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The Middle Ages: Everyday Life in Medieval Europe Hardcover – November 5, 2013

by Jeffrey L. Singman (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 174 ratings
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We consider the Middle Ages barbaric, yet the period furnished some of our most enduring icons, including King Arthurs Round Table, knights in shining armor, and the idealized noblewoman. In this vivid history of the time, the medieval world comes to life in all its rich daily experience. Find out what peoples beds were like, how often they washed, what they wore, what they cooked, how they worked, how they entertained themselves, how they wed, and what life was like in a medieval village, castle, or monastery. Contemporary artworks and documents further illuminate this fascinating historical era.
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  1. Print length
    328 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Union Square & Co.
  4. Publication date
    November 5, 2013
  5. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1454909056
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1454909057
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jeffrey L. Singman has written several works on medieval and early modern Europe, including Daily Life in Chaucers England, Daily Life in Elizabethan England, and Robin Hood: The Shaping of the Legend (all Greenwood Publishing Group). Dr. Singman has worked at various living history sites, including Greenfield Village and Plimoth Plantation, and is now the Paul S. Morgan Curator at the Higgins Armory Museum and Adjunct Professor of Humanities at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA, where he lives.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Union Square & Co.; Reprint edition (November 5, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1454909056
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1454909057
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.59 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 174 ratings

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Jeffrey L. Forgeng

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
174 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

RML
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Description of Medieval Life. Well Written and Researched
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2016
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This text is an excellent description of living in the Middle Ages. It tells how ordinary people lived ... their houses, diets, clothing, courting and marriage, child rearing, lifestyles, work ... for the different classes of individuals ... peasants and aristocracy. It also includes a description of life in a monastery, an important part of Medieval life. There is also a very interesting chapter about how Medieval people thought about themselves and their world. The text is clearly well researched but written in a very readable form. If you'd like to know something about Medieval life beyond historical events, this book provides that information. The author has provided us a great service with this work!
14 people found this helpful
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Rivermanmiss
5.0 out of 5 stars A rich resource for learning the nitty gritty details of everyday life in Northern Europe from 1100 to 1300
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2014
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This is a 300-age hardbound book filled with dozens of color as well as B&W illustrations. Its subject matter is how ordinary people, especially peasants carried out their lives in northern Europe in the High Middle Ages (1100 to 1300). The author happens to be an enthusiastic participant in the emerging "living history" movement in which people staff historical sites and reenact period dress, speech and customs. It is this immersion in the details of ordinary life that give the author such perspective on what it felt like to be a peasant living in a small village in England in, let us say, 1200.
There is very little focus on major historical events of the High Middle Ages. There is very little about the kings and their battles or the popes and their disputes. Instead the focus stays on the typical peasant, who accounted for about 98% of the population of the time. We learn exactly what their houses were like - what their beds were like..how they used privies and chamber pots, what they used in lieu of toilet paper. We learn that they usually ate two meals a day, and we learn what they ate. We learn about the family systems, and customs on inheriting property (even for a dying serf who was bound to the local lord). We learn about crime and punishment. We get an insight into their sense of time and place.

I love the book because I am doing research on my unnamed ancestors who were all peasants in Germany and England, and I want to know more about their daily lives. The book will be a feast for anyone interested in "everyday life" of this period. I am not a professional historian, but I have probably read at least a dozen books on this period, and this was far and away my most helpful sources on "everyday life."

Who won't like this book? I suppose it is not suitable for someone who wants to know about the major historical turning points of this period - such as the impact of the Magna Carta, and the impact of Henry II and his reign in early England or the description of the Crusades beginning in 1095.

I'll share one example: The author takes us inside the head of a medieval peasant to understand his/her sense of time and place. There were no clocks and there were no calendars and they could not read in any case. So, time was marked by Sundays and the traditional seven day week. On Sunday you went to church and rested. The day began at sunrise and ended at sunset so in some latitudes the day's length varied from 8 hours to 16 hours depending upon the season. Because of the lack of clocks, the peasant didn't describe something as "It took 20 minutes." Instead she said, "It took about as long as it takes me to walk a mile." The new year did not begin on January 1, and there probably was little reference to the months. Instead the year started on Christmas or on Easter or the feast of the Annunciation. It varied by region and changed in different periods. The progression of the year was related to the holy days of the Church calendar. Most interesting, the peasants did not regard themselves as living in the year of 1160 but rather English peasants described it as "the sixth year of the reign of Henry II." If this sort of thing catches your fancy, you will feast on this rich book.
120 people found this helpful
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E. G. Eldridge
4.0 out of 5 stars It provides a really good overview of the medieval world in terms that the ...
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2014
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I read this lovely book as background for a novel I'm writing, and it was very helpful. It provides a really good overview of the medieval world in terms that the lay person can easily understand. The book begins with a very useful timeline which helps the reader to establish time and place, then deals with 'everyday life' under convenient headings like village life, castle life, monastic life, building a comprehensive picture of what medieval society was like. Since this is a period normally associated with negative connotations like a crushing feudal system and the Black Death, it was great to get a feeling for the lives of the ordinary people, as well as the aristocracy, and to understand their humanity through such intriguing details as the fact they wore no undies, drank beer rather than water (even the kids!) and wiped with dry grass after using the outside privy. Of course, life was pretty harsh and most people didn't live to a ripe old age, but far from being a period of barbarism the medieval world had much that was beautiful to offer.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good history that brings this fascinating period to life, keeping an eye on our shared humanity with our ancestors.
37 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable reading.
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2017
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Great book about general Medieval life. It has some interesting facts, lots of pictures, well written and is a very well made book. I have "Viking Age" in the same series and really enjoy reading about how the people lived in those time periods lived without getting all caught up with heavy politics or personalities. For a little over $9.00 you'll get some interesting and entertaining reading. If you like Medieval history you'll like this book.
7 people found this helpful
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Jason
5.0 out of 5 stars Does what it says
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2020
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It certainly talks about the everyday life of the Middle Ages, so do not expect to see much in the way or battles or major political movements; that is not what the book is about. For the purpose of the book, it convey a very fleshed out picture of everyday life in the Middle Ages well. I think folks buy this book and expect it to have more content on battles and are disappointing when they find it missing. Not the point of the book.
4 people found this helpful
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Gary Gautier
3.0 out of 5 stars Not riveting but lots of info
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2015
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Not scholarly enough for an academic audience but not lively enough in its detail to fully satisfy the layman, this is still a good overview of the framework of medieval life. The text of Joseph and Frances Gies’s Life in a Medieval Village brings you more vividly into the present tense of the times, but Singman’s book has better pictures (and “better pictures” is no frivolous compliment, as good illustrations can really bring home the unique sense of beauty with which that period represented itself) and transmits a larger body of information. Indeed, perhaps too much information, as some passages go on and on. I’d prefer that the whole were tightened into something shorter, but definitely lots of good material for those seeking information on life in the Middle Ages.
12 people found this helpful
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Austin
5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Starting Point for Research
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2021
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The book is written well and is easy to understand even for someone who’s just starting out researching the juggernaut that is Medieval history. Book came as described and in good condition.
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Aliana
5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful for fantasy writers looking to pinpoint their setting.
Reviewed in Canada on July 2, 2017
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This book is incredibly thorough, which can be great or tedious depending on your expectations.
What I mean by that is, if you're looking for a granular explanation of medieval life than this book is for you - if you want to specifically read about village life as opposed to urban life, or clergy life, than you may want to skip sections or buy a book that is specific to medieval villages, etc.. I recommend the former, because this book is very thorough and does give you a step by step view of each topic.

I found myself underlining lots of points and also found this very helpful as a fantasy writer. With regards to the latter, it was very eye opening in that I didn't realize just how structured daily life was especially with regards to class systems and the involvement of religious institutions. If you're a fantasy writer looking to write something in the same, or similar, theme to the Dragon Age series, etc. than this book will definitely help you along.
If you're more interested in writing a story like Tolkien's trilogy, or George R.R. Martin's works, then you will want to look at a later time period - that is to say, the late middle ages.

Game of Thrones fans can refer to this book somewhat more though, as there's a lot of overlap here since George R.R. Martin did base a good chunk of his stories on the War of the Roses, which itself took place between 1455–1485. This book, though, focuses a lot in the 1200-1350 range (high or "middle" middle ages). Essentially the development of complicated feudal and clerical systems, rather than the height of them.

i.e.

- If you're looking to base your tale on the rise of a post-antiquarian medieval society, like the early to early-high middle ages, this book is great for you.
e.g. Dragon Age series, or the Saxon Chronicles. Basically when old religions were supplanted by new ones (old vs. new vibe) and the middle class (called the "bourgeoisie") did not quite exist just yet but maybe there was a slight hint of them. 90% of men were still not literate during this time period. Tolkien's works seems to skip this time period, as every one appears to already be literate and the Shire itself is very bourgeois. George R.R. Martin's works somewhat fall in this category as well, chiefly with literacy and religion but not so much so with regards to cities (his cities are too populated to fall into this category).

- If you want your story to have more of a myth and legend theme (a la early romans, celts or vikings, etc. when gods were believed, in certain cultures, to live amongst people still and/or were more accessible - that is to say, less clergy involvement and more of a direct worshipper-to-deity experience), then use a different text covering an earlier time period (rather, the fringe/border between the two periods) for reference.
e.g. Tolkien's works covering the early days of his world, like the "Silmarillion".

- If you want an incredibly structured medieval-ish society that's still pre-gunpowder (i.e. "high fantasy"), with, say, densely populated cities, a widespread coinage system, wider spread literacy / education, the (very early) rise of something similar to a middle class, and easier travel (and swifter communication) then you will probably be better off not reading this book, because it mostly focuses on feudalism (which is very high middle ages, in contrast "high fantasy" is more late middle ages), and instead look for a book that specifically targets the approaching end of the middle ages itself. Although this book would still be helpful for building the "history" of such a world, mind you. So maybe ignore me and read on anyway.
e.g. The Witcher series, Tolkien's trilogy, and maybe even George R.R. Martin's works although Martin is a bit jumbled because he does try to present an urban medieval society while still maintaining an old vs. new vibe with regards to religion so that's simply unique to his style thus maybe GRRM is also a bit of a fringe concept being more in the "high middle ages" which is basically another way of saying the middle of the middle ages.

In simpler terms...

Late Antiquity / Early Middle Ages: the history channel's Vikings series, or real life legends like King Arthur.
Early Middle Ages (height of): The Silmarillion, or Saxon Chronicles series, or Andal invasion of Martin's series.
[THIS BOOK] Early Middle Ages / High Middle Ages: Dragon Age series, real life legend of Robin Hood, or the real life Crusades.
High Middle Ages / Late Middle Ages: The Hobbit, maybe. Or George R.R. Martin's world's recent histories, like Dunk & Egg, Robert's rebellion, etc.
Late Middle Ages / Renaissance: Tolkien trilogy, the Witcher series, Game of Thrones, or real life War of the Roses.
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Aldo Montoya Reynaga
5.0 out of 5 stars Un libro sencillo pero profundo (An easy reading but deep book)
Reviewed in Mexico on December 28, 2017
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El libro es una joya. Como muchas épocas históricas, la edad media, esta cargada de romanticismos e ilusiones. Y su más grande desafió es que existen 2 tipos de libros sobre ella: los para niños, que tratan de explicar sus particularidades sin mucho tecnicismos , o los especializados, que requieren de estudios y están cargados de términos pesados para el lector común. Este libro trata de llenar ese enorme hueco para el lector común, y lo logra de una manera excelente.

En conclusión citando al autor "it was easy to find general works on medieval political institutions, and there were plenty of books on specific topics relating to ordinary life, but I lacked a good introduction to medieval society that offered a sense of how this world worked from the ground up." (era fácil encontrar trabajos generales sobre las instituciones políticas medievales y había muchos libros sobre tópicos específicos relacionados con la vida ordinaria, pero me hacia falta una buena introducción a la sociedad medieval que ofreciera un sentido de como estaba construido este mundo.).
Hartamente recomendado, para una lectura a los aficionados de la Edad Media, siempre y cuando no sean Historiadores, seguro conocerán muchos mejores libros pero igual les funciona como apoyo a lecturas en sus clases, nunca se sabe.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars very thinkable
Reviewed in India on August 23, 2017
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very thinkable
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S. Fox
5.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction
Reviewed in Australia on October 28, 2021
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I'm currently reading this book, and am enjoying it. It's a good introduction to everyday life in the Middle Ages, concentrating on the years 1100 to 1300. Keep in mind that the book is clearly an introduction to the subject, so it doesn't go into real deep detail in any one area. But for what it is, it's an interesting and educational book.
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Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfekt
Reviewed in Germany on March 9, 2015
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The book is in excellent condition, delivery was very fast, packaging was good, and I am more than satisfied. Highly recommended. Prima Ware, schnelle Lieferung, alles bilderbuchmäßig. Gerne wieder.
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