Pleasures and Pastimes in Later Medieval England

by Compton Reeves

What was considered courteous table manner in Medieval England? Would children delight in playing hide-and-seek, follow-the-leader, and blind mans bluff? Harkening back to a time when men wore close-fitting bonnets tied under the chin and women adorned themselves with purses suspended from their belts with small daggers attached to the outside, Pleasures & Pastimes in Medieval England takes an enlightening look at how people from all classes of medieval society enjoyed themselves.
Despite presumptions to the contrary, the daily life of men and women in late medieval England was not entirely one of toil. Author Compton Reeves presents a fascinating and highly readable survey of the entertainments and pursuits with which people of the time filled their leisure hours. From the rough and tumble activities of wrestling and jousting to the more sedate pastimes of chess and cards, from gardening to prostitution, and from cock-fighting to religious festivals Reeves describes with entertaining detail activities which remain popular today, though often in different guises.
With its many beautifully reproduced illustrations, Pleasures & Pastimes in Medieval England offers a sumptuous overview of the delights of medieval life.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, Medieval History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Bill38silver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed much of this book but so much of it seemed relevant to the lives of minority groups (the court, the aristocracy, the literate, for example )and less about the majority (the poor, the overworked struggling to survive with limited time on their hands etc). How many of that majority had direct experience of literature( the misplaced opening chapter), or art or architecture, or were aware of fashion, drama, heraldry, hunting or tournaments, gardening. mysticism and personal devotion ( to use extracts of the chapter headings)?

I feel that the book could usefully have introduced the subject with some definition of the period "medieval", with information on population estimates in some of the largest towns and life expectancy etc to give an idea of how many people in what locations might have been affected by the subject in each chapter. In some chapters there were paragraphs about people or literary or other works that were obscurely related to the title of the book : one example being a bolted on section of 5 pages on astrology (surely of direct relevance to only a small number of people in the medieval period( undefined)?

An interesting read overall, though a bit disappointing.

[Sarai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Product Description
What was considered courteous table manner in Medieval England? Would children delight in playing hide-and-seek, follow-the-leader, and blind mans bluff? Harkening back to a time when men wore close-fitting bonnets tied under the chin and women adorned themselves with purses suspended from their belts with small daggers attached to the outside, Pleasures & Pastimes in Medieval England takes an enlightening look at how people from all classes of medieval society enjoyed themselves. Despite presumptions to the contrary, the daily life of men and women in late medieval England was not entirely one of toil. Author Compton Reeves presents a fascinating and highly readable survey of the entertainments and pursuits with which people of the time filled their leisure hours. From the rough and tumble activities of wrestling and jousting to the more sedate pastimes of chess and cards, from gardening to prostitution, and from cock-fighting to religious festivals Reeves describes with entertaining detail activities which remain popular today, though often in different guises. With its many beautifully reproduced illustrations, Pleasures & Pastimes in Medieval England offers a sumptuous overview of the delights of medieval life.

[Nisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dry,but informative

[Janin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's alright. But there's nothing in here you can't find better documented and researched at http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/