Medieval Britain: The Age of Chivalry

by Lloyd Robert Laing, Jennifer Laing

A reconstruction of an intricate tableau of life in the medieval world, using existing evidence of art and architecture to explore all spheres of life, from the dizzy heights of courtly love to the fields of the humble serf. With major sections on urban, rural and court society, the art and tradition of the church, including detail on leisure, science and new information on the role of women, this book brings to life the imagination, ambitions and everyday realities of the world which formed the foundations of modern western society.

Genres: History, Archaeology, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[David Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up at the library, before virus mitigation led to staying at home and library closures. It became my over coffee, in the morning, read. No binge reading here! Why the low rating?

The good: Excellent illustrations are used through out; many are are from the Medieval era, the rest are photographs of ruins or remnants or contemporary drawings.

The bad: The structure of this book was, in so many ways, off putting. Overall, the husband and wife team chose to divide the book into categories and sub categories, rather than any kind of chronological or thematic approach. At times the illustrations would be several pages away from what they were illustrating, without the caption giving context. Transitions ranged from confusing to nonexistent, even within sub categories. It felt like notecards for a young person’s encyclopedia were handed off to an editor with limited knowledge of the time period with the instruction, “turn these into a history book.” The only reason I stayed with it was that I was reading it in disjointed chunks, so the fact that it was also written in disjointed chunks was not as bothersome.

The ugly: No conclusion at all! The last chapter (category), the last random subcategory (textiles and embroideries), the final sentence about a random king’s surcoat’s survival. That’s it, the end of the book.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Medieval Britain: The Age of Chivalry is laid out like a text book, and covers the time period from the Norman Conquest in the 1000's to the 1500's. Each chapter focuses on a different area of Medieval life, focusing on Britain, but also giving details about Europe at points. The chapter headings are Society; Castles; The Countryside; The Church; Towns; Trade and Communications; Science and Technology, Superstition and Medicine; Leisure and Fashion; and Intellectual and Artistic Endeavor. This gives you an idea of what information this text has to offer.
Although the information given in this book is interesting, I found it to be too broad of an overview for what I was hoping. This book is definitely a good starting point for someone looking to read more about medieval times. I will have to explore further for a book that delves more deeply into this time period, however.