Customer Reviews

Everyday Life in Medieval England

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I found this book very informative and insightful. Christopher Dyer presents various aspects of everyday medieval life in England such as the villages and their decline, food, relationships between landowners and tenants and numerous other areas of life all based on facts and evidence drawn from archeological, topographical, and ancient documents as the sources for evidence. Trying to piece together a full view of this period of history based on scattered evidence can be a daunting task and I feel the approach Christopher takes works very well. Arranged in essay form, Christopher presents facts, he doesn't come across as someone trying to justify his point of view but wants to give the reader the truth based on the body of research information currently available (at the time of writing the book). For example if he is drawing a conclusion based on limited evidence he will state something to the effect that his conclusion is based on limited evidence and that more research needs to be done. By doing this I feel it shows he is more concerned about presenting evidence and truth and not forcing his opinion or painting his own vision of the medieval time period. This book does read a bit dry similar to academic text and for this reason I do agree with the previous post that it seems it was written more for academia than for the casual reader of history. Still, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the everyday life in medieval England.

Dyer's book consists of a series of essays on topics ranging from why villages declined in England in the middle ages to changes in diet to gardens, peasant buildings and the peasant's revolt of 1381. Yet unlike the tremendous breadth and depth of Paul B. Newman's far more engagingly written "Daily Life in the Middle Ages," Dyer's book seems to be as much about justification for why Dyer's view of life in the middle ages is accurate as about actual medieval life. This book is written more for the academic who cares deeply about sources for what is known than what is known itself, and the dry style and format (intro, argument, conclusion, and lots of footnotes, charts and tables) won't win many fans outside academia.

As the other reviewer stated, ELiME is typical Dyer, thoroughly sourced and thought provoking. Dry enough however to be read in portions over several weeks with your favorite libation.

As to the other reviewer who commented "...marketed to a general audience..."

What?

I think no one here is under the illusion any of Dyer's books will be recommended by Oprah's book club.

As for dismissing sourcing, you do a disservice to those who labour over such time intensive minutiae. I'd rather have period sources that you can see than contemporary supposition on 'facts' alluded to.