{"product_id":"a-travel-guide-to-the-middle-ages-9780241530849","title":"A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the medieval bazaars of Tabriz, to the mysterious island of Caldihe, where sheep were said to grow on trees, Anthony Bale brings history alive in \u003ci\u003eA Travel Guide to the Middle Ages\u003c\/i\u003e, inviting the reader to travel across a medieval world punctuated with miraculous wonders and long-lost landmarks. Journeying alongside scholars, spies and saints, from western Europe to the Far East, the Antipodes, and the ends of the world, this is no ordinary travel guide, containing everything from profane pilgrim badges, Venetian laxatives and flying coffins to encounters with bandits and trysts with princesses.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUsing previously untranslated contemporary accounts from as far and wide as Turkey, Iceland, Armenia, north Africa, and Russia, \u003ci\u003eA Travel Guide to the Middle Ages \u003c\/i\u003eis a living atlas that blurs the distinction between real and imagined places, offering the reader a vivid and unforgettable insight into how medieval people understood their world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003estunning \u003c\/b\u003ebook . . . \u003cb\u003eweird and wonderful and quietly hilarious\u003c\/b\u003e, but the\u003cb\u003e enormous fun\u003c\/b\u003e of this book would not be possible without solid graft — Bale’s \u003cb\u003edogged research and his diligent crafting of perfect prose\u003c\/b\u003e -- Gerard deGroot * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSuperb \u003c\/b\u003e. . . In his \u003cb\u003eremarkable and expertly executed prose\u003c\/b\u003e, Bale demonstrates his skill as a historian in his handling of the expansive source material available . . . The micro personal experiences told against the backdrop of macro topography is \u003cb\u003ea Herculean task and one that is undertaken with immense passion and knowledge\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003ci\u003eA Travel Guide to the Middle Ages \u003c\/i\u003eis \u003cb\u003ea stunning example of the point where true scholarship meets popular history\u003c\/b\u003e -- Helen Carr * Engelsberg Ideas *\u003cbr\u003eAn \u003cb\u003eenthralling \u003c\/b\u003eaccount of medieval travellers . . . [Bale's] \u003cb\u003eenthusiasm is infectious\u003c\/b\u003e . . . this is a work of serious scholarship -- Rosemary Goring * Scottish Herald *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAmbitious\u003c\/b\u003e, sweeping across continents with a \u003cb\u003ekeen eye for detail\u003c\/b\u003e . . . moves fluidly between travelogue and scholarly text, imaginative literature and nonfiction . . .  \u003cb\u003eIn a way that imaginative fiction arguably cannot, \u003ci\u003eA Travel Guide to the Middle Ages \u003c\/i\u003ebrings us close to the past it experiences and allows us to be transformed in the process\u003c\/b\u003e -- Imogen Marchant * TLS *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003ejoyful, erudite \u003c\/b\u003ebook, and a global Middle Ages for our times. Journeying from a monastery in Wiltshire to Ethiopia, India and China, \u003cb\u003eAnthony Bale reinvents the period through its intrepid travellers\u003c\/b\u003e, and in the process redefines the period -- Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in 12 Maps\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntrepid, entertaining, and unfailingly curious\u003c\/b\u003e, he has now travelled far and wide in their company; balancing sympathy with scepticism, he \u003cb\u003emarvellously reconfigures the contours of our forebears' knowledge\u003c\/b\u003e -- Marina Warner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRich and wonderful. \u003c\/b\u003eThis is \u003cb\u003ethe world as you have never seen it before \u003c\/b\u003e- and as it will never be seen again. And it's \u003cb\u003emore surprising, extraordinary and bizarre than anything you can possibly imagine\u003c\/b\u003e -- Ian Mortimer, author of The Time-Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003efascinating \u003c\/b\u003eread . . . a new fact to be discovered on every page, \u003cb\u003ewritten with enthusiasm and wisdom\u003c\/b\u003e -- Reverend Kate Bottley\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMasterful, panoramic, beautifully written and vividly imagined,\u003c\/b\u003e A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is \u003cb\u003ea book to be savoured\u003c\/b\u003e -- Dr Helen Castor, author of Blood and Roses and She-Wolves\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnthony Bale's fascinating book immerses us in all the experiences of medieval travel \u003c\/b\u003e. . . An \u003cb\u003eenthralling \u003c\/b\u003ejourney into the past and across the world, packed with incidents that any reader will find \u003cb\u003edeliciously exotic, yet wryly familiar\u003c\/b\u003e. Like the most memorable journeys, this book takes us to barely imaginable places - but the most remarkable thing we find may be ourselves -- Seb Falk, author of The Light Ages\u003cbr\u003eThis is a \u003cb\u003egorgeous and fascinating storybook \u003c\/b\u003eand a \u003cb\u003erichly satisfying journey \u003c\/b\u003einto the medieval mind . . . All this rests on his \u003cb\u003eprodigious knowledge of the least expected sources\u003c\/b\u003e. Bale opens a whole scholarly library of smells, tastes and terrors and makes a living parade of them -- Michael Pye, author of The Edge of the World\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Travel Guide to the Middle Ages\u003c\/i\u003e is an \u003cb\u003eexhilarating and erudite \u003c\/b\u003ecombination of historical learning and imagination, which guides the reader on \u003cb\u003ea wondrous journey through the real and fantastical worlds of the late Middle Ages\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Bale reveals the \u003cb\u003ehumanity, mundanity, and marvels of travel\u003c\/b\u003e, from brothels and latrines to statues and spectacular sites -- Elizabeth Boyle, author of Fierce Appetites\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eLonely Planet\u003c\/i\u003e book for the medieval traveller \u003c\/b\u003e. . . In this \u003cb\u003edeeply researched but witty and readable \u003c\/b\u003eguide, Anthony Bale brings us face-to-face with medieval travel – the sights and smells, the thrill and the homesickness – in a way that feels instantly recognisable even at so many centuries’ distance -- Dennis Duncan, author of Index\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Travel Guide to the Middle Ages \u003c\/i\u003eingeniously offers the reader two experiences at once. We travel with Europeans of those centuries as they travelled across the Eurasian landmass, and sometimes beyond; but we also travel \u003ci\u003eto \u003c\/i\u003ethem, to their workshops, homes, libraries, towns squares, where they imagined and prepared for travel, and where they told their tales upon return . . . This travel guide is arranged not by time or places, but by encounters and experiences, just as travel is and should be. \u003cb\u003eAnthony Bale seems transformed by his prodigious scholarship and travel, and this edifying and entertaining book is the proof\u003c\/b\u003e -- Professor Miri Rubin, author of Cities of Strangers\u003cbr\u003eThis \u003cb\u003eendlessly delightful \u003c\/b\u003ebook replicates the promises and pleasures of real travel, as we bump into and then lose sight of familiar faces in unfamiliar places. Anthony Bale is an \u003cb\u003eadroit, companionable, and non-judgmental host\u003c\/b\u003e on the road; he \u003cb\u003ewears his deep knowledge lightly\u003c\/b\u003e -- James Simpson, Professor of English at Harvard University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVivid, exciting and astonishing\u003c\/b\u003e, Anthony Bale's medieval world is one \u003cb\u003epopulated by marvels and fantasies\u003c\/b\u003e. Bale's exploration, told through the many travellers' texts produced in the later Middle Ages, is \u003cb\u003ebeautiful, gripping and fascinating\u003c\/b\u003e, and informed always by gentle and empathetic reflection upon what it means to be a fragile human being in motion through strange lands, both then and now -- John Arnold, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cambridge","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48864275169623,"sku":"9780241530849","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/a-travel-guide-to-the-middle-ages-9780241530849","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}