What do you think?
Rate this book
Everyday in Renaissance Times
Cultural and intellectual achievements of Renaissance times - Court - The merchant - The common man - The city - Plague - Medicine in Medieval times - Witchcraft - War - Inquisition.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
About the author
E.R. Chamberlin
41 books29 followersEric Russell Chamberlin (1926-2006)
Historian and author. Chamberlin was the author of numerous popular history books ranging from ancient Rome to twentieth-century Britain. Although he was born in Jamaica, he returned to England with his father during the Great Depression. Chamberlin dropped out of school when he was fourteen and became an apprentice leather dresser.
When he was old enough, he eagerly left this work behind to enlist in the Royal Navy in 1944. He served in the military until 1947 and then found work at the Norwich Public Library. It was here that his real education began, and Chamberlin took advantage of his vocation by reading history texts avidly. He later also worked at the Holborn Public Library and then for the book division at Readers’ Digest.
His first book, The Count of Virtue: Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, was released in 1965. This would be followed by thirty more books over the next three decades. Among these are The Bad Popes (1969), The Sack of Rome (1979), The Nineteenth Century (1983), The Emperor, Charlemagne (1986), and The Tower of London: An Illustrated History (1989). Also active in historical preservation projects, Chamberlin helped rescue the Guildford Institute building from destruction in 1982 and had a monument to Admiral Horatio Nelson constructed on Mt. Etna in Italy.
For the former endeavor, Chamberlin was recognized with an honorary degree from the University of Surrey in 1982.
Historian and author. Chamberlin was the author of numerous popular history books ranging from ancient Rome to twentieth-century Britain. Although he was born in Jamaica, he returned to England with his father during the Great Depression. Chamberlin dropped out of school when he was fourteen and became an apprentice leather dresser.
When he was old enough, he eagerly left this work behind to enlist in the Royal Navy in 1944. He served in the military until 1947 and then found work at the Norwich Public Library. It was here that his real education began, and Chamberlin took advantage of his vocation by reading history texts avidly. He later also worked at the Holborn Public Library and then for the book division at Readers’ Digest.
His first book, The Count of Virtue: Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, was released in 1965. This would be followed by thirty more books over the next three decades. Among these are The Bad Popes (1969), The Sack of Rome (1979), The Nineteenth Century (1983), The Emperor, Charlemagne (1986), and The Tower of London: An Illustrated History (1989). Also active in historical preservation projects, Chamberlin helped rescue the Guildford Institute building from destruction in 1982 and had a monument to Admiral Horatio Nelson constructed on Mt. Etna in Italy.
For the former endeavor, Chamberlin was recognized with an honorary degree from the University of Surrey in 1982.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 10, 2021
The book's title is a bit misleading. It's not really a look at everyday life. I didn't get much of an understanding on how folks in Renaissance times lived. However, what this book does deliver is a sold introductory overview to various aspects of life during that time.
November 10, 2019
Great!
Read
September 26, 2022Good general overview of the period. Well written, not scholarly.
July 25, 2023
I’ve been undergoing a bit of research over the past couple of weeks — mostly online, and trying as much as possible not to simply read Wikipedia pages. But I decided I ought to read a book or two as well, and while most academic history books are too expensive for an impulse buy, I came across this, which was a mere four quid on the Kindle.
I knew nothing of the author’s bona fides, but I’ve since looked him up, and find his story fascinating. Left school at 14, served in the second world war, worked in a library, became an avid reader, and then a writer of popular history books. There’s a long bibliography at the end of this, but as a ‘popular’ history it does not use footnotes. It’s a clear and breezy read, and I really enjoyed cracking through it.
This prompted a discussion with my daughter today in which I suggested I ought to start describing myself as a historian in my bios. I mean, a PhD in American Studies means I have studied a fair bit of history, and although my thesis was on a literary writer (DeLillo), the substance of my work on him was very much to do with the context of each novel’s production, which included (in passing) a fair amount of history.
Anyway, those were idle thoughts. Everyday Life in Renaissance Times was enjoyable and contained many useful nuggets for my current purposes. But it was originally published in 1965, which is a long time ago when it comes to historical research. I’m sure there were many inaccuracies. What I really want is some street-level stuff: the sights, smells, and sounds of places like Venice, Antwerp, Vienna, and smaller towns and villages in Early Modern Europe. But we’re talking £30 and more for some of these history books. For the man who rarely spends more than 99p, this is a lot.
Anyway, this will do for a start. It features a chapter on the various strata of society, from princes to peasants, and it takes in important trades like printing, mercenary soldiers, and alchemists.
I knew nothing of the author’s bona fides, but I’ve since looked him up, and find his story fascinating. Left school at 14, served in the second world war, worked in a library, became an avid reader, and then a writer of popular history books. There’s a long bibliography at the end of this, but as a ‘popular’ history it does not use footnotes. It’s a clear and breezy read, and I really enjoyed cracking through it.
This prompted a discussion with my daughter today in which I suggested I ought to start describing myself as a historian in my bios. I mean, a PhD in American Studies means I have studied a fair bit of history, and although my thesis was on a literary writer (DeLillo), the substance of my work on him was very much to do with the context of each novel’s production, which included (in passing) a fair amount of history.
Anyway, those were idle thoughts. Everyday Life in Renaissance Times was enjoyable and contained many useful nuggets for my current purposes. But it was originally published in 1965, which is a long time ago when it comes to historical research. I’m sure there were many inaccuracies. What I really want is some street-level stuff: the sights, smells, and sounds of places like Venice, Antwerp, Vienna, and smaller towns and villages in Early Modern Europe. But we’re talking £30 and more for some of these history books. For the man who rarely spends more than 99p, this is a lot.
Anyway, this will do for a start. It features a chapter on the various strata of society, from princes to peasants, and it takes in important trades like printing, mercenary soldiers, and alchemists.
October 12, 2012
Good to understand the world the people of the Renaissance lived in
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews