Customer Reviews

Life in Medieval Times (Perigee)

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This fascinating medieval book is truly a jewel for students and history buffs everywhere. Rowling breaks Life in Medieval Times down into comprehensive units that allow the reader to maximize precious research time by finding important facts and quotes quickly. Each chapter provides its own concise collection of information, saving researchers the inconvenience of sorting through pages of irrelevant data to find specific quotes and subjects. The author offers readers an in depth look into Medieval society from economic, clerical, aristocratic, and even plebian viewpoints, giving all aspects of society equal representation. Rowling does not try to gild over the harsh realities of medieval life, and unlike many other historians, she does not attempt to use the brutality of the period to support any ideological opinions. She describes joyous festivals and the simple pleasures of daily life as well as documenting the cruelties of war and the injustices of feudal organization. Even such controversial topics as the conflict between religion and government, the status and rights of women in society, and the questionable alliance between militarism and piety in the Crusades are presented with a remarkable absence of pervasive bias. Rowling's educational mission presents the discerning reader with legitimate facts and leaves the individual to make important decisions and form their own opinions about history. This academic justice presents a powerfully lucid view of history and medieval life.
Rowling's Life in Medieval Times reads much like a categorized medieval textbook. The book differs significantly from the typical textbook, however, in that the author delves into the cultural stories and social legends of the time. This cultural emphasis creates a fascinating blend of humanities and history and adds a warm, human touch to a subject often viewed as an assortment of cold, dead facts. Unfortunately, this blended approach also tends to soften the impact of historical fact. All in all, however, this softening is better than just getting one very opinionated side of the story like you do in some textbooks. Overall: great book

I enjoy learning how people lived in other times. I want to know the particulars of their daily lives, cooking, diet, homes and so on. While this book touched on that, it pretty much covered the same ground as a lot of other books have....monasteries and castles and nobility and politics. It was readable and I picked up some information from it, but not much that I didn't know before. I am aware that the monasteries and nobility and politics is where the majority of written records exist, but I have spent two years researching in monastery records from this time period and there is more to them than what usually is covered ...or is covered here. They were the unofficial courts, the abbot or prior settling the disputes of the common folk and they were the keepers of the land records and wills. The research I did in these areas was most illuminating and I wonder why some book that purports to be about LIFE in this time period didn't touch on them at all. I believe that the reference sources for this book were simply books of its ilk already existant. I would recommend A History of Everyday Things in England instead of this book, if you want more than what you get in a hour long program on the history channel.

This book is too ambitious for what it tries to cover. Perhaps inevitable given it's length. The organizational format is poor, conclusions trite. Just, well, save your money.