Product Description

A mine of information on all the major aspects of medieval society and culture, giving a comprehensive picture of a world at once alien and familiar, whose way of life has long vanished, but whose visible remains survive all around us.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #677384 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 319 pages

BBC History Magazine
A great achievement... elegant, clear and assured... lavishly illustrated.

Heritage Today: The Magazine for Members of English Heritage
Wonderful… everything you could wish to know about life in medieval England.

From the Back Cover
A COMPLETELY REVISED AND NEWLY ILLUSTRATED SECOND EDITION OF THIS INDISPENSIBLE WORK OF REFERENCE.

Nigel Saul's A-Z of life in the Middle Ages is essential reading for anyone interested in the turbulent years between the arrival of William the Conqueror and the accession of Henry Tudor in 1485. Here in one volume is a mine of information on all the major aspects of medieval society and culture, giving a comprehensive picture of a world at once alien and familiar, whose way of life has long vanished, but whose visible remains survive all around us.

Naturally, the main political events are covered in the accounts given of individual reigns. However, most of the book is devoted to explaining medieval society and how it worked. In feudal society, each person had a place: the peasant tilling the land, the knight fighting battles under the banner of chivalry and the Church mediating between God and man. Nigel Saul provides a wealth of examples and illustration to show how the great institutions of the age - the Church, the Crown and the law - affected the lives of the English at all levels. Further entries catalogue the cultural legacy of the period, from castles and cathedrals to manuscripts, brasses and stained glass.