitled 'Dr Ian Mortimer's Comedies, Histories & Tragedies' is available and a second CD, Autumn Songs, is in preparation.

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