Accessible book about life in medieval Britain?

[wavingfuriously]

Interesting book about medieval life in uk needed please. Really bored by dry old intellectual tomes... something to being the era alive!

Thank you

Fiction or non-fiction?

The shardlake series - medieval whodunnits and very well researched but most importantly very readable!

The Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England

I'd also recommend the Time Travellers Guide, I really enjoyed it. Non-fiction.

David Mitchell's most recent one, Unruly, is apparently very good, although admittedly kings and queens of England through the ages rather than just the medieval era.

The Pillars of the Earth trilogy by Ken Follett. Very accessible, and really brings the period alive. For some reason one scene that sticks in my mind is the Lammas loaf competition, where everyone in the village has a go at making bread with flour from the harvest grain.

I love the last Kingdom books. They do get a bit repetitive as there are a lot of battles, so stick to the first ones if it's too long.

What timeframes? Although it’s a children’s book the Woolpack by Cynthia Harnett is a quick read, and set earlier than the Tudor Shardlakes (which I also recommend).

The Dorothy Dunnett Niccolo series is also very good.

I was about to suggest that, but wasn’t sure if the OP wanted fiction or not which is why I asked 💁

Loved that trilogy.

Another vote for the Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England. I loved it.

NON FICTION please

Brother Cadfael books are great if you are looking for fiction?

Saw the thread title and immediately thought of The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England - they are terrific and really accessible.

Thanks everyone 👍 time travellers defo on my list !

Terry Jones: Medieval Lives. It's exactly what you're looking for.

Came to suggest this!

Me too! It's really good OP, tells you where to stay, what to eat and what job you could do. Tells you all about the culture, eg humour, literature, theatre. It is really fun!

We’re talking 1000 year time span, so do you have a particular era in which you’re more interested in? I’m currently The Wolf Age by Tore Skeie, is very readable for a non-historian. Winters in the World by Eleanor Parker is also interesting and follows the Anglo Saxon year.

The only caveat about this book is that is very male-centric IMO.

Medieval Horizons by Ian Mortimer is good too.

Trouble is, the men were the ones doing the writing at the time. You generally have a choice of them documenting the kingly matters and wars, or religion.

I would LOVE to know more about family make up, breastfeeding, infant sleep, recipes, herbal medicines etc. All the things that the monks didn't think were important to document. We then lost a lot of oral history when everyone moved to the cities in the industrial revolution and broke up the female bonds. Such a loss. Hopefully some will invent a time machine / window soon to find out.

I’m also enjoying David Mitchell’s Unruly. It’s non-fiction but very funny.

Femina by Janina Ramirez covers some of these topics - albeit from a particular viewpoint. Women that were “written out” so archaeology is the only way to tell their story

Prof Roberta Gilchrist’s books are academic but very well written ( and therefore really accessible) on women in the monastic context

Medieval Woman is the story of one year of every day life centered from the point of view of one woman. Each Chapter is a new month. Highly recommend.