Going medieval for 2026

[Buttalapasta]

I feel like I have a medieval-shaped hole in my literary and historical knowledge and would love to do something about that in 2026. I am going to read The Canterbury Tales but I'm also looking for books about medieval history, novels set during the period etc. Nothing too highbrow but I would love any suggestions!

Terry Jones (from Monty Python) wrote a great little book on medieval history.

Or how about The Cloister and the Hearth? I am reading a travel book by Patrick Leigh Fermor atm and he writes the following:

"I sat before a glorious fire, drinking my red wine for a while and feeling like some medieval traveller alone in his chamber over a bottle of sack or mead – like Denis in The Cloister and the Hearth."

Fermor also mentions reading Helen Waddell's Wandering Scholars, about medieval 'dropouts' who knew Latin and spent their days drifting around Europe getting drunk and writing poetry in Latin.

Oh, and try T. H. White.

Surprised that Conn Iggulden's quartet of novels revolving around Henry V1, Margaret ofAnjou, Richard, Duke Of York, Earl Of Warwick, Edward 1V and the Wars Of The Roses haven't been mentioned yet. Not highbrow, but a good read and, largely, historically accurate:

Stormbird
Trinity
Bloodline
Ravenspur

I can’t recommend the Winter Pilgrims series by Toby Clements highly enough. I was genuinely emotional about the characters in a way I haven’t been for years. Also another vote for Company of Liars and The Pillars of the Earth. Bernard Cornwell’s Harlequin series is set around the 100 years war period and, though not as good as his Last Kingdom series, is very enjoyable.

Edward Marston's Domesday Series is a lot of fun. Murder mysteries set around a Royal Commission travelling around Britain investigating disputes in the Domesday book. Every town they turn up in ends up having a murder to solve.

The mysteries are good but the best bit is how much research clearly went into it. The bristling conflict between Anglo Saxons and Norman's. Rivalry between ambitious monks. Quicks and folklore belonging to different towns. I love it and no one else seems to have read them

Thrones and Powers by Dan Jones is an immense book, but a fascinating one. He follows the different movements and influences across Europe from the end of the Roman Empire in Britain up to the Renaissance or thereabouts. He talks about the Roman Empire, the Huns, the universities, the rise of monasticism and the abbeys, amongst other things.

I have it as an audiobook, and found it absolutely enthralling.

Ann Swinfen is another who wrote medieval mysteries. Hers were Oxford based.

The Doomesday Book by Connie Willis is excellent, time travellers getting stuck in 1320.

Anyone who likes time travel (sorry, investigating historical events in contemporary time), and hasn't yet discovered the Chronicles of St Mary's series by Jodi Taylor, buy yourself a Christmas present:
Just One Damned Thing After Another (Chronicles of St. Mary's) eBook : Taylor, Jodi: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

I do like the last kingdom books, although the story should have been told in fewer books. It drags on by the end. I'm waiting for David Woodman's book The First King of England to come out in paperback, as Aethelstan really should be better known. The Anglo Saxons by Marc Morris is also very informative.

Wow! So many great suggestions - better make it a medieval decade instead of just a year! Thank you everyone!

The Arthur trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland is young adult, but very readable about manor life and the Crusades.

I enjoyed the Kristin Lavransdatter readalong but that is quite literary (look at the thread for editions).

There’s also Cecily by Annie Garthwaite but I haven’t finished that (mainly because I’ve read a few books on the Wars of the Roses).

For non-fiction, Marc Morris has written a few books, Juliet Barker has written about Agincourt, and Charles Spencer about the White Ship.

I also listen to podcasts like The Rest is History & Going Medieval which are good for book recommendations, especially ones that interview authors.

For non-fiction,

Phillipa Gregory and Allison Weir

Re Phillippa Gregory, I would say her older books are far better. Ive just given up halfway through ' three sisters 3 wives' as I apparently still have 5 hours of reading to go, and its so tedious. Shes also gone a bit 'woo' on the Tudors!

I’ve enjoyed novels by Elizabeth Chadwick and Sharon Penman but going to check out some other authors suggested here now too!

Yes agree with this. I lost interest at the later books. The early ones are v good though

A good place to start with Sharon Penman is When Christ And His Saints Slept, which is about the war between Stephen and Maude, followed by Time and Chance and Devil's Brood which focuses on Henry !! and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
I really recommend her Welsh trilogy, Here Be Dragons/Falls The Shadow/The Reckoning, which is brilliant and heartbreaking.

Interesting typo there. Henry II...

@Benvenuto The Kristin Lavransdatter readalong was what got me interested!

In A Dark Wood Wandering by Halle Haasse is super.

It isn't fiction but A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman is wonderful.

Also any of the Norah Lofts novels set in medieval times.

For mysteries I’d also recommend Sarah Hawkswood’s Catchpoll and Bradecote series. Better than Cadfael IMHO.

You must read Medieval Woman by Ann Bauer. A beauty of a book that charts a normal woman’s life over a year. It’s breathtakingly real and I love reading it every year, it’s like visiting a friend.

That sounds right up my street! Thank you everyone for the suggestions.

I like Alison Weir’s books - fiction and non fiction.

And I mentioned Powers and Thrones by Dan Jones earlier - but forgot his books about the Plantagenets, the Wars of the Roses, Henry V, and the Templars - he writes history in a way that makes it entertaining and informative.

I just got Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards from the library. It's about a young woman in medieval Bridges who runs away from an arranged marriage and falls in with a group of religious women, the Beguines, who led religious lives in a community without joining a religious order. It seems to be about religion, mysticism, and women's agency.

Sorry @Buttalapasta- I should have recognised you from the Kristin thread (I’m blaming early morning posting & not being properly awake).

It’s great that the readalong has inspired you - I’m very tempted to read some of Sigrid Undset’s other works next year for similar reasons.

Fiction: the Hawkenlye series by Alys Clare. A blend of medieval fiction and mystery, well-written with characters that feel real.

I really liked the Ken Follet Kingsbridge books, and lots of others already mentioned. The gift and the promise - Sarah Pernell is set around 1066 - the Normand conquest, very character driven with lots of history woven into the storytelling. I found it in a charity shop, but it's available on Kindle.