Ian Mortimer’s book provides an interesting insight into the lives of people living in 14th Century England. He doesn’t only describe the lives of the rich and famous but of poor workers and all those in between. Highlights include often humorous vignettes concerning real but little known individuals.

This is an excellent book that makes history come alive. It not only provides the facts about major historical events and people but also provides those minute details about everyday life - everything from food, underclothing, shoes and plumbing to religion! I thoroughly recommend it.

The range of fascinating topics that appear in this book is phenomenal! Did you know the cost of buying one cap was one penny, or that only those people who earned more than 100 pounds a year were allowed to wear furs by law! While one page is explaining the horror of illness and epidemics for which no real cures existed (think the plague), a few pages later the importance of music in everyday life from the royal court to the lowly peasant hut is described in charming detail. featuring instruments which have vanished entirely from modern orchestras. A wealth of little details embroider the picture of daily life with a sense of time and place it would be hard to gain from a more standard historical work on the medieval period focusing on knights, crusades and kings. If you want to really know what it was like to live in medieval England on a day-to-day basis, then this is a MUST read!