Medieval Gems

This book offers a window into medieval life through a compilation of extracts from a vast array of original sources ranging from chronicles to law code and from rules of etiquette to letter collections. The extracts have been selected for their intrinsic interest and in many cases for their sheer humour; a number of them will resonate with modern readers and will hopefully help to dispel the myth that the medieval period lacked both interest and relevance. Many of the sources that have been cited refer to ordinary people rather than kings and emperors and we are introduced to cooks and butchers plying their wares and sometimes peddling substandard food in an attempt to scratch a living to enclosed nuns who entertained men in their rooms to impecunious university students writing home to their fathers for money and to an inebriated youth being burnt alive in his bed.