A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages
The World Through Medieval Eyes
Published on 2. November 2023
Book
Hardback
448 pages
978-0-241-53084-9 (ISBN)
Description
A delightfully captivating journey across the medieval world, seen through the eyes of those who travelled across it. History readers will love this gift!
'Rich and wonderful . . . This is the world as you've never seen it before' Ian Mortimer
'A joyful, erudite book . . . A global Middle Ages for our times' Jerry Brotton
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From the bustling bazaars of Tabriz, to the mysterious island of Caldihe, where sheep were said to grow on trees, Anthony Bale brings history alive in A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages, inviting the reader to travel across a medieval world punctuated with miraculous wonders and long-lost landmarks. Journeying alongside scholars, spies and saints, from western Europe to the Far East, the Antipodes, and the ends of the world, this is no ordinary travel guide, containing everything from profane pilgrim badges, Venetian laxatives and flying coffins to encounters with bandits and trysts with princesses.
Using previously untranslated contemporary accounts from as far and wide as Turkey, Iceland, Armenia, north Africa, and Russia, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a living atlas that blurs the distinction between real and imagined places, offering the reader a vivid and unforgettable insight into how medieval people understood their world.
_____________________
'Masterful, panoramic, beautifully written and vividly imagined . . . a book to be savoured' Dr Helen Castor, author of Blood and Roses
'An enthralling journey into the past and across the world . . . this book takes us to barely imaginable places - but the most remarkable thing we find may be ourselves' Seb Falk, author of The Light Ages
'Rich and wonderful . . . This is the world as you've never seen it before' Ian Mortimer
'A joyful, erudite book . . . A global Middle Ages for our times' Jerry Brotton
_____________________
From the bustling bazaars of Tabriz, to the mysterious island of Caldihe, where sheep were said to grow on trees, Anthony Bale brings history alive in A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages, inviting the reader to travel across a medieval world punctuated with miraculous wonders and long-lost landmarks. Journeying alongside scholars, spies and saints, from western Europe to the Far East, the Antipodes, and the ends of the world, this is no ordinary travel guide, containing everything from profane pilgrim badges, Venetian laxatives and flying coffins to encounters with bandits and trysts with princesses.
Using previously untranslated contemporary accounts from as far and wide as Turkey, Iceland, Armenia, north Africa, and Russia, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a living atlas that blurs the distinction between real and imagined places, offering the reader a vivid and unforgettable insight into how medieval people understood their world.
_____________________
'Masterful, panoramic, beautifully written and vividly imagined . . . a book to be savoured' Dr Helen Castor, author of Blood and Roses
'An enthralling journey into the past and across the world . . . this book takes us to barely imaginable places - but the most remarkable thing we find may be ourselves' Seb Falk, author of The Light Ages
Reviews / Votes
A stunning book . . . weird and wonderful and quietly hilarious, but the enormous fun of this book would not be possible without solid graft - Bale's dogged research and his diligent crafting of perfect prose -- Gerard deGroot * The Times * Superb . . . In his remarkable and expertly executed prose, Bale demonstrates his skill as a historian in his handling of the expansive source material available . . . The micro personal experiences told against the backdrop of macro topography is a Herculean task and one that is undertaken with immense passion and knowledge. A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a stunning example of the point where true scholarship meets popular history -- Helen Carr * Engelsberg Ideas * An enthralling account of medieval travellers . . . [Bale's] enthusiasm is infectious . . . this is a work of serious scholarship -- Rosemary Goring * Scottish Herald * Ambitious, sweeping across continents with a keen eye for detail . . . moves fluidly between travelogue and scholarly text, imaginative literature and nonfiction . . . In a way that imaginative fiction arguably cannot, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages brings us close to the past it experiences and allows us to be transformed in the process -- Imogen Marchant * TLS * Serious scholarship and a sightseer's unbridled enthusiasm make for fascinating armchair time travel * Observer * A joyful, erudite book, and a global Middle Ages for our times. Journeying from a monastery in Wiltshire to Ethiopia, India and China, Anthony Bale reinvents the period through its intrepid travellers, and in the process redefines the period -- Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in 12 Maps Intrepid, entertaining, and unfailingly curious, he has now travelled far and wide in their company; balancing sympathy with scepticism, he marvellously reconfigures the contours of our forebears' knowledge -- Marina Warner Rich and wonderful. This is the world as you have never seen it before - and as it will never be seen again. And it's more surprising, extraordinary and bizarre than anything you can possibly imagine -- Ian Mortimer, author of The Time-Traveller's Guide to Medieval England A fascinating read . . . a new fact to be discovered on every page, written with enthusiasm and wisdom -- Reverend Kate Bottley Masterful, panoramic, beautifully written and vividly imagined, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a book to be savoured -- Dr Helen Castor, author of Blood and Roses and She-WolvesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 42 mm
Weight
676 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-53084-9 (9780241530849)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
11/2023
Viking
€14.99
Available for download
Person
Anthony Bale is Professor of Medieval & Renaissance Literature at the University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow at Girton College, Cambridge. He is a former President of the New Chaucer Society. His previous books include Margery Kempe: A Mixed Life (Reaktion Books) and A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: the World through Medieval Eyes (Penguin). He was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize (2011) and holds a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2023-26). He has held fellowships at institutions including Harvard University, The Huntington Library and the University of Melbourne.